magazine issue 1 - english

Young people combating violence

International Workshop for Trainers

This Issue

1 A Space to Speak Up

Production teamEditor – Roy SmithDesign and graphics – The MRS ConsultancyIllustrations and editorial assistant – Jack Robert SmithWe would like to hear from you, the readers, about what you thought of our magazine – and – do you have anything that might help us spread our message.

If so email Roy Smith at [email protected]

What is the Transpace 3

project?

Victims and 4 - 15Violence: the research into aggression and violence

Partner Profile: 16 - 17pro mente Upper Austria

Trainer Profile: 18Martin

Shaping up for 19 - 21Transpace – the trainers workshop in Sofia

Trainer Profile: 23Sabine

Things are GO!

Partner Profile: 24 - 25Fundacion Intras

Young peoples’ 26workshop in Spain

Cartoons and 27 - 28Comic Strips - young people tell us how they feel

What’s coming up 29

ContentsA Space to Speak Up 2

Welcome to the first issue of A Space to Speak Up!This magazine is the first of at least four editions in which the Transpace project will provide a showcase for what its participants are doing and achieving.

Transpace is for young people with special needs, who suffer violence and aggression in their everyday life. It aims to give them the tools to combat this behaviour. The project’s lead partner, Fundacion Intras, explains more page 3.

We will focus mostly on what the young people in the project want to say and show about what they are doing. Most of what you will read will be their stories, reflections, photos, images and observations of what they have been experiencing and learning. The youngsters will even be staging an Art Exhibition in 2014 to express their creativity.

Regular features will profile the partner organisations and also some of the trainers with whom the young people will be working. Each edition will also give a platform to partners and stakeholders to raise and discuss an issue that is relevant to what we are doing

A regular feature will be a comic strip style of story. It does not need to be sophisticated, as you see in this issue, and we encourage our youngsters to have a go.

A Space to Speak Up will be available in all partner languages – Bulgarian, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish - as pdfs from the Transpace web site www.transpaceproject.eu

But this is just our 1st Issue. We need your help and advice to develop and improve.

Roy Smith

Pages 24 to 25

Pages 19 to 21

Transpace is a European partnership funded under the Daphne programme of the European Community Directorate – General Justice. It came into being in response to a growing concern at the widespread and varied types of violence experienced by children and young people living with mental health difficulties. The core aim of the Transpace project is to equip its young people with the tools to effectively combat the violence perpetrated against them in their daily lives.

The programme focuses on the use of space as a fluid and positive concept which will allow the young people to develop an intermediate space between their inner reality and the outside world. They can then use the space to engage with non-violent conflict resolution, divergent thinking, social interaction, self-reflection and growth. The programme has been put together by listening to what some of the young people affected by this violence have shared about their experiences and worries. The programme also uses the various cross disciplinary skills and methodologies which are available from the each of the European partners.

With the conclusion of Transpace, the young people will have been given an opportunity to accept for themselves that they should be proud of managing difficulties that other young people their age may not have to face. They will appreciate that it takes strength of character to ask for and accept support. They will be aware that they have control over how they conduct themselves and now they will be equipped to positively deal with aggressive behaviour and bullying, and as a result feel both assertive and empowered.Fundacion Intras

engage with non-violent

conflict resolution


Sara Marcos Ispierto Project ManagerIntras Foundation

A Space to Speak Up 4

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of aggression among young people with special needs. We compared the prevalence rate between the different countries taking part in the Transpace project and enhanced our understanding by interviewing with the youngsters. Our understanding of the dynamics of aggressive acts and the responses of victims has helped the project construct an innovative Methodology to use in helping young people to develop tools to combat aggression. The following article highlights some of our key work but if you want to know more the full research report is available on www.transpaceproject.eu/publications

How we did itThe study team drew upon extensive theoretical work in the area to develop a questionnaire - the Aggression Victimization Instrument. This tool was carefully translated from English into German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Italian and Hungarian and applied in six European countries during May and June 2013

Some of the University of Maribor Department of Psychology team who

compiled and wrote the report

A Study of Aggression Victimisation among Children and Youngsters with Special Needs

By Sara Tement, Bojan Musil, Ajda Šoštarič and Karin Bakračevič Vukman

Victims and Violence

The study team drew upon extensive theoretical work in the area to develop a questionnaire - the Aggression Victimization Instrument. This tool was carefully translated from English into German, Spanish,

Bulgarian, Italian and Hungarian and applied in six European countries during May and June 2013. The work was led by the Department of Psychology, University of Maribor, Slovenia with the field research undertaken by

Transpace’s partners.

