HEROINES - Empowerment of women with mental illness living in rural areas through writing therapy

Title of the project: HEROINES – Empowerment of women with mental illness living in rural areas through writing therapy

Funding program: Erasmus +, KA204 Strategic partnerships for adult education

Description:

HEROINES is a training course for empowering women with mental health challenges to become aware of their rights, the different types of violence they experience, and the unfair situations they take as normal. They will be inspired by t.i. female ROLE MODEL or female role models: real, brave, pioneers, different and determined women in history, especially those who have any mental health challenge. Individuals involved will begin the process of writing their own story using an innovative methodology based on WRITING THERAPIES. This technique has been proven to help organize thoughts, set emotion the distance between the fact within us and the fact reflected in the contribution, slows down the process of thinking, becoming aware of one’s mood, stimulating emotional openness, facilitating internal dialogue, strengthening interpersonal relationships, etc. After the training, individuals will be more prepared to identify and feel different gender-based situations more encouraged and supported. The HEROINES methodology is an affordable, inexpensive and versatile form of therapy that promotes personal growth as well as creative expression. In this case, training and education will greatly transform individuals and will be a tool for women to take their own lives. The HEROINES Workshops will also be open to women with no mental health problems and is therefore an integrative space where it is only important to be a woman as a full citizen.

The training course will be available on the HEROINES eLearning platform, which contains all the learning materials and outputs, so any innovative training course could be used by every individual, not only the target group of the project, but also all women who suffer from violent situations. THE HEROINES COLLECTION NARRATIVE will be published regularly, including some articles created by women attending the course. This will help not only women who share their stories, but also a general society that will get to know firsthand the unfair situations that some live because they are women and have a disability. This publication promotes empathy and the ongoing fight against stigma associated with mental illness, especially in rural areas where this stigma is sometimes more prominent.
HEROINES training course will be piloted in Spain, Greece, Finland and Slovenia for eight months.
This publication will increase the visibility of rural women with mental health challenges, as it is the scene of overcoming stories and thus inspires other women. The edition of the anthology will enable incredible collaboration with local female artists to become the face of stories in the publication.

This unique combination of different arts (writing, painting, photography, etc.) will culminate LOCAL ART EXHIBITIONS are open to the entire community. Empowerment is natural for everyone, and in the case of those with mental health challenges, it is easy vital. We need to make them aware of their worth of human beings and make it easier for these women
a way for them to see that they can do whatever they want, regardless of gender, health or social environment state. Education is our weapon against sexual violence!