What happened to Covid-19?

The ‘Resilience Stories’ podcast of the Erasmus+ #MeRest project that voiced and collected the experiences and experiences of the groups most affected by the global emergency from Covid-19.

“Do you remember that period that turned humanity upside down? The time when deer, wolves and bears invaded the streets, intrigued by the disappearance of those noisy beings called humans? The time when mankind had holed up intheir homes, frightened by an unseen menace. That time when an unreal silence reigned. Remember when the worldwas turned upside down? When normality became an act of rebellion and nature took over urban spaces again. Me, I remember Covid-19. Even if now it just seems like a collective hallucination.”

This is the introduction to the collection of personal testimonies of the participants who described their lives,emotions and the difficulties they faced with an open heart during Covid-19 emergency’s days. Very intense daysthat sometimes, once passed, were put aside and no longer processed. The podcast workshop was carried out in Lithuania, Italy, Greece and Romania in order to collect the stories of the target groups pandemic: elderly people or people with disabilities, informal caregivers, people with mental health problems and health workers.

The workshop focused on the analysis and processing of the narratives that the participants prepared during the first workshop “My resilience story”. After being accompanied in the writing up of their experience, a narrative was drafted which formed the basis of their personal podcast.

The facilitators who led the workshops in the various partner countries accompanied the participants in familiarising themselves with the podcast, so that the process for its creation was first of all clear. Once the key points had been clarified, they worked on reading and recording their story using precise theatrical and vocal techniques. By improving voice clarity, voice volume, tone variation and breathing, it was possible to facilitate the expression of one’s story in as meaningful, emotional and engaging a way as possible.

s the last step of the podcast workshop, the testimoniesproduced were collected and published on the project’s YouTube channel in the various national languages and are available at the following link www.youtube.com/@MeRestProject.

At the conclusion of the #MeRest project experience, both the participants and the facilitators and organisers expressed their satisfaction with the activities carried out and the results achieved. Their participation enabled them to enhance theirresilience- related skills, such as the ability to process andexpress their emotions related to difficult or problematic situations, as well as coping and innovation skills.

Of no less importance for the achievement of the results presented above was the opportunity to share theirexperiences with the other participants, in a safe and welcoming space, and to discuss the challenges they faced in an empathetic and friendly manner.

In the coming months, guidelines for the replication of the #MeRest podcast workshop in English, Lithuanian,Romanian, Greek and Italian will be made available on the project website at the following link: www.merestproject.eu

On the project website and partners channels we will continue to disseminate all the progress and results of our project, designed to provide an innovative training programme to enhance adults’ resilience skills in the face of life’schallenges, together with state-of-the-art tools for the professional development of trainers and educators.

Download this Press Release in:
English, Italian, Lithuanian, Romanian and Greek