What we mean by violent and aggressive actsWe are defining violence or aggressive acts or bullying at school as phenomena where a person is “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons” and “when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways” (Olweus, 1993). So what we mean about aggressive acts is not a single event but prolonged exposure – and it can be different in different contexts.

Violence in a School ContextPhysical aggression is characterized by direct physical violence against others in terms of pushing, hitting or kicking.

Verbal aggression can be defined as a negative attitude toward someone expressed directly by content (e.g., saying hurtful things and calling mean names) and style of speech (e.g., yelling at someone or threatening him). Relational aggression, is more indirect and includes purposeful manipulation and attempts to harm another child’s or young adults’ friendships or feeling of inclusion by peer group (e.g., encouraging others not to be friends with school mates or other children,

spreading lies).

Cyber-bullying: “aggression that occurs through personal computers (e.g., e-mail and instant messaging) or cell phones (e.g., text messaging)”.

Violence in a Family Context:Psychological victimization is characterized by saying or doing things that make the child or adolescent feel embarrassed, ashamed or bad. Neglect encompasses a lack of appropriate care for the child or adolescent as well as ignoring the child’s or adolescent’s needs. The study focused on children who actually identified themselves as victims of aggressive acts. Interviews with these youngsters discussed situations in which aggressive acts occur (school and family environment), the victims’ perceptions of such situation, on victims’ self-esteem as well as general well-being. From these interviews a deeper insight is gained into subjective realities of youngsters, experiencing violence.

Nine thematic frameworks and one meta-theme or overarching framework emerged:

This is what is happening and why


Low self-esteem seems to be the most prevalent and the most complex problem that the interviewees are reporting either openly or tacitly. This could be considered as the neuralgic point that somehow silently lies at the heart of most violence-related reasons or consequences. The problem seems to be widely present with children who suffer from one or several forms of peer violence and seems highly correlated with depressive moods, anxiety attacks, shame and even self-injury.

The key challenge in tackling the problem of low self-esteem and the subsequent “victim behaviour” is to bring forth a tool for these children to think themselves, articulate themselves, reflect upon themselves and assert themselves.

Experience:Seb admittedly has very low self-

esteem, which seems to be the root cause for his inability to fend off the aggressors in his life. Had he acquired a mechanism to help him increase his self-esteem, his

ability to cope with intrusions in his space would most likely

increase as well.

Low self esteemA Space to Speak Up 6

This theme is extremely common and highly important because it introduces the factor of group dynamics and its function in perpetrating violence against an isolated victim. Numerous reports of a group of youngsters bullying, molesting or ridiculing one youngster indicate that this is a major theme to be tackled in any possible intervention.

The main point to be addressed here is the helplessness of an individual confronted by faceless collective aggression, namely how can one protect oneself against a mass of mutually encouraging individuals, who are being socially and otherwise protected by the anonymous character of a large group?

Experience:Loretta seems to be having a bit of a hard time with her

schoolmates; she reports several acts incidents that seem to have happened at

school. Some classmates once dragged down her

pants, and then there was another incident with having her school bag hidden away and, finally, she says others

are gossiping about her behind her back. She says she doesn’t feel fine in the classroom, because there

are too many intrigues and quarrels going on there.

Everybody’s picking on me7 A Space to Speak Up

Another major theme perceived as a powerful source of violent incidents amongst children and youngsters is the intentional spreading of rumours.

Rumours are not physically violent compared with a heavy punch in one's face, but nevertheless may they have an immensely destructive influence on one's life and in this respect can be considered as clearly violent.

Experience:When Anna was moving from one place to another, a false rumour started circling around that she stole or

broke something and that this was the reason for her go-ing away. This false rumour made her very upset, even to

the point of getting a new phone number in order to com-pletely break contact with everyone. What seems positive

about Anna’s attitude towards the problem is that she tried confronting the people, who were spreading the rumour, but they didn’t show up, and she now retrospectively sees them as cowards for that reason.

