Probing Our Fortune – Carrier Preparedness and Life Navigation with Folktales

“Let me go, my dear mother, to probe my fortune” – storytelling and folk/fairy tales had been guiding people’s lives for generations in the past. And actually, they have a lot to say about how to start an adult life, how to navigate in-between separation from parents, study and work for young people. Working with folk tales is a good coaching method to work with all the different issues around the life start of young people.  

Life start is always difficult, but it’s never been as difficult as now, when the future is completely uncertain because of climate change, world migration and economic crises. Young adults have to navigate among all those different issues, like between Skylla and Charybdis. That means they have to be prepared for changes, challenges as well as “traditional” life start skills as carrier choice, separation, setting up an independent life, and setting and sticking to goals. 

The main aim of the project is to improve the preparedness of young people for carrier and life choices by developing their self-reflection, their resilience as well as having them actively make decisions and steps forward their future.  As additional aims, we would like to increase the acceptance of cultural diversities and also positive attitude towards sustainability. 

In this project we will use the Folk Tale Work method to develop sets of self-help and coaching / training tools for young people and their helpers, advisers and coaches to think through their choices, their motivation, and design their life steps.

… So we can all become queens and kings of our own lives, and live happily ever after….

We are going to develop three main results: 

1. a Framework and Screening Tool on Carrier Preparedness for councellors 

2. six (6) Folk Tale Boxes, containing tools for self-help and councellor work

3. a training curriculum for youth workers including modules for direct delivery for young people.