The BREEZE project analyses experiences from Georgia, Germany, Spain and Ukraine, and introduces the framework of “transformative trauma-sensitivity”.
NOVACT has participated in the new report Toward Transformative Trauma-Sensitivity in Youth Work and Peace Education, a comparative study developed within the European BREEZE project.
The research shows that trauma is far more common among young people than is often assumed, and that in the four contexts analysed (Georgia, Germany, Spain and Ukraine) it is not linked only to events such as war or displacement. It also emerges from structural factors such as economic insecurity, institutional violence or social exclusion. Young people and the professionals who work with them describe and interpret trauma differently depending on their cultural context.
The study highlights the importance of informal support networks — friendships, community creativity, local cultural knowledge, sports and community spaces — which often play a crucial role, especially when formal services are limited. It also notes that educators, mediators and social workers are frequently the first point of contact for trauma, yet they often lack resources, training and institutional support.
In response, the report introduces the framework of “transformative trauma-sensitivity”, which integrates multiple forms of knowledge (embodied, cultural and historical), combines individual and structural perspectives, strengthens youth agency and promotes practices consistent with the safe environments communities seek to build.
The full report is available here.
L’entrada New European study published to incorporate a trauma-sensitive lens in community work with young people ha aparegut primer a Novact.