Implementation Overview
The Mental Comfort Youth Exchange, hosted in Pissouri, Cyprus, brought together participants from six countries — Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania, and Romania — to explore how physical activity, arts, and self-reflection can enhance mental well-being. Through a week of experiential learning, outdoor adventures, and creative workshops, young people strengthened emotional awareness, empathy, and teamwork.
From Theatre of the Oppressed in the ancient Kourion amphitheater to hiking in Cypriot nature, aquarobics, wheelchair basketball, and neurographic art, each day combined body, mind, and creativity to promote mental health. The program fostered intercultural understanding and emotional growth, empowering participants to build resilience and promote mental well-being in their communities.
In the following section, you can explore the day-by-day journey of the project — filled with photos, videos, and detailed descriptions that capture every activity, emotion, and shared experience from this inspiring week.
Day 1 - Monday, October 13, 2025
Co-written by Bobbie and Erma
The first day of the project, which means lots of icebreakers, name games and getting to know each other! After a brief introduction by the project manager of the project, Nikolas Nikolaou telling us the rules, we then met the 2 facilitators of the project.
Boghos Avetikian an Armenian Cypriot short king from Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus.
Erma Georgiou – a life coach expert from the city of Limassol, which we will visit on Day 4!
We started our activities outside with the hangman name game, For this, we put duct tape on ourselves, and made underscores for the amount of letters for our name. For example Bobbie would be _ _ _ _ _ _ ! We fished for letters from each other, we could only get one and give only one.
After this we had a portrait drawing game, where we passed around a paper with the shape of our face, and every time the music stopped, we filled in a different part of the body, such as one eye, an ear or the mouth! Right before coffee break, we also took part in a group speed dating game in mixed groups. For this, we had a central v.s topic such as "coffee vs tea" which we used to discuss and meet each other.
After coffee break, we did the contributions, expectations and challenges backpack. We thought and wrote down what we brought to our project, what we expect from it, and challenges we may face.
Right before lunch, we played a game called Youthpass passport islands. Once again in mixed groups, we had to solve mini challenges for each competency. For example, for the mathematical competency, we had to solve an equation, while for the multilingual one, we had to learn greetings in different languages.
In the afternoon, we were in the square of Pissouri, the village we are being hosted in for a treasure hunt. In mixed groups, we were given a task list, and explored Pissouri, solving riddles and answering them by taking answers.
Check out the tasks in Pissouri here! https://mental-comfort2.webnode.page/tasks-in-pissouri/
At night we had traditional dinner in Pissouri, and the Cypriots also showed us traditional dances.
Day 2 – Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Co-written by the Polish team 🇵🇱
The second day started way earlier than the last one. At 8 am, we were already prepared to start our hiking journey. The entire trip took around 2 hours, but it was definitely worth it in the end, because of the views and experience in general.
At the next workshop, we finally stepped into the topic of mental health. Bobbie went through the aims and objectives of the project, and he described the benefits of physical education as well as arts when it comes to mental health. Of course, one of the easiest and most personal methods for increasing mental health is journaling, and so we started our activities by making and decorating our own journals in the way that best resembled us. When we finished, we began digging into our own minds and feelings, we got tasked to answer some questions about ourselves. We were supposed to write 10 things that we are grateful for and what we wanted to achieve during the entire day. Everyone had fun while doing it, but in the end we also leaned forward to think deeper about those things. We learned that appreciation of what we already have is the first step in order to increase our mental health.
After the lunch break, to bring some fresh energy, we did fun and dynamic energizer prepared for us by the Romanian team.
Later we talked about more things related to mental health and its importance. We discussed how art positively affects us, and how to use it as a way of self-care. This led to an activity called "The Masks we wear". We were given a sheet of paper with a half-drawn face. On the one side, we had to write keywords or iconography of how we see ourselves, while on the other side, we had to write how we believe others around us, such as friends, neighbors, classmates see us. This led to a discussion about how we may often be interpreted differently by others, either due to the setting or even the language we speak.
At 5:30, we met again. This time to talk about our preparation activities, that we completed before arriving to Cyprus. Participants from all countries exchanged solutions, problems and good practices that they implement in their hometowns. This means the countries of Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania and Romania presented how the country operates, when it comes to mental health. Of course it is always interesting to see concepts that exist in some countries, but often do not in others, such as how Cyprus doesn't really have the concept of youth centers.
As the last activity of this day, we enjoyed first part of our intercultural nights, where participants from Lithuania and Cyprus, presented to us their culture, beautiful places in their countries and some traditional dances. We of course also got to try out some traditional food.
Day 3 - Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Co-written by the Lithuanian team🇱🇹
A new day means new activities!
On the third day of the project, we started with energizers prepared by the Spanish team. We played a game where two groups were separated by a blanket. When the blanket dropped, one person from each group had to say the other person's name first.
After that, Bobbie and Erma talked about the comfort zone. We discussed what the comfort zone is, how to recognize its limits, and what it means to step outside of it. Three zones were marked on the floor, and while listening to different situations, we had to decide which zone would represent us personally. This activity helped us understand ourselves better and think about how we react in different situations.
After a short break, we had a tough conversation with Nikolas and the hotel owner. They reminded us about the hotel rules after the previous night, when some people were too loud and disturbed other guests. This was a real example of stepping out of our comfort zone!
Afterwards, back in our comfort zone, we continued working in pairs and practiced active listening. We shared personal experiences, learned how to actively listen, and how to open up to others.
In the afternoon, we started again with energizers. We played a game called "Spider," where we had to cross from one side to the other without touching the human web. The next activity was called "My Safe Place." We had to close our eyes, relax, breathe deeply, and, with the help of the trainer, imagine our own safe place. Then we drew and described it on paper and shared with others why we imagined that specific place. We also tried the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, which helps to manage anxiety and fear. It teaches us how to control our emotions when we feel stressed or panicked.
