Post by: Amanda Löwemo Nordenhag, YAM Trainer and Instructor.
It has been a busy few months in Sweden with YAM Instructor Courses in Katrineholm, Stockholm, Umeå and Luleå.
In January we started the year with a course in Katrineholm, in the middle of Sweden. We had a wide range of participants from very different backgrounds which led lots of discussion and exchange of different experiences and points of views.
In May, we trained a group of instructors to join our team in Stockholm. It was an enthusiastic group of participants with backgrounds ranging from the academic field of public health to working with youth and drama. We look forward to join forces with them starting in August!
With lots of energy from the week in Stockholm the YAM team jumped on a flight to the northern part of Sweden, heading to Umeå. In Umeå the YAM exchange continued with local school counsellors. During the course, the Umeå participants reflected deeply on their new roles as YAM instructors and how to truly engage youth during the program. It was an intense week, filled of fun and memorable role play enactments.
In June, we returned to the northern part of Sweden for our second YAM instructor course in Luleå. We had participants from several close-by communities to Luleå, most of them working as school counsellors. It was a fun week and we were all able to share our experiences from already working with youth and learned a lot about the counsellors local context.
We are all looking forward to working with our new Stockholm instructors and to hear from our new Swedish colleagues about YAM programs across the country!
With courses back to back this spring, it was clear that just like the YAM program with youth, no YAM Instructour Course is ever the same and depends on what the participants bring to the table in terms of experiences and group dynamics.