Rumour has it...A Space to Speak Up 8

Experience:Joe seems to lack a true place of his own, a space he would clearly inhabit and speak from. He complains about not being included in peer groups and not being listened to when he tries to speak, thus residing in an invisible space, which does not allow one to produce sounds or images. Furthermore, Joe’s invisibility extends also to his family life, where he is not invited to take part in family decisions and has to share his mum with 4 other younger siblings, which evokes the feelings of guilt he has to deal with subsequently.

Being a GhostAnother theme of violence that seems to arise over and over again in several interviews is intentional, active and harsh social exclusion: several youngsters report being completely excluded from social groups. Social exclusion

thus generally works as an additional ostracizing mechanism that accompanies other acts of violence and reconfirms the status of the victim as the helpless, isolated subject.


Escapism is an important violence-related theme, since it stretches well beyond violent incidents and thus functions as a coping mechanism for life in general rather than a specifically narrow defence mechanism against violence in particular. Running off, shutting out the world or pressing a mental “off” button frequently comes up with youngsters as a reaction to violence.

Escapism should be considered as much more than just mentally shutting oneself out of a violent scene. It is a mode of being and as such it functions as a crippling defence against reality; against letting life happen; against feeling life as it happens; and against letting oneself build something meaningful by insisting and experiencing the ups and downs of reality.

EscapismExperience:Patricia admits that sometimes she desires to be far, far away, especially when she cannot find the way. Apparently this sometimes happens at work.


This theme is different from previous ones, since it doesn’t report a particular type of violent incident, but suggests a very lucid, plausible and highly creative solution for it. For this reason, it seems an important theme to include, even though merely three interviewees have mentioned it. Each of them in their own manner suggested that they would like to respond to violent episodes with humour instead of saying nothing.

Applying humour as a defensive shield against aggression therefore doesn‘t aim at keeping the victim unharmed, but goes much further by penetrating the attacker‘s space and changing its structure. A victim becomes an active agent in responding to violence, thus making that crucial step from being an object (of aggression) to being a subject (of action against aggression).

TheSubversive Power of Humour

Experience:Boris says that he would like to

respond to violence with humour, but when he‘s in the middle of the violent

whirlwind, he cannot think of anything funny to say. Afterwards sentences or

words come to his mind.


There have been a couple of reports of serious forms of physical violence. The emphasis in any intervention should be placed on training the group‘s sensibility for the intolerable nature of physical violence and the subsequent responsibility of every individual to intervene in acts of such violence to try and stop them.

Physical Violence Unchallenged

Experience:Classmates are beating up Katy regularly and she doesn’t know the reason why. There also seems to have been an incident at home, where her stepfather poured some warm liquid over her and her sister burnt her with a hot spoon. Whether both of these actions were conducted intentionally or not is not clear from the interview.


Even though the majority of youngsters in the interviews are victims of violence, nevertheless a surprisingly high number of them indicate that they have certain aggressive tendencies of their own, especially in terms of losing control quickly. A large number of aggressive tendencies reported by girls are restricted to shouting, getting angry at people for no reason and being impatient.

Boys speak of being physically violent in some

cases although this violence has frequently been provoked by a violent incident. There is a fairly high occurrence of auto-aggressive behaviour, connected to low self-esteem and guilt issues.

The problem of maintaining control over an aggressive situation and keeping one's head straight when in the whirlwind of intense interaction is something that should be given attention.

The (Self-) Aggressor?Experience:Anton admits having hit a boy and injured his head very badly, because the boy called him and his mother names. Anton does hint to having certain potentially aggressive tendencies, such as saying that he’s not always in a good mood, especially when people aren’t nice to him and that he sometimes behaves in a naughty way.


Experience:Carlos sometimes feels uncomfortable at home as his father is a choleric person who is offended quite easily and gets crazy. Then, when things get tense, they all start screaming at each other.

Home Sweet HomeIn general, family violence remains limited to shouting and screaming at home, which seems to reflect the educational experiences and approaches of parents and their children. There are very few reports of physical violence other

than shouting. In some cases, youngsters express a desire for greater independence from their parents, who are naturally even more protective of their children than they would be if they hadn‘t had special needs.


