Youth Day: a place for making and recovery

Youth Day in Lutsk became a space of strength, inspiration, and care for oneself. On 16 August the Festival of Street Culture and Sport took place in Lesya Ukrainka Central Park. Among boxing, kayaks, and chess, there was a place for psychological recovery and making things.

The team of the Training and Research Centre for Mental Wellbeing and Happiness Foundation made a quiet corner where people could stop, breathe out, and try simple ways to ease emotion.

With visitors we recovered through art therapy: making something helps lower stress, settle feelings, and find inner resources. We shared practices of mental health and psychological resilience that are easy to use every day. We talked and supported one another, so children, young people, and adults felt warmth.

Mental health is not only the absence of anxiety. It is also the ability to find joy, to make things, and to feel a link with the community.

Thank you to everyone who came, drew, experimented, and opened their heart. Thank you to the Youth and Sports Department of Lutsk City Council for organizing the festival, and to all partners for the shared work for young people.