The project THE WAY OF NATURE took place from December 2024 – November 2025, and was led by our partner organisation “Learning for Change” from Bulgaria. The project aimed to enrich the understanding of youth workers about the individual development of the young people.
Our work was based on the Nature Based Map of the Human Psyche (developed by Bill Plotkin, Animas Valley Institute and described in the book WILD MIND).
Our aim was to translate the model into the language of youthwork, to adapt it where needed, and to provide youthworker with the knowledge and framework to use it to support their target groups. If you would like to learn about the basics of the Map, you can watch our webinar here:
A big stepping stone was THE WAY OF NATURE training course which took place 01. – 08. August 2025 in the “School of Nature” Educational Center, Gudevitsa village, Bulgaria. 10 youthworkers from Sweden and 10 from Bulgaria got the chance to spend 8 days together in these beautiful wild mountains, in order to learn and experience the ecocentric concepts we were working with. After the training course, the youthworker pilot-tested the methodology by implementing workshops for their local youth.
The outcome of the project are the two publications that you can download below:
- a Manual in which we present knowledge about personal growth rooted in nature based concepts, and more specifically, the model of Nature Based Map of the Human Psyche.
- Session outlines and sample program templates to support you in creating a program for your people.
With this, we aim at supporting the establishment of developmental and educational programs fostering personal transformation and social change. We also want to emphasize the role of Nature, somatic intelligence, imagination, emotions and other underdeveloped or suppressed elements as crucial for the effectiveness of learning and maturing.
“THE WAY OF NATURE – addressing mental health and sustainable well-being of youth through nature-based practices”,
(2024-1-BG01-KA210-YOU-00025378)
Funded by the European Erasmus + Programme under Key Action 2 (SMALL-SCALE PARTNERSHIPS IN YOUTH – KA210-YOU)
The project is coordinated by Learning for Change (Bulgaria), in partnership with RELEARN SUDERBYN (Sweden)
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.