As the Icehearts Europe project advances towards its second year, in which the Finnish best practice will be piloted in five more countries, the partners of the EU4Health-supported project, led by ISCA, have published a concise guide to the Icehearts Europe model in six languages.

The Icehearts Europe model draws on the lessons learned from the 27-year-old Finnish programme, Icehearts, which is aimed at preventing social exclusion and promoting health and mental wellbeing through long-term mentoring of disadvantaged children and adolescents. The original programme uses grassroots sport and physical activity as one tool, among a variety of leisure and soft skill-learning activities, to help children form social bonds in a supportive team environment.

Icehearts Europe puts active lifestyle promotion at the centre of the picture, illustrating how schools, sports clubs and community associations can work together to create activities that support children in developing both physical and psychosocial skills. It also explains the role of the mentor in building trust among the young participants and bridges between these different social actors in their lives.

This short guide to the Icehearts Europe model is available below in English and on our Resources page in the pilot countries’ languages: Estonian, Danish, Slovenian, Spanish and Italian. 

Discover more about Icehearts Europe here

Key project information:
Project period: January 2023-December 2025
Co-funded by: EU4H-2022 Programme
Grant amount: €4,000,000
Project Manager: Saska Benedicic Tomat, ISCA Head of Projects

Full project partners: ISCA, Icehearts (Finland), EuroHealthNet (Belgium), Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) (Finland), University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (UNICAS) (Italy), University College of Cork (Ireland), the Italian Institute of Public Health (ISS) (Italy), DGI (Denmark), SPIN (Estonia), Fútbol Más Espana (Spain), UISP (Italy) and Sports Union of Slovenia.  

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union not the granting authority can be held responsible for them.