The concept

Using Icehearts Finland’s best practice, the independent partnership behind Icehearts Europe has created an adapted model for EU countries. This model considers the specificity of the Iceheart Europe project AND the various social contexts across Europe.

Through a comprehensive and supportive approach, the Icehearts Europe model is aimed at preventing social exclusion and promoting health and mental wellbeing through an active lifestyle, thus improving the psychosocial skills of disadvantaged children and young people.

As part of the Icehearts Europe model, we have identified key principles and elements that will serve as a common denominator.

• PRINCIPLE: The child/young person ALWAYS comes first
• TARGET GROUP: disadvantaged children and young people, aged from 6 to 18 years, in deprived, disadvantaged, and vulnerable circumstances, who need special support and attention.
• CORE ACTIVITY: Sport team as the FUN activity
• RELATION: the Mentor as the one trustful adult in child’s life the Mentor as the one good adult
• HOLISTIC APPROACH: All the activities, relationship building and networking serve the main goal of promoting every child’s mental health and well-being
• COOPERATION: multi-level collaboration with schools; parents/guardians; community and municipalities.

It is these principles that allow Iceheart Europe model to bring about positive youth development programme.

The sport team philosophy

The ‘sport team’ concept is central to the Icehearts model. It is indeed a sport-based model. As part of Icehearts Europe, groups of children and young people join a regular sports team (differs from competitive team sport see below) along with their peers, which will be facilitated by the mentor.

Specifics of Icehearts Europe mentors

The Icehearts Europe mentor is a qualified and ad-hoc trained person who promotes the long-term development of children and youth from a disadvantaged background, needing special support, through cooperation with the family, the school, the third sector, the community services and the Government.

• Goal of the Icehearts Europe mentor: to offer a growth environment based on equity and equality, safety, care, and appreciation through a committed, lasting and safe adult presence.
• Mindset of an Icehearts Europe mentor: Ability to persevere and to preserve a flexible attitude towards children and young people despite possible obstacles. Ability to support children’s personal interests and natural predispositions.
• Typical tasks of an Icehearts Europe mentor:

The mentor’s role and tasks can and must be adapted to suit local/national contexts through a framework you as programme manager will co-develop and agree with the mentors you are recruiting. The mentor’s work is then both very autonomous and yet it is always done in cooperation with the children and young people, families and stakeholders (including the implementing partner organisation). Therefore, different mentors can act in different ways and there are also different ways of working within the Icehearts Europe sport team, depending on the children and young people’s situation.

• Cooperation: An Icehearts Europe mentor never acts alone! The mentor is always recruited and supported by a local grassroots sports organisation: the implementing partner. The mentor will be able to have the greatest impact when collaborating with various stakeholders in the community to bridge gaps in the system. The mentor’s work is then both very autonomous and yet is always done in cooperation with the children and young people, family and stakeholders (including the implementing partner organisation). Therefore, different mentors can act in different ways and there are also different ways of working within the Icehearts Europe sport team, depending on the children and young people’s situation.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: A mentor’s main task is to support and guide children or adolescents in his or her team, with the aim of promoting the development of social and emotional competences, self-esteem and self-efficacy, which are necessary to prevent social isolation and foster positive development.

Key insights from partners on implementation principles for the Icehearts Europe model of intervention

Resources to go deeper and topic materials:

Name of the material	Why it matters / What you will find
Icehearts Europe Model 🔗	WHAT – Detailed presentation of the Icehearts Europe model developed by the partnership