In April’s third week, we spent four amazing days in Saint-Nazaire, a charming yet lesser-known village. Our partners mentioned they had waited for months to see the sun in their skies, but it seems we brought the sunshine with us! We enjoyed the beautiful seaside scenery of the village and its delicious food.
We spent four days in the village, but the first and last days were taken up by train journeys from Belgium to Saint-Nazaire. After checking into our hotel, we had dinner on the staff’s recommendation. We tested some delicious traditional food at a tavern, so our first day in Saint-Nazaire assured us that those hours on the train were completely worthwhile.
On the second day, we had the pleasure of meeting the other partners from the different organisations collaborating on the project, and the reunion was quite pleasant. The first day commenced with project continuity meetings and presentations from colleagues right from the morning.
After a great lunch at the office cafeteria, we enjoyed coffee on Le Jardin’s terrace, where our Les Apprimeurs colleagues work. Then, we resumed work in a good mood. We started working on the comic creation activity that all partners will develop during the National Workshops in November. We made a pilot inner activity to learn how to develop the workshops appropriately.
Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons were dedicated to that activity. All the organisations formed small teams to develop stories aimed at helping young people break false myths and beliefs about mental health problems that often affect teenagers.
In our case, we aimed to be aware of the risks associated with looking for easy money through popular gaming apps and deconstruct stereotypes about addictions and how they can affect people’s personal lives. It was enriching to observe how colleagues from different teams developed themes to assist young people.
All the teams started creating the comic, and we thought it would occupy us for the next three afternoons. The curious thing was that all the stories and designs were developed during the initial two days; the team was so focused and in sync that the activity progressed nimbly, achieving incredible results.
Finally, Thursday was dedicated to presenting our comics to all colleagues and concluding with some meetings to set the new basis for continuing this wonderful project. It was very special, constructive, and a lot of fun to present our works, even on paper and with improvised drawings and structures, but full of meaning and lessons.
The LTTA was completely helpful for us since it allowed us to see and simulate how the participants would feel about the creation experience. We adquired valuable learning and collected interesting developing ideas.
Additionally, on this fourth day, we were fortunate to have two experts in working with teenagers join us. We learned how these professionals had created enriching materials to provide students with extraordinary support in dealing with the problems and uncertainties that concern them most.
The experts came from an organisation called Kit au Double (you can check their wonderful website: https://kit-ou-double.fr/), and they opened the door to discovering new ways to develop educational materials and workshops that effectively assist students.
But this article wouldn’t be fully worth reading if it didn’t include the wonderful visit we made during the morning of our third day in the village. As part of the project development, we visited the vast shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, worldwide known for producing the cruise ships that traverse the oceans.
It was truly mind-blowing and unforgettable to have the opportunity to see the process undertaken by 8,000 people in parallel to construct those floating hotels we see leaving the ports. Discovering the process of creating these mega naval constructions and experiencing it from within one of the key locations globally was something that energised the entire team.
The team was motivated to put exceptional effort into the project after an amazing experience.
To conclude we’d like to remark that life often presents us with good opportunities to discover fantastic places, build beautiful relationships, and work joyfully and enthusiastically. The trip to Saint-Nazaire, perfectly organised by the Les Apprimeurs colleagues, was a valuable experience for us. The wonderful people, the activities undertaken, and the conscious, calm, and efficient pace of work made our trip an experience to remember.
Jacobo, Logopsycom