Abstract:

The Year in Pixels (YIP) is a colorful leaflet which was developed during online meetings held between March and August 2020 as either a digital and analog tool. The tool was created based on the idea of Camille @passionatecarnates on Instagram.  Due to the postponement of our Erasmus+ Transnational project meetings in Malta and Italy as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project participants had time on their hands and felt an urgent need to take care of their well-being. The practice was developed during group public-speaking training sessions by Kenny Muscat and was based on the hobby of bullet journalling of one of the youth participants, Katrina Buhagiar. The youth group collaborated with St. Joseph Senior School, Sliema for the additional expertise of Ms. Nathalie Camilleri on its development. The team for the creation of the leaflet was made up from Amy Cassar (who represented St. Joseph Senior School, Sliema) together with youth members of the group Katrina Buhagiar, Keira Chetcuti and Maegan Friggieri. Learn more about our Key Action 2 Transnational Youth Initiative (Exchange of Good Practices) with Dis….correre Youth Group of Molfetta, Italy here.

General purpose and aims:

The general purpose and aims of this tool is for young people to explore what self-care means, to recognise the importance of self-care and to develop skills and abilities to recognize, put words and record feelings on the YIP grid. This will act as a means for developing their own self-awareness and self-care and for recognizing the feelings of others.

The Year in Pixels tool emphasises the importance of emotional wellbeing for young people as they journey into adulthood and in particular at this time with the ever present pandemic situation.  Research shows that the pandemic situation has affected mental health, especially that of young people. To support the use of the leaflet, a video was developed as an online “instruction manual” for  the Year in Pixels leaflet and can be found on YouTube. The completed Year in Pixels leaflet is a tool that can be shown to a professional when seeking support. We emphasize that seeking support is a sign of strength.

Description of the activity:

The leaflet consists of a grid showing one box to colour in for every day of the month. The young person would create their own key of emotions which can be chosen from a word bank in the leaflet and choose a colour for that feeling. By colouring in each box for each day then a mosaic of colourful pixels will show a diary and visual image of daily feelings over a long period of time. The leaflet also contains brief information about emotional intelligence and also information on support services available.

Who can be included in it: 

The leaflet was designed by young people for young people. It is gender neutral and is produced using a youth friendly vocabulary. The design is simple and the grid is central to the design. The Year in Pixels grid is produced in leaflet form and can be adapted and personalized as to individual feelings and include local support networks (helplines or websites).  It is produced in Maltese, English, Italian and Italian dialect, Molfettese. We are translating it into French for wider EU use.

Special needs tackled:

The leaflet is produced in Andika font which is one of the dyslexia friendly fonts available. Moreover, the tool itself supports self care and mental wellbeing for everybody.

Needs for specific tools / hardware / supports:

The leaflet can be downloaded and printed from our website: https://mylearningtolearn.com/year-in-pixels/. It is produced in pdf format.