After another break, we were divided into four groups and introduced to tomorrow's activity, which we had to prepare for today. Each group got a different topic and had to create a 5-minute performance based on it. After the activities, we reflected together with our team leaders.
In the evening, we enjoyed cultural presentations from Poland and Portugal. We learned about their culture, food, traditions, and music. Participants really enjoyed intercultural evening.
Day 4 - Wednesday, October 16, 2025
Co-written by the Cypriot team 🇨🇾
Today was truly a special day, as all of the activities took place outside of our accommodation. Our first stop was the Kourion Amphitheater, a place rich in history and culture. There, we had the wonderful opportunity to perform our own play on the stage of this ancient theater. This was based on our preparation from our previous day, where, in 4 different groups prepared 4 different plays based on the idea of "Theatre of the Oppressed". The themes were
- Sexism
- Classism
- Racism
- Ageism.
Each team played their play twice. The first time, with the normal "bad" ending where the type of discrimination happens. The second time around, the audience, meaning the other participants interjected and ensured that the types of discrimination did not take place.
After our performance, we headed to the Limassol Marina for the next part of our adventure. There, we became tour guides for our visitors, because we, the Cypriot participants are from this city. We walked along Saripolou Street, Anexartisias (Independence) Avenue, and the Molos seafront, enjoying the scenery and the sea breeze. As we spoke with our guests in the project, we felt proud to share the beauty and spirit of our city. This experience helped us improve our communication skills, develop confidence, and understand the true meaning of hospitality and cultural exchange.
Our final stop was a school in Zakaki, where we watched and took part in a wheelchair basketball game. This was organized by the Wheelchair Basketball team of Ifestos and despite the challenges they face, they compete with passion, joy, and dignity. We got to try playing the game ourselves, learning how the rules differ slightly from basketball.
After a long tiring day, we enjoyed traditional Cypriot dances organized by the hotel we are staying at.
Day 5 - Thursday, October 17, 2025
Co-written by the Spanish team 🇪🇸
The day started with a great energizer from the Cyprus team. We were split into 2 groups and then, one organizer had a big red handkerchief. This game is called mantili and on both teams there were the same numbers given. When a number is called, such as "two!" these players had to run to catch it. The catch was, even if someone caught the handkerchief already, the other one could try to catch the participant to still secure the win. It was nice to play a traditional Cypriot game as an energizer after last nights traditional dances.
The first activity of the day focused on guiding each other, really going out of our comfort zone while trying to feel, for some moments, how our world would be if we could not see. In pairs, with members from two different countries, one of the pair was blindfolded, while the other was the guide. This involved walking around the accommodation while being guided while telling a story. It was an excellent experience of trusting the other, and trusting your other senses, except the view. It's not easy to put yourself in the shoes of the others, and this activity shows it.
After coffee break, we continued using the masks, and we painted our self-portraits without using sight
There were paints on the tables, and we painted using touch, focusing entirely on the feeling. Participants described the feelings upon witnessing what they drew as: confusing, stressful, anxiety, interesting, funny and more. To finish off, we took a piece of paper, split it into 3, and drew reflections of our past, present and future.
In the afternoon, we headed to the tennis court for a series of outdoor activities prepared by the facilitators. The court was divided into five zones, each representing a different emotional state:
Happiness, Calm, Stress, Anxiety, and Frustration.
Stress zone:this challenge tested our balance and ability to stay focused under pressure.
Calm zone: This activity helped us to manage anxiety by releasing tension from our body and focusing on deep breathing to promote relaxation.
Frustration zone: we were engaged in a challenge that frustrated us. The goal was to notice how frustration impacts our concentration and emotions.
Happiness zone: This zone was all about joy and positivity. It involved moving our body and having fun!
Anxiety zone: The challenge was to solve a puzzle together as a team while managing time pressure and stress, and only after we gathered the necessary points to access it, in a previous contest of throwing.
Reflection zone: in the activities room. It was a quiet space where we could reflect on our experiences in the previous zones.
During the last activity we of the day we discovered the process of neurographic art. This calming practice can help us gain greater awareness and creative ideas for dealing with stressors, challenges, changes, and big decisions. For this activity, you draw circles randomly on a piece of paper, and then, just as randomly, lines. All around the paper. Then you get to fill in the spaces between the shapes with different colors.
As for nighttime, the cultural night of Spain and Romania where we enjoyed discovering their presentations: beautiful landscapes and cities, traditions and culture, music, dances, a Kahoot game and of course typical food
Day 6 - Saturday, October 18, 2025
Co-written by the Portuguese team 🇪🇸
The last day of the project, but still a filled one!
During the first session, Bobby talked about the opportunities we have if we want to participate in Erasmus+ programs. He mentioned several programs, including "Youth Exchanges", which is open to people aged 13-30, and the "Erasmus Semester. This presentation also included all there is to know about the youth card, training course, Erasmus Mundus and all sorts of types of projects we did not know about.
Immediately after this, we had our final session when it comes to physical sports, and for this Xenia returned and showed us the movements we had to do. It was exhausting yet fulfilling.
Afterwards Nikolas came to talk to us about follow-up activities, we did the evaluation and the moment we were all waiting for. The Youthpass ceremony, where we all received certificates for our hard work in this project!
But wasn't all, as a reward for all our hard work, and a look an even better look at what else is there in the field of Erasmus, we went to Paphos, to attend the Erasmus Days Festival in Paphos. We helped the facilitators set up the booth, and visited all the booths to learn about other NGOs, and other opportunities.
Yet another successful youth exchange!