In conclusionThe final thematic framework encompasses the entire range of violence-related themes in relation to mental illness and has a conceptual range that exceeds the separate themes we have discussed above. “Otherness” is something closely related to mental health difficulties or learning disabilities and should be addressed as a separate theme. Anyone who doesn‘t fit the picture of dominant representations is the “Other”, especially people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

It is therefore crucial for them to learn how to experience “Otherness” in whichever form and incarnation in order to learn to incorporate it into their own emotional and cognitive realities and thus become skilled in voicing “Otherness” as a legitimate subject position that deserves its rightful space.

Being the other15 A Space to Speak Up

promente Upper Austria….. Mental health problems: Inclusion is the answer….Help for people with mental health problems A psychiatric disease is not a fate to which one has to resign. More than one out of four persons all over the world is facing mental health problems. pro mente Upper Austria runs about 150 facilities providing assistance in the province of Upper Austria.For more than 45 years pro mente Upper Austria, Association for Mental and Social Health, has provided counselling and care for persons suffering from mental health problems, with a staff of almost 1500 professional employees and an additional 260 volunteers. pro mente Upper Austria runs roughly 150 facilities providing assistance in the province of Upper Austria. An average number of approximately 30 000 persons contact a facility of pro mente Upper Austria. The services provided are free of cost for the clients.

Counselling, housing, work and leisureThe activities of pro mente Upper Austria include counselling for persons with mental health and social problems and also for their relatives. In addition a number of different facilities in Upper Austria provide further assistance with regard to housing, work and leisure as well as addiction. A central aim is to facilitate the integration into local communities of persons with mental problems. This focus is placed on the provision of services in or near the hometowns of clients.

Prevention and crisis interventionInformation and prevention activities help to stop the development of psychiatric problems before they get manifest. In this regard telephone hotlines and personal assistance in times of mental crises is very important. Our psychosocial emergency hotline is available 24 hours 7 days a week.

Empowerment – the promotion of independenceOur staff helps clients to discover their strengths and to take an active part in shaping their lives. Knowledge and tools are given, which allow them to understand their situation and make decisions for themselves. Persons with mental health problems are often being discriminated against and experience social exclusion. Empowerment means that they learn how to handle their affairs themselves as they become aware of their capabilities, develop skills and make use of their individual and collective resources in order to lead independent lives.In Transpace we are working with youngsters from pro mente youth. We are also cooperating with organisations in the social – and health sector such as mental health hospitals, schools and other institutions who also work with youngsters with special needs.


Partner Profile

The KUK, the creative department of promente premiered the comedy “Stepping Out “ by Richard Harris. This work features the unsuccessful dancer Mavis with her pianist Mrs Fraser leading a dance class for amateurs. Once a week, eight women and one man, feeling frustrated, lonely and unhappy, get together to dance from the soul. The commitment of this group to a fund raising event dispels envy and silences disputes and quarrels. There is a common goal in which not only talent, but also new attitudes develop. Optimism and joy return.



The motto of my work in the Transpace Project is:

“Many participants, different strategies, one goal:

Supporting and promoting handicapped young people that

they don’t suffer violence”

I was born in 1955 in Mönchengladbach. It’s a

boring town near the Dutch border

in the very west of Germany. But at least there

is one attraction: The great and famous football

team ”Borussia Mönchengladbach”.

Apart from watching “Borussia” I went to

school in the town - but I didn’t enjoy it too

much. I was far more interested in chatting

with my friends.

In 1974 I got my final secondary-school

examinations, refused the compulsory military

service, instead of that I worked in an old

people’s house.By 1976 it was high time to say good-bye to

Mönchengladbach and I moved to Bonn – the

former capital is still my favourite place in

Germany – to start my student life. I enjoyed

my new freedom and I am still happy about the

decision to become a teacher.

I am teaching now for more than 25 years.

Since 2001 I have worked as a teacher in

the vocational centre of the CJD-Frechen.

It’s an institution which offers

a second chance for pupils who failed in their

former schools.

I like working there even though I have to drive

41 km to school! Being on the motorway

and teaching the students is a challenge but

one develops strategies. For me part of that

development was to undertake a training

course to fight violence, racism, aggessiveness

and bullying.

Being a teacher and a trainer is a perfect

combination for me.

Apart from the job I love doing sports. I play

tennis, volleyball and lead juggling courses.

And the older I get the more I like climbing

mountains with my bike. This summer it made

me a little bit proud to arrive on the summit

of the “Mont Ventoux” , a stage of the “Tour

de France”, doing it without doping and for

sure not in the”yellow tricot”.

