The first thing that was very obvious from the beginning of this PASSI training course was the friendly, warm hospitality shown to us by our hosts. We all felt like we were among good,old friends. This was very important, because it made us feel comfortable and at our best, so we all were able to learn, work and cooperate in the most easy and effective ways all together during our training days. Personally, I was amazed by the dedication and professionalism of each different country’s team and their participants. Their complete dedication and love for their work was so fascinating. The desire to find more creative and implementable ways for helping young people with autism and any other mental disabilities to live a more independent and happy life, was enormous. It was such an emotional and life-changing learning experience, because I was able to hear, see and actively participate in so many workshops, group activities, using so many new tools,methods and skills that I can for sure apply in my everyday work. I’m sure that they can have a great impact on this category of young people in my community. There were so many inspirational moments, methods, parents of children with autism and youth workers,who were like the light of the end of the dark tunnel. But, for me, the most inspiring were those young people with autism that we met in person. They proved to me that with their uniqueness, discipline, enormous effort and dedication, with the active daily support of their families and care workers, they can live the most independent lives and do the things that they enjoy and love the most. It was so fascinating and very emotional at the same time.

The environment was so perfectly accommodated to our daily activities. It made us feel great, comfortable providing us with the complete service so we can do our sections and workshops in the most effective way there is. The collaboration with other participants was so highly effective. We all worked in groups, often with different participants from different countries, but the work activities were always filled with so much new, creative, friendly, empathic and highly professional exchange among all of us. I was literally impressed by every participant’s dedication to each task and their serious way of dealing with it. Everything that our project trainers and our hosts prepared for us in their program, we effortlessly learned in the best possible way. We did many workshops divided in several groups and exchanged our knowledge and creative skills in order to learn from each other more. It was very knowledgeable and interesting to hear how other countries are dealing with this topic. Our team was fascinated of Latvian, Romanian and Estonian teams and their methods in order to help these young people live and work in the best manner due to their abilities. Also the way Greek and Bulgarian teams showed us how swimming (or any other kind of team sports) can fuse children with disabilities and the ones without, so they can enjoy spending time together, supporting each other and sharing joy, love and empathy among themselves. Also, It was an honor and extreme fascination to see the work of the Italian host team. They showed us their beautiful work place, and the ABA program implementation in their work practice. We have time to know and work together with their highly educated and emotionally devoted workers. They are completely and full-heartedly helping children and young people with autism and have such great results from their work.

This was an experience that is very hard to express with words. It can only be experienced. So I highly and with all my heart will recommend the PASSI project to any future participants from N. Macedonia . It was such an honor and the greatest pleasure to be a part of this training course, to spend a week with such incredible people from seven countries, who were highly skilled and prepared to share and learn from one another in the most human and empathic way possible. It would be great if this training has its continuation, because we all agreed that we exchanged, practiced , learned and heard so many new skills and methods from different countries’ teams that we can apply in our community . And in the next PASSI projects, participants will be able to share news about the implementation of the methods and programs that we learned here. All I wrote above, and so much more is my honest advice and suggestion about PASSI project continuation. I sincerely hope that the highly empathetic and professional work of our hosts on providing a safe place for the independence and happier lives of young people with autism and mental disabilities will continue with many new projects on this topic.