On the morning of November 25, 2025, in the classrooms of ITIS “Fabiani–Deledda” in Trieste, the workshop “Growing Up to Prevent. Youth work and prevention of gender-based violence” took place, an activity dedicated to local students and included in the calendar of initiatives for the YouPart project. It was led by Agnese Berton and Simona Raffaele, who, through a non-formal education approach, guided the class in a participatory and concrete reflection on the role of the youth worker and the dynamics related to gender-based violence.

The day began with an energizer as simple as it was effective: counting together from 1 to 20, one voice at a time, without agreeing in advance and without overlapping. Apparently a game, in reality an exercise in listening, attention, and group synchronization. In a few seconds, the class began to cooperate without even realizing it, getting into the right mindset to move on to deeper work.
 

This first activation moment was followed by the main activity of the morning: the “Resource Map and Change Activator.” The goal was to bring out, without judgment, what the students would and would not do if they perceived that someone close to them was experiencing a difficult situation: mood changes, signs of control, insults, body shaming, jealousy dynamics, or aggressive behaviors. Each student wrote two post-its: one dedicated to helpful actions and one to actions to avoid, thus creating a spontaneous map of behaviors, insights, and real doubts.
 

It was at this moment that the trainers introduced the figure of the youth worker, describing them as someone who operates precisely in the “grey areas”: not a teacher, not a parent, not a psychologist, but a facilitator who helps young people understand what is happening, find alternatives, and recognize existing resources in the area.
 

The workshop then continued with a series of realistic case studies, very close to the daily lives of adolescents: digital control by a partner, humiliations circulating in class chats, pressure to send intimate photos, group comments that normalize jealousy and control. Divided into small groups, participants analyzed each scenario by answering three questions: what the person involved feels, what risks they face, and where a youth worker can intervene.

The discussion brought out emotions that are often invisible: fear, confusion, shame, loneliness, alongside very concrete risks such as isolation, escalation of violence, blackmail, loss of self-esteem, or the non-consensual sharing of images. At the end of this phase, the ideas were reported on the board, creating a collective map of emotions, risks, and possible intervention spaces. At the end, the trainers opened a discussion with the class, inviting the students to look not only at the emotions and fears of those who suffer a form of violence, but also at the personal, cultural, and relational mechanisms that can lead someone to adopt those behaviors. A way to understand the phenomenon in its complexity, without simplifications, and to practice recognizing what often remains hidden.
 

This activity on the morning of November 25 demonstrated how the prevention of gender-based violence does not only happen through lectures or data to remember, but through participatory experiences that put young people at the center, their emotions, their language, and their ability to be allies for one another. A process that not only teaches how to recognize violence, but above all to build more aware, empathetic, and responsible communities.