That’s me, Martin Kroeber from Germany

As well as enjoying each other’s company and the hospitality of Dr.Galabina Tarashoeva and the Mental Health Center, “prof. Nikola Shiokovenski” team, the trainers focused on discussing the methodology they would be using and what they could learn from each other. Gabi Tarashoeva who led the workshop explained: “Every child needs a safe place to experience security, warmth and admiration. But every child also needs to leave this

haven and explore the world. Young people need to experiment: to be small and large, fragile and strong. By imitation and practice they learn how to shed their rigid roles and explore

new possibilities. The context of the theatre provides the credibility for both protagonist and his story, providing them with the tools to reflect on violence and on how space can promote self-protection”.

Understanding the issuesBefore they undertook the workshop training the delegates were also introduced to the research conducted in each partner country that examined how violence and aggression manifested itself –for more see Victims and Violence pages 4 to 15 of this magazine.

Shaping up for Transpace The trainers workshop in Sofia…

All those project partners who will be involved in training and

supporting the young people in the Transpace project gathered

together in Sofia, Bulgaria 24-27th September 2013. They were

introduced to an innovative mix of psychodrama and transitional space techniques which will give

the young people the means to combat aggression.


Dr. Gabi Tarashoeva

Dr. Bojan Musil

Bojan Musil discussed with the trainers that the research had identified 9 different themes of aggressive behaviour that had informed the methodology with which they were now about to work.Our trainers were involved in all kinds of exercises and discussions. You will see what they are and how our youngsters will become involved in future editions of “A Space to Speak Out” but here are some of the exercises the trainers undertook.

Creating a safe placeThe issueLow self-esteem seems to be the most prevalent and the most complex problem that somehow silently lies at the heart of most violence-related reasons or consequences. The latent nature of low self-esteem in relation to violence has a lot to do with the fact that it embraces a complex cognitive and emotive landscape whose “core” is difficult to pin it down, especially given the fact that “the core” of low self-esteem changes from one individual to another. Some of these young people seem to have previously gone through domestic episodes of aggression/abuse, which they have never learnt to confront and therefore persist. Each new act of violence thus reiterates the normality of such episodes and the roles played. How to maintain control in aggressive situation and keeping one’s head together is a challenge especially devising a way to create a mental haven; a space that would then allow one to reflect upon an intense situation as if from the outside and then take controlled action.

The activityOne technique that trainers examined in Sofia was the “Magic Castle”. Eva, Letizia, Natalia and Gustavo were invited to think about a safe place where they have been or they would like to be and felt or would feel safe, protected, loved and valued.They were asked; “Imagine this place as your own castle, see it and find somebody (real from your life or imagination) who will come to live with you in it: l “Who could protect / defend you?”l “Who would like and admire you?” l Who would love you and fulfill all your needs?”They were then asked to organize a part of the room as this castle and to mark the boundaries with a rope. Gabi Tarashoeva, who led the activity, then visited each castle in turn. She assumed the role of a journalist, asking questions that would help the owner of the castle to present him or herself and augment the fantasies and inner pictures. The questions were around how each of them felt with the protection and care that the space now provided.Then Eva, Letizia, Natalia and Gustavo were invited to communicate with each other, on the basis of the new experience of strength and self esteem.The final act was to internalize this safe place and to go back to reality with this Magic Castle inside.


Learn how to confront and avoid escapismThe issue

Running off, shutting out the world or pressing a mental “off“ button is a frequent response by youngsters facing aggression and violence. Escapism is an important theme to be dealt with in the training programme and its importance comes from seeing it as a crutch that prevents one from living life fully by avoiding confrontation at all costs. The challenge is finding a tool for youngsters that would prevent them from choosing retreat when life “gets in the way”. Life is for living and a first step is to develop a strategy to confront not retreat.

The trainers looked at how the youngsters could develop the tools - to learn that there are not only strong and only weak persons, that everyone has both sides: to value and show the strong parts and not to be ashamed of the weak areas.

The activity

This only shows a part of what was covered – some physical exercises in confrontation. You will see more as the youngsters explore escapism in future editions of “A Space to Speak Up”

The trainers made couples of roughly the same size. They stood face to face touching with the palms of their hands only. They braced themselves and when the course leader gave the signal every one started to press and push the hands of their partner. Nobody had permission to move his or her legs. The task was to make the partner to move her or his legs. They were not allowed to push the partner to the floor.

