Imagine you are on stage. Imagine talking about yourself, your family, your friends. You have just imagined that you are Anastasia, the girl from the EU-supported play “Anastasia, it’s brave to talk about yourself.”
This brave girl reveals to the audience the invisible elements of relationships with parents, friends, and professionals of all systems that in real life were a hindrance to her or a help in situations of danger, an attack, an injury, discrimination, or stigmatisation.
The performance was realised as part of the EU project “The Proactive Involvement of Society and Individuals in work with Children and Youth at Risk, and Children and Youth with Behavioral Problems through the forum theater format.”. The event was supported by the NGO Staze with partner organisations, the NGO Children of Montenegro, and the Association Impulse through the programme “Professional and Timely Provision of Services after COVID-19 PTSD,” which is financed by the European Union in Montenegro.
There was laughter, applause, and tears at the premiere of the play held at the Radosav Ljumović library.
“We are proud to have included children from JU Centar Ljubović as well as children from Elementary School “Štampar Makarije” and Elementary School “Oktoih” in our work, in order to carry out activities with them that influence the awareness of the community, professionals and the wider audience to recognise that the target group has a problem and that is not a problem in itself,” said the NGO Psiho-Vodič.
The project deals with the important topic of the active involvement of society and individuals in working with children and young people at risk, as well as children and young people with behavioral problems, and is aimed at raising the awareness of the community, professionals, and the wider audience.
The aim of the play is to educate children and young people in the community, as well as professionals and other members of the community through the real-life representation of children’s problems that lie beneath the displayed socially maladjusted behavior and violations of law.