
Over 50 participants will participate in Sunce’s training for current and future educational workers and educators.
Quality communication and understanding of children – the foundation for building a sustainable future
Understanding children and deepening the relationship with them allows for building a deeper emotional connection. Children who feel understood and supported are likelier to develop empathy for others and the environment. Furthermore, communication that empowers children encourages them to express their ideas, ask questions, and explore the world around them.
In short, quality communication and understanding of children are key factors in shaping generations that will actively contribute to a sustainable future with their knowledge, skills, and values. Therefore, Sunce organizes a training session of as many as four workshops lasting three hours with the aim of building skills and competencies for the highest quality work with children:
- Basics of Therapeutic Play – Skills for Understanding the Child and Deepening Relationships, 12/02/2024 (4:30 pm – 7:30 pm), leader Tea Knežević
- The Inner World of Gifted Children, February 13, 2024 (4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.), leader Tea Knežević
- Communication That Empowers Children, 19 February 2024 (16:30 – 19:30), leader Irena Orlović
- Storytelling – How to Make a Fairy Tale That Empowers Children, February 20, 2024 (4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.), presenter Irena Orlović.
Participants will apply knowledge and skills in the field of sustainability
To ensure the practical application of newly acquired knowledge and skills, educators participating in the training will take responsibility for the implementation of certain elements of the training during the duration of the project. The goal is the integration of acquired competencies into daily work with children, thereby contributing to the quality of the educational process.
Educators will develop and implement short educations for children, focused on the areas of environmental protection and promotion of sustainable development. Each of them will have the freedom to adapt education according to their own choice, the special needs of their group of children, and the specifics of the environment in which they operate.

With this approach, we encourage the creativity and adaptability of educators, enabling them to create educational modules that will best suit the specifics of their work environment. Emphasis is placed on an individual approach, allowing educators to use their unique talents and experiences in creating educational programs that will further stimulate children’s awareness of the importance of preserving the environment and sustainable living.
The workshops are led by experts in communication with children and therapeutic play
Irena Orlović is a consulting therapist with a certificate from the German umbrella organization for Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy DVNLPt. She is the author of the award-winning web application Pametnica, and owner and editor of the publishing house Harfa, through which she studied the literature of renowned world neuroscientists for the past 17 years. She is the author of the therapeutic picture book Djevojčica i sreća, which empowers girls and women. She is also the author of educational games for encouraging pre-mathematical skills and speech-language development. In recent years, as an NLP trainer, she has been raising awareness of the importance of proper connection and communication with children so that they grow into strong, healthy people who will be able to draw on their inner potential without hindrance. She regularly organizes and conducts educations that raise awareness of the importance of early stimulation. She is also happy to motivate and empower parents of children with developmental disabilities.
Tea Knežević is the co-founder and director of Centra Proventus d.o.o. in which she conducts play therapy with children, counseling and psychotherapy with adults, and conducts numerous trainings for specialists. She is the co-author and manager of the program Application of Therapeutic Play in a Kindergarten Environment and Different Approaches to Therapeutic Play in Working with Children with Developmental Disabilities as well as numerous other educations for experts who work with children. She wrote 24 picture books with therapeutic stories for children, published by Evenia. She led various projects related to mental health, with the support of the City of Zagreb and the Ministry of Science and Education, as part of which she is the co-author of four manuals: Transactional Analysis to Psychological Resilience, The Inner World of Gifted Children, Anger Management at School and Social Exclusion. She actively participates in various congresses and conferences inside and outside Croatia and actively promotes the importance of healthy socio-emotional development of children.
This training is carried out as part of the new project Small Steps for a Sustainable Society – A Journey Towards Environmental Awareness of the Ministry of Science and Education.