CATALYST
Support young people’s mental wellbeing and employability
The Project
The Catalyst project aims to address critical challenges faced by young people, including mental health issues, social isolation, and barriers to employment. By training peer coaches, developing resources, and engaging stakeholders, the project seeks to create a supportive environment that empowers young people to successfully transition to adulthood and the labour market.
The project trains 48 young people aged 25–30 as peer coaches across six countries. Each coach will support younger peers aged 18–24, reaching at least 240 young people through career coaching, mental-health awareness, and practical peer support.
The project will produce a six-module peer-coaching programme, a youth mental-health toolkit, and online learning modules for youth workers on social media, AI, and youth mental health. It brings together organisations from Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Iceland, and Czechia, and runs from September 2025 to August 2027.
Project partners
The project coordinator is INICIATIVAS DE FUTURO PARA UNA EUROPA SOCIAL COOP V (IFESCOOP) from Spain.
The project partners are WeLearn Limited from Ireland; NEOPHYTOS CH CHARALAMBOUS (INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT LTD) from Cyprus; Mirovna grupa mladih Dunav from Croatia; RightNow ehf from Iceland; and AKLUB Centrum vzdělávání a poradenství, z.s. from Czechia.
Project period
CATALYST is planned as a 24-month Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership in Youth, running from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2027.
Working period overview
The work begins in September 2025 with project planning, quality assurance, promotion, learning outcomes, and templates for the training materials. From November 2025 to August 2026, the consortium develops the peer-coaching programme, youth mental-health toolkit, and social-media/AI mental-health modules. A transnational partner meeting in Iceland is planned around August–September 2026 to finalise and test core materials.
From October 2026 to January 2027, the resources will be consolidated, translated into partner languages, and uploaded to the online platform. From February to July 2027, partners will train peer coaches, conduct mentoring activities, pilot the toolkit with young people, train youth workers, and hold a transnational workshop in Croatia. The project closes in July–August 2027 with Career Community events in all partner countries, a final partner meeting in Spain, final evaluation, sustainability planning, and reporting.
Funding
The project is funded through the Erasmus+ Programme, under Cooperation Partnerships in Youth (KA220-YOU), Call 2025, Round 1. It is managed through the Spanish National Agency for Youth, INJUVE (ES02). The proposed Erasmus+ project funding by lump sum. The application also notes that Erasmus+ provides co-financing, meaning participating organisations may need to cover any remaining eligible project costs through their own contributions, goods, services, or work.
About
CATALYST: Peer-Led Career Coaching to Support Disengaged Young People is a proposed 24-month Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership in Youth, running from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2027.
Purpose
The project addresses the link between young people’s mental-health challenges, social isolation, harmful online experiences, and difficulties entering education, training, or employment. Its core method is peer support: slightly older young people are trained to coach and mentor younger peers through career planning and personal barriers.
Who it will support
Across Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Iceland, and Czechia, the project plans to train 48 peer coaches aged 25–30—eight in each country. Each coach will support five younger people aged 18–24, reaching at least 240 mentees. It will also provide training for 30 youth workers and engage community stakeholders, including education providers, employers, and mental-health organisations.
Main outputs
CATALYST will create a six-module peer-coaching programme covering youth mental health, social media, substance use, isolation, coaching skills, and peer-coach self-care. It will also produce a youth mental-health toolkit with tip sheets, videos, reflection activities, and facilitator guidance, plus six online modules for youth workers on social media, AI, and youth mental health. The project builds on the existing Career Compass resources for career management and resilience.
Partnership and funding
The coordinator is INICIATIVAS DE FUTURO PARA UNA EUROPA SOCIAL COOP V (IFESCOOP) in Spain, working with organisations in Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Iceland, and Czechia. The application requests an Erasmus+ lump-sum grant of €250,000, managed through Spain’s National Agency for Youth, INJUVE.
Expected impact
The intended result is a practical, scalable peer-coaching model that helps young people improve confidence, resilience, mental-health awareness, and career readiness. Resources will be translated into partner languages, available online as open educational resources, and maintained on the learning platform for at least five years after the project ends.
Results
The project will deliver practical peer-coaching, mental-health, and outreach resources to help young people manage barriers to employment and life transitions.
Main project results
- A six-module Peer Coaching Training Programme for young people aged 25–30, covering youth mental health, social media, substance use, social isolation, coaching skills, and peer-coach self-care.
- 48 trained peer coaches—eight in each partner country—who will mentor at least 240 younger people aged 18–24.
- A Mental Health Toolkit for young people, including six tip sheets, six short self-help videos, six self-reflection activities, and facilitation guidance for peer coaches and youth workers. It covers self-care, resilience, digital well-being, substance use, career planning, and social connection.
- Six online modules for peer coaches and youth workers on social media, AI, and youth mental health, with training provided to 30 youth workers across the partnership.
- An online learning platform hosting the programme and resources in all partner languages, linked to the existing Career Compass career-management materials.
- Career Community events in all six countries, connecting young people with employment, education, and mental-health support providers.
Expected outcomes
The project expects young people to gain greater confidence, resilience, mental-health awareness, career-planning skills, and access to supportive peer networks. It also aims to reduce mental-health stigma and social isolation, strengthen youth workers’ capacity to address online and AI-related risks, and build partnerships with at least 60 stakeholders such as employers, education providers, and mental-health organisations.
All resources are intended to remain freely available as open educational resources, with the online platform maintained for at least five years after the project ends.
Project idea:
CATALYST is a peer-led support project designed to help young people overcome mental-health and social barriers that make the transition into work, education, or training more difficult.
The central idea is to train 48 young people aged 25–30 as peer coaches across Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Iceland, and Czechia. These coaches will then support at least 240 younger peers aged 18–24 with career planning, confidence, resilience, and challenges such as anxiety, social isolation, substance use, and harmful social-media experiences.
Rather than relying only on formal services, the project uses relatable peer support: young people who have recently navigated similar life transitions will provide practical, non-judgemental mentoring. The peer coaches will use a six-module training programme and existing Career Compass career-management resources.
Alongside coaching, CATALYST will develop a mental-health toolkit for young people and online training for youth workers on the effects of social media and AI on youth mental health. It will also connect young people with employers, education providers, and mental-health services through local Career Community events.
Overall, the project combines mental-health awareness, peer mentoring, digital well-being, and career guidance to help disengaged young people feel better supported and more prepared for employment.
