THE JARŠE YOUTH HOME 5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES OF WORKING WITH AT-RISK YOUTH”
You are invited to participate at the international conference of the Jarše youth home titled “Contemporary Challenges of Working with At-Risk Youth”, which will take place on 6 and 7 June 2025 at Zdravilišče Radenci, Slovenia. Day before, on June 5th, there will be a »Contact Making Seminar« organised within the Erasmus + programme. The seminar aims to introduce the Erasmus+ program, facilitate the exchange of best practices, foster idea development, and identify potential partners for creating and connecting future international projects.
The Jarše youth home is a public institution that educates children and adolescents. We cater to the needs of children and adolescents who have been victims of violence, neglect, abuse and inappropriate parental methods which have resulted in disruptive behaviour and/or emotional problems. The primary focus of the conference will therefore be at-risk youth.
This year’s meeting is also intended for professionals in the field of working with young people from vulnerable groups in both the governmental and non-governmental sectors, domestic and foreign practitioners and academics or researchers, and ultimately users – young people from vulnerable groups. It is customary to talk and discuss the latter a lot, but we don’t give them enough of a say to be able to speak about themselves as experts from experience. The ethics of participation dictates that the user participates in the problem and solution as a competent interlocutor, and in accordance with this paradigm, we subtitled this year’s conference
“OUT LOUD!”
In addition to the novelty of the “1st meeting of youth of residental and counseling institutions- Out Loud!« where we will debate with young people about the placement system and the treatment they receive, the conference will emphasize current challenges and the search for new knowledge, guidelines, approaches, examples of good practices and ideas, as well as the mutual exchange of opinions and experiences, networking and the establishment of new professional (international) partnerships and support.
Topics that will be of particular interest to us are related to the mental health of young people. What are the challenges and needs of young people in the field of mental health? How can we strengthen it? What are the approaches and methods of work that prove to be effective in helping young people in need? At the conference, we will also consider the impact of art, sports and other media that are being developed and used in the field of work with young people from vulnerable groups. Do you know new, effective methods of teaching and education, which include the use of various didactic aids, media and adaptations in the education system? This year we will open a space for you to share contributions with us or experiences that show innovative forms and methods of work in experiential and movement pedagogy, forest schools and play pedagogy, and on the other hand, contributions that support the use of digital tools as an aid in the individualization of material and empowering ways to promote greater focus. We will focus on approaches that will help young people and professionals navigate through the challenges of the digital age and pursue synergy between the analogue and the digital in youth work. We will place special emphasis on research and understanding of trauma and its consequences. How to recognize forms of trauma in our work, where is the line between distress and trauma? We will focus on approaches that go beyond individual therapeutic work and are useful for youth workers in all support systems. In the last part, we will focus on the practice of emotional regulation, growth and self-awareness, aimed at youth workers. How to take care of your own mind, professional attitude and ethics while maintaining the authenticity with which we build healthy relationships? We will touch on relaxation techniques and methods that help to grow and strengthen one’s own professional identity.
We kindly invite you to attend the international conference either as a lecturer participant (presentation live at Radenci) or as a listener (live or via video conference on the Zoom platform). Registration fee and all organisational costs (travel expenses, food and accommodation) will be covered by ERASMUS+ programme for 50 selected foreign participants from ERASMUS+ programme and partner countries.
Papers will be presented in Slovene, English, Croatian and Serbian. After the conference, the conference proceedings containing the collected papers will be published electronically.
We look forward to your participation at the conference!
Yours faithfully,
the organizing committee (Tomi Martinjak, Urška Opeka, Damjan Habe, Eva Breznik, Veronika Bevk, Klara Vita Klančnik, Sarah Tkalec, Mateja Korbar Šimić, Gaja Koler in Petra Prestor).
