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Every Wednesday in January, sexual health trainings will take place at Lille 9 as part of the Healthy Lifestyle Club! Over four weeks, various sub-topics of sexuality will be explored, self-love will be learned, and the Tartu Sexual Health Clinic will be visited. Youth workers Markos Parve and Sirli Solom invite all young people to educate themselves! First (Jan 5), we will conduct an introductory training where we will generally explore sexuality, discuss consent, and the Sensoa flag system. In the second week (Jan 12), we will learn about sexual minorities, gender identity, and gender roles. In the third week (Jan 19), we will visit the Sexual Health Clinic, where we will gain knowledge about contraception and the physical aspects of sexual health. In the last week (Jan 26), we will discuss self-love and self-respect in more detail. Generally, registration is not required, but for the visit to the Sexual Health Clinic (Jan 19), you can sign up HERE. More information: [...]

Reflect on the past year: For example, make a list of activities that went well this year and that you are particularly happy with. These can be both larger and smaller challenges (e.g., trips experienced, books read, courses completed, enjoyable events). Set specific activities: For example, use months for this. Mark what you would like to do each month at that specific time. You can list both smaller and larger goals. Once the larger goals are set, add smaller goals as well. These could include listening to a podcast, traveling, saving money, healthier eating, exercising, or whatever motivates you! Set a timeline for achieving your goals: Consistently monitor how goal achievement is progressing...

Before we look to the new year, let's take a moment to look back. In the second half of 2021, specifically on July 29, August 28, September 29, November 17, and December 18, joint planning and discussions took place at our youth center. On these days, young people, together with youth worker(s), planned what could be done at the youth center. Many of the young people's ideas have been implemented. From kayaking, sports outdoor activities like orienteering, team tasks promoting nature education, or teaching and trying the ABCs of fishing, etc. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that everyone at the youth center was encouraged to dream big (!) and suggest where they could go or whom they could invite. The author of this text also wants to allow themselves a bit of dreaming and look together into the new year. Already since July, despite…

Liisi Trumm, head of Lille Youth Center. The slogan #teenendalehead (do good for yourself) of the recently concluded Youth Work Week strongly emphasizes the importance of mental health and connects the topic with youth work. How these topics are related can be examined from two aspects: firstly, how participation in youth work helps young people improve their mental health, and secondly, how youth workers themselves maintain their mental health. In this article, I will focus on the latter aspect, to encourage youth workers to take care of themselves. Youth workers are often natural-born saviors who always rush to help when young people have problems. We are ready, trained, and open to solving others' problems. How could it be otherwise, when initial counseling is one of the directions of youth work. However, youth work is not...

Today, November 17, is International Prematurity Day, and Anne Youth Center is joining in by calling for outdoor lighting to be turned purple for one evening. One in ten children is born prematurely, before the 37th week of pregnancy. It has become a tradition that on November 17, the evening of World Prematurity Day, the world is lit up in lilac in honor of premature babies, their families, and all their supporters. Lilac is the color of prematurity, marking the beginning of life and symbolizing optimism. The lighting solution for the house is provided by Sound Group OÜ, whose representative Ülari Toots came up with the idea of joining the charity campaign. Margit Kink, director of the Anne Youth Center, did not think twice when the lighting technician made the offer: "I have seen this concern up close in the families of prematurely born children...

A free drama club takes place every Tuesday from 4 PM to 5 PM at Lille Youth Centre. Young people aged 11-19 are welcome to participate. The drama club facilitators, youth workers Liisa Tammoja and Sirli Solom, have studied drama education at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and now wish to share their skills and knowledge with young people. Through drama education, the instructors aim to give young people the opportunity to express themselves more freely. Various playful and creative activities take place in the drama club to make participation enjoyable for young people. The instructors emphasize an important point about the club: everything done in the club is correct – there are no wrong answers or ways of acting. Young people Kendra and Jasper, who participated in the first drama club meeting, commented on their experience as follows: "The club was fun, we got to..."

Since October, there has been more hustle and bustle and construction than usual around both the Lille and Anne youth centers. Renovations are taking place both inside and outside both youth centers. A new outdoor pavilion with a roof and walls has been built in the courtyard of the Lille Youth Center, where concerts and youth center outdoor activities can be held in the future. At the beginning of December, the kitchen of the Lille Youth Center will also undergo renovations. Currently, the kitchen area is cramped and does not allow many young people to cook at the same time or, for example, access the kitchen in a wheelchair. The construction work is planned to expand the kitchen area and thus allow more young people to participate in cooking. Renovation work is also underway in front of the Anne Youth Center and on the second floor. A new garbage shed was built in front of the Anne Center at the end of October. Also...

As the days grew darker, youth center staff rolled up their sleeves and, together with young people, built reflector trees. Reflectors hung on these trees can be taken for free by both young people visiting the centers and passers-by. The purpose of the reflector trees is to provide young people and other city residents with reflectors so that everyone can move safely in dark conditions. Reflector trees can be found in the yards of the Lille (Lille 9), Anne (Uus 56) and Ilmatsalu (Järve tee 8) youth centers. The youth centers provide the reflectors for the trees, but unused reflectors from all other passers-by are also welcome. We are also happy to cooperate with companies that have reflectors to offer. Together we can make traffic safer. Let's keep ourselves and others safe!

Jaanika Palm Did you know that Estonian sign language has been recognized in the Language Act of the Republic of Estonia since March 1, 2007? The first paragraph of § 5 of the Language Act (2019) states: "Any language other than Estonian and Estonian sign language is a foreign language." Based on this, and also considering that the goal of Tartu Youth Work Center is maximum accessibility for all young people, during the implementation of the project "Reverse Inclusion in Society", we aim to introduce Estonian sign language, which is used as the second officially recognized state language, and more broadly, the community of people communicating in this language, to a wider audience (young people, and thereby also parents; people working with young people). A sub-goal was to increase societal tolerance between different communities by raising awareness about the sign language community. The project takes place in cooperation with the Estonian...