After those fun and games the trainers changed partners but again with someone of similar size. The 2 partners stood with backs touching. On the signal everyone tried to move her or his partner ahead, without hands, only pushing with back and legs.


After every exercise the group made a circle and shared their experience and what they discovered or learnt in their different roles. These exercises are designed to stimulate discussion and changes in behavior. With the youngsters the group will separate into 2 subgroups: 1. Take a role of physically weak children, victims 2. Take a role of physically strong and aggressive childrenIn their subgroups they will think about: 1. – “what is their non physical strength?” “How they could use it?” 2. – “what is their non physical weakness?” “What makes them to be afraid?”After the discussions in the subgroups, they stand one in front of each other and, using their new learning, they engage in verbal confrontation. The subgroups then switch roles afterwards coming together to share and reflect.

Spreading the wordTelling others what we doA key part of the project also involves trainers encouraging the young people and children to use artistic techniques and journalism to express their feelings and to describe their own space. The trainers were also introduced to the techniques of community reporting that will guide learners – and trainers! And to present their story in their way whether that is by writing, photography, video or through audio.

The work being done by the youngsters will be appearing in these pages over the next few issues. They will be reporting on what they do and as well as A Space to Speak Out the stories will be found on the project web site and on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Please let us know what you think of what our young people are doing – and if you are doing something similar or something different please let us know.

Blog: Association of

Ecuadorians living in

Cantabria

Link to Isabel YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ISABELPROJECT


Young people with learning

disabilities become

Community Reporters

I was born in Holland, but have been living in

Italy since 1985. After my studies in Holland

to become a speech therapist, I worked at the

Arts School for Drama in Amsterdam and

Arnhem for a few years, managing workshops

on 'Voice training'.

Then, in search for adventure, I left my

country in 1984 with my boyfriend, my dog

and my campervan. The plan was to travel

for one year around Europe, doing street

theatre here and there. In our travels, we met

an Italian theatre company, who used to do

“theatre in the square” around Italy, and we

joined them. This was the most fascinating

way to see and get to know Italy from the

north to the south, with all its wonderful

towns and little villages where we perform

our plays.

The experience came to an end and in 1985,

I started working with a stable job as a voice

teacher at the University Theatre Centre

(CUT - Centro Universitario Teatrale) a

theatre course centre, where I studied acting

in the same time. I also started working

with another theatre company named 'Fonte

Maggiore' and I took part in many theatre

plays and managed expressive workshops for

little children in the schools.

After this exciting, creative but very busy

time, things changed when I gave birth to my

daughter in '94. A new adventure, very lovely

and colourful started. In 1995 I began to work

with 'BorgoRete' in the mental health area,

where I'm still working today. I got married,

moved to the countryside where I'm still

living today with my family, two cats, fruit

trees and a vegetable garden.

The plays stopped but the teaching in theatre

is going on...Finally what began for only one

year.....Back to my roots one day?...... You'll

never know!"


My name is Sabine.

I work as a trainer with BorgoRete (Italy).

What we do in the projectFundacion INTRAS has a dual role in TranSpace project; firstly it acts as a coordinator ensuring successful implementation of the project, focusing on keeping the consortium links alive, allowing for a genuinely mutual development of activities and transfer of knowledge, guaranteeing excellence of quality at all project phases. Apart from the coordination of the project, INTRAS will take an active part in the development and application of the methodology, facilitating that this project comes to life in all partners’ countries as well as in Valladolid (Spain), where a group of 40 youth suffering from mental health issues will learn how to protect themselves against violence whilst gaining technical and creative skills. The communities with whom we are workingWe collaborate with local, national and international

organizations, which work to improve the quality of life of people with mental health issues and to struggle for their full re-integration into society. Fundacion INTRAS is working with educational and training centres and schools, gyms and sports centres, cultural organizations and associations, social enterprises, occupational centres, counselling centres for employment and training, private companies, health centres, family associations and other foundations. Furthermore INTRAS Foundation collaborates with the public mental health care network and cooperates with the hospital of psychiatry of Zamora.


