What is WellSpaces
A network built on the belief that inner wellbeing is the foundation of wise civic life.
WellSpaces Network for Youth is a pan-European network of organizations, informal groups, and practitioners working with young people. We put bio-psycho-physical wellbeing at the center of youth work — not as a therapeutic add-on, but as the ground from which meaningful participation grows.
The name says it simply: we are a network dedicated to creating well spaces — environments where young people feel safe enough to move from alienation toward awareness, connection, and wise civic action.
Coordinated from Italy, WellSpaces unites 26 organizations across 11 countries — recognized by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Civil Society Cooperation framework as a long-term structural actor in European youth policy. Together, we develop training, frameworks, practical tools, and policy platforms that make bio-psycho-physical wellbeing a core feature of youth work — at local, national, and European level.
Our framework: Safety → Belonging → Hope → Wise Agency
From the inside out. From the grassroots up.
Mission
To co-create and share embodied, relational practices that help young people, youth workers, and practitioners respond with awareness and courage to complex emotional, social, and ecological realities — and to translate that field knowledge into tools and standards that shape youth work at every level.
Vision
A European youth sector where bio-psycho-physical wellbeing is the foundation of participation, learning, and inclusion. Where young people are equipped with the inner awareness and relational skills to move from alienation into wise civic action.
How Change Happens
Young people across Europe are navigating intersecting pressures — mental health challenges, ecological anxiety, digital stress, social disconnection. Youth workers feel it too. Yet the field still lacks structured, cross-border approaches that connect inner wellbeing to wise civic engagement.
WellSpaces works from the inside out: building the relational conditions that make meaningful participation possible, then systematizing what works into evidence that travels — to programs, to policy, to practice.
Three integrated approaches
Evidence-based practice — grounding our work in field research and documented outcomes.
Social art & creativity — using storytelling, co-creation, and artistic expression as tools for exploration and connection.
Embodied methodologies — connecting through movement, dialogue, and the grounding presence of stillness.
Four Commitments
Change youth work — develop and spread practical tools that make bio-psycho-physical wellbeing a standard part of youth programs
Shape youth policy — build credible dialogue with policymakers so wellbeing becomes core to EU and national frameworks
Strengthen collective voice — connect member organizations to advocate together more effectively across Europe
Center youth voices — ensure real stories and field evidence from young people directly shape our tools, advocacy, and public messages
Meet the team
The people who hold the direction -and tend the space for you to shape it.
WellSpaces is held together by people before it is held together by structure. The coordination team brings together practitioners, trainers, and facilitators from across the network — each rooted in their own field context, each committed to the shared direction.
We don't operate from a central office. We operate from a web of relationships, shaped by the same values we carry into the room with young people: presence, honesty, and the willingness to be moved, to think together, and to listen into what wants to emerge.
Paola Bortini
Paola is an Italian coach and trainer based in Vienna (Austria), mother of 2 young men. With a background in sociology and youth work, Paola combines Mindfulness and self-compassion based approaches with embodiment. Paola is active at world-level, involved in projects to support embodied leadership and emotional resilience.
Luna Villalba
Luna Villalba is an Italian-Argentinian social psychologist who specialises in interculturality. Having a degree in Languages and Intercultural Studies at the University of Florence, followed by training at National Taiwan Normal University, she now applies her insights within multilingual, international contexts. Her professional experience includes working with global organisations such as Airbnb and Zara, as well as providing consultancy and storytelling services. Her work is informed by her lived experience in Argentina, Italy, Spain, Taiwan and Indonesia.
Ricardo Dutra
Ricardo Dutra is a social designer, researcher and educator working and collaborating in diverse global contexts. He holds a MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons School of Design, New York, and a PhD in Design for Transformative Education from Monash University, Melbourne. Ricardo is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Art & Media, Aalto University, Finland. Ricardo’s work has been featured by Fast Company, Milan Design Week, the Unreasonable Group, Ashoka, The New School, and the UNAOC.
Agathe Peltereau-Villeneuve
I am engaged in bringing art-based and awareness-based change methods to individuals, teams and systems in support of their flourishing and regeneration. Based in France, I collaborate with many like-hearted collectives and individuals around the world. My core missions in 2026-2027 are to teach and promote Social Presencing Theater regionally, and support the development of Social Arts in Europe in collaboration with the Presencing Institute.
Paolo Stollagli
Founder and President of Antigóna, driving international cooperation initiatives Globally. He spearheads the organization’s European Solidarity Corps (ESC) operations, serving as the primary liaison for volunteer candidates and foreign partners while overseeing selection, training, and international monitoring through field visits that strengthen community bonds. His role ensures operational continuity, issue mitigation, and strategic reporting to the COO.
Marina Seghetti
Marina works at the intersection of capacity building, social art, and outreach. She designs creative spaces that foster collaboration and positive change. As a consultant, trainer, and coach, she guides individuals and organizations in realizing their transformative potential. With expertise in education, psychology, and fine arts, Marina brings a unique perspective on human development and group dynamics. She has worked with organizations like the UNDP, InterAction Council, and CPMRC Argentinian Congress, and co-founded U.Lab Hub Firenze, a space for innovative ecosystems.
Partners
27 organizations. 17 countries. A shared direction.
WellSpaces is a coalition of youth organizations, informal groups, and individual practitioners committed to making wellbeing a structural feature of youth work — across Europe and beyond. Our partners are the network — implementing activities locally, generating grassroots evidence, and bringing the WellSpaces approach to life in their territories.
✽ Leading organisations
Associazione Antigóna
was founded in Italy in 2008 with a simple and generous conviction: that the best contribution an organisation can make is to strengthen the work of others. Over fifteen years, that spirit has grown into direct project leadership, digital inclusion work, and a sustained commitment to European solidarity programmes.
Studio Atelierista
is a transdisciplinary residency program, dedicated to activating awareness-based collective creativity through social arts and embodied practices. It creates experimental spaces—rooted in Social Presencing Theater and Awareness-Based Design—where artists, educators and researchers make the intangible visible, exploring pedagogies of togetherness and relational creativity across formal and informal learning contexts.
Limina
Limina is a Vienna-based initiative with over 20 years' experience delivering training and facilitation services internationally, using mindfulness-based approaches. Through workshops and cooperation projects, it creates transformative spaces where individuals and groups can develop new perspectives and strengthen their capacity for dialogue within complex organisations and communities.
Génération Présence
Génération Présence is a Paris-based NGO (est. 2011) working at the intersection of Social Presencing Theater, Theory U, and Social Arts across educational, organizational, and change-making contexts. Their practice centers on deep sensing, collective reflection, and relational learning, co-designing programs and residencies to cultivate collective awareness, agency, and systemic change.
✽ Member Organisations
EUROPA
Austria
Belgium
Estonia
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
- Associazione Antigóna
- Casa del Cuculo Soc. Coop.
- L’ESPACE APS/ASD
- PROGETTO CRESCERE
- Studio Atelierista
Latvia
Malta
Co-funding & Sustainability
Independent. Responsible. Built for the long term.
WellSpaces is supported through the Erasmus+ Civil Society Cooperation – Youth Operational Grant (ERASMUS-YOUTH-2025-CSC-OG-FPA, n. 101257067) — reflecting the European Union's recognition of wellbeing-centered youth work as a long-term policy priority.
This operational grant model enables WellSpaces to build infrastructure: shared standards, a growing evidence base, and a connected community of practice across 11 countries. As the network grows, so does its capacity to sustain and expand the work.
Co-funded by the European Union. The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.
