Lifting Hands International is looking for Arts and Recreation Facilitators in Greece

About Us

Lifting Hands International operates a community center in Serres, a small city about an hour from Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. We work with a population of 1000+ refugees & asylum seekers at the local camps, providing regular aid distributions and a range of psychosocial support programs.

Program Description

Arts and Recreation encompasses several subjects, including dance, fitness, yoga, music, sport and visual arts with its purposes being psychosocial support and creating a safe and inclusive space for teenagers and adults. Psychosocial support addresses the emotional, mental, and social well-being of people, allowing them to build resilience, adapt to new environments, and develop a stronger sense of self-worth. By creating a supportive community and fostering a sense of belonging, we support them in navigating the complex journey of integrating into a new place.

In addition to Arts and Rec’s schedule of classes, we have a drop-in recreation space where we provide games and a range of materials and activities. There’s a lot of space to bring your skills and ideas to this part of the program. We have a strong team of community teachers who live in the camp but we may ask you to support them with the setting up and tidying away of their classes, to assist them in the facilitation of their class, to cover their class or to bring some new inspiration!

We sometimes ask volunteers to teach yoga, fitness, music, art and dance. We prefer yoga and fitness teachers to be trained in trauma-informed yoga and fitness. We provide a detailed introduction to and guidelines for this on arrival. Music teachers can teach guitar, ukulele, keyboard and tambur, these are group lessons and we also offer ‘Music hour’ classes which include singing and drums.

Next to the specific Arts and Recreation tasks you may be required to help in our other programs. All facilitators are asked to do logistic and warehouse shifts.

Main Responsibilities

• Working with Community Volunteers to create, support and refine classes and activities for teenagers and adults
• Creating a safe space for men, women and young adults
• Leading activities in the event our Community Facilitator is unable to attend (if you feel comfortable to do so)
• Making the users of our services feel welcome

Essential Criteria

• Quick thinker, proactive, motivated, open-minded, able to work in a fast-paced working environment, positive and adaptable to work with limited shared language with program participants
• Excellent communication skills
• Professional attitude, able to remain calm under pressure
• Able to work well in a large, multicultural team
• Fluent English speaker

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge or motivation to learn about trauma informed approach
• Understanding of the implementation of psychosocial support programs
• Potential to stay on the team for 6 months
• Previous experience working with refugees, forcibly displaced persons, or at-risk youth
• Experience teaching yoga

We offer

• Five-day work week + full week break after every 6 weeks of work
• Monthly reimbursement ( 100 euros per month after the fourth month)
• Free accommodation on stays over 6 months, only 50 euros per month for those staying three or more.
• 5 euros per night for less than 3 months