Our partner from Valladolid in SpainFundacion INTRAS is a non-profit organisation dedicated to high quality research and intervention in the field of mental health. It consists of eight training centres in three provinces of Spain with over ninety administrative staff, psychiatrists, psychologists, special needs assistants and professionals in the areas of mental health and special education. Our highly qualified staff carries out research and training and also provides a clinical practice. INTRAS places strong emphasis on education, the development of innovative educational techniques and provision of support services for young people suffering from mental health issues, behavioural disorders and learning disabilities.


Calle 61 is a musical group consisting of five patients from the Mental Health Service Hospital in Zamora, Castilla y León, Spain. What is most unique about this band is that the members share one common feature‐ problems with their mental health. The six members of the group, Toni, Emilio, Juan Luis, Philip, Mikel and Quique, all have a severe and prolonged mental illness. Supported by the Psychiatry Department Complex Care in the INTRAS Foundation in Zamora and the Management of Social Services Castile and León, the musical group was formed with the intention of being a rehabilitation tool.The mental health professionals at the hospital felt that more creative and artistic programmes/activities were needed to act as rehabilitative and therapeutic instruments for people with mental health issues. By incorporating the members’ love of music into their rehabilitative programme, the individuals were allowed to actively participate and design their activity. The support team felt that it was essential for the group to adapt the service to their needs, as this would promote and express creativity, motivation, and inspiration, which would further create a ripple effect on various areas of their life, including their self‐esteem, cognitive functioning, confidence, social skills and creative processing. Most importantly, the group enjoy making their music, which has primarily ensured that their music is a success.The six members in the group all have different but equally important roles. Toni and Juan Luis both play

the drums, but Toni is the lead singer. Emilio´s task is to provide backing vocals and Philip plays the guitar. Mikel and Quique are responsible for sound and security.Calle 61 has successfully created an album called “Hotel without stars” (“Hotel Sin Estrellas”), which consists of ten tracks. Each track has been written and composed by the six members. Calle 61 have played at local concerts in Castilla y León, where the album can be purchased from, as well as from INTRAS Foundation and Buenacompra´s online stores. A website (http://calle61.intras.es) has also been designed which features regular updates and news on Calle 61, information, the history of the group, short clips of their songs, and their album.

Innovation in rehabilitation of people with severe

and mental ilness through music

In today´s session, we watched a video which showed what aggressive behaviour towards other people looks like.The star of this video is called Fito, he is a person who tends to laugh at others, often mocking and humiliating them. After watching the video we have come to the conclusion that Fito, is not someone we want to be like.

We need to help people like Fito. It is important not to simply be a spectator in bullying situations. Fito needs help but victims of bullying and harassment need even.

We don’t want to be like FITO

His behaviour has led to him feeling lonely and having no friends, his home situation and relationship with his parents is difficult and his future does not look bright, there is a strong possibility that he will become a criminal. The sentences and ideas we liked and that we will implement from now on are as follows:‘Be aware of your surroundings, let’s all co-operate so that we don’t have any more people like Fito. But, if we are not able to manage on our own, we will ask for help from our parents and teachers.’

‘Do not be a passive spectator’

“We won’t be, will you be?”


Young peoples’ workshop in Spain - OUR FIRST DAY


Cartoons and comic strips can also let young people tell a storyPlease send us yours!


November 2013Working with the

youngsters to help them find their tools for life.

Initial sessions start in Spain and Germany

December 2013 to April 2014Workshops for young people taking place in Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and ItalyYoungsters and children from every country

explore what they can do during “A Day in Space”

May 2014 –

July 2014

Learning from each other –

international exchange visits

lLearning from others as partners

and young people visit each other and

exchange good practices

lMore Days in Space

July 2014 – October 2014

Learning from others and doing it ourselves

lPartners and trainers applying other

partners training methods and experiences

to workshops with their young people

lCreative workshops for the youngsters to

encourage them to express their sense of space

lArt exhibition for the young people in the

project in every country to be hosted on the

Transpace web site and featured in

“A Space to Speak Up”

October 2014Final conference for the

project held in UKlThe partners will be presenting the

results of the project to stakeholders.

The aim is to provide interested

organisations with experiences they

can share and practices that they

can apply and develop for their

participants and learners

January 2014Partners meet in Frechen, Germany to review progress, reflecting on their experiences as they prepare future activities

magazine issue 1 - english

Documents