The Dream Diary

The Dream Diary

A Youth Exchange about the worlds young people escape into — why they go, what they find there, and how to carry it back.

Erasmus+ KA152 Youth Exchange Lamezia Terme, Calabria · Italy 8 days · 34 people · 4 countries
Press the three keys, or just start reading

The starting point

What happens when the invented world is the only place you get to be yourself?

Fiction has always been a door.

The trouble starts with the story you do not want to wake up from.

This project does not treat escapism as the problem.

Loneliness Immersion Relief Withdrawal the loop tap a stage

Escapism is a double-edged sword

The same mechanism that repairs a hard day can close around a life.

46%

of Europeans had an emotional or psychosocial problem in the previous twelve months.

Eurobarometer on mental health, European Commission, DG SANTE, 2023
7.7

psychiatric care beds per 100 000 inhabitants in Italy — the lowest in the EU.

Eurostat, 2023
#5 & #3

European Youth Goals addressed directly: Mental Health & Wellbeing, and Inclusive Societies.

EU Youth Strategy

Six objectives

What the eight days are for

Each one is attached to sessions that produce it and to a reflection that records it. Choose a star.

01

Where it happens

Four countries meet in Calabria

Lamezia Terme, on the narrowest point of the Italian peninsula.

Lamezia Terme Italy Tibi Spain Belgrade Serbia Sofia Bulgaria

The venue

One adaptable indoor space with projector, speakers and stable WiFi.

Where everyone sleeps

Domus Bethanie in Platania, a scout base above Lamezia Terme.

Getting there

Where the route allows it, groups travel green.

Safety on site

One named safeguarding focal point.

Who is in the room

Thirty-four people, and half of them were not supposed to get here

28 participants, four group leaders, two facilitators.

14 of 28 participants, minimum
Italy Serbia Bulgaria Spain Group leaders & facilitators

The barriers, named

Economic, geographical, social, discrimination, and mental health.

Nobody pays to take part

No participant contribution or fee of any kind.

Gender and country balance

Seven places per country. No gender above four of seven.

Under 18

The lower age limit is 16, because the sessions are personal.

How it is run

Nobody is lectured at

Non-formal learning throughout.

Four of the eight days are built around workshops the teams design themselves.

four teams · four escape rooms · one shared stock of props

Reflection is a fixed slot

Thirty minutes at 18:00 on every working day.

English is a tool, not a test

Nobody is corrected in front of the group.

Two works of fiction, used carefully

Yume Nikki (2004) and We're All Going to the World's Fair (2022).

Not therapy, and said out loud

The team are youth workers, not clinicians.

The walkthrough

Eight days, from first names to last word

Plus two travel days.

    4 session blocks 18:00 reflection circle National team reflection

    The thing that outlives the project

    The Dream Diary

    A public page where young people write down the thing they have nowhere else to put.

    dreamdiary.euroactivesrb.org
    page 001

    Anonymously, or with your name

    Concept preview.

    • A story, not adviceAn entry is a stretch of somebody’s life, told in their own words.
    • Random, not chronologicalOpening the site gives you a page at random.
    • Moderated before it appearsThe team reads every submission before publication.
    • Yours to withdrawAny author can ask for an entry to be removed at any time.
    • Four months open for writingThen submissions close and reading stays open indefinitely.
    • It does not need more funding to surviveHosting costs after the project are carried by the applicant.

    Waking up

    What we will be able to show you afterwards

    The benefit is meant to be visible, not assumed.

    28

    diary entries written during the exchange

    150

    published entries within four months

    4

    local workshops within two months

    100+

    people reached face to face

    28

    Youthpass certificates

    80%

    recognising the loop in themselves or a friend

    the group four communities youth work across Europe one
    One person

    Leaves with an entry, a Youthpass certificate and a workshop to run at home.

    Four communities

    Schools, youth centres and cultural spaces in four countries.

    Anyone doing this work

    Published under Creative Commons Attribution, in an editable format.

    Three, six and twelve months later

    Short written check-ins at three, six and twelve months.

    Ctrl + Shift + Escape is a real shortcut

    It opens the window that shows you everything running underneath.