"Careyoo" E-Learning Platform for Families of Children with Disabilities Launches in Luxembourg

On Tuesday 28 May 2024, nestwärme has announced the launch of the “careyoo” e-learning platform for families in distress and volunteers in Luxembourg and various other countries.

The international nestwärme network, also active in Luxembourg, which provides long-term support to families with seriously ill and disabled children and youth, has expanded its current range of training in mental health.

Saturday 25 May 2024 marks the launch of “careyoo”, a free e-learning platform with microformats intended for Luxembourg families of disabled children and young people as well as their loved ones. nestwärme has found a partner for this digital platform in the André Losch Foundation, which supports the implementation of this project in Luxembourg first in German, then in French from October 2024.

Children with special needs and their families rely on different types of assistance. Strengthening resilience is one of the central themes, since it contributes, for example, to reducing stress. This is also the objective of “careyoo”. This new platform also offers the possibility to discuss with other people concerned in a dedicated “community space”. Users find an offer they can access at a time that suits them and at their own pace at http://www.careyoo.org.

“Experience shows that those affected generally do not find time in their busy daily lives to learn or train in a concentrated manner over long periods of time,” explained Petra Moske, co-founder and chair of the Board of Directors of nestwärme.

“It is therefore important that the modules are integrated into everyday life and that our users can use them independently, regardless of location and time.” The accompanying information campaign, which will draw attention to the new offering from mid-June, therefore does not focus on self-optimization or learning in the strict sense of the term, but focuses on campaign motifs such as “Everyday champions use careyoo – find out what makes you feel good.”

Microlearning units last around ten minutes maximum, and a trained team is available to answer user questions. “We also want to benefit from the great experience of families and volunteers. Thanks to the participatory approach of user-generated content, we allow them to offer content themselves, which promotes the acceptance, appeal and evolving nature of our platform. The careyoo community allows everyone to create networks and conduct discussions,” said Dirk Hense, responsible for Luxembourg.

Discussions between participants should promote understanding and debate on the themes covered, nestwärme added. To enable everyone to quickly find the content that suits them from the wide range of possible content, “adaptive learning” is planned in a second phase. Learners will then follow a personalised learning process during which algorithms will evaluate their behaviour in order to present them with the most suitable content. The creators of careyoo aim for this platform to allow participants not only to understand the challenges and needs of the family but also to discover management strategies, exercises and practices adapted from a self-care perspective.

“And finally, we would like to ensure that participants, children and young people enjoy stable psychosocial health, can communicate openly with each other, create strong bonds with each other and treat each other with respect,” said Moske and Hense.

For the creation of this digital platform, nestwärme partnered up with Avallain AG, an award-winning Swiss learning technology solutions provider that ethically integrates AI without its technology and collaborates globally complete with leaders such as Oxford University Press, National Geographic Learning | Cengage or even Klett Verlag. The company's reported mission is to “unleash human potential through innovative training supported by technology”. The Avallain Foundation makes Avallain AG technology available to careyoo free-of-charge for non-profit projects.

“We are proud and grateful to see our Avallain Magnet® and Avallain Author® e-learning solutions used to offer affected families and honorary members the many possibilities to support digitalisation," said Daniel Seuling, Vice President Client Relations and Marketing at Avallain AG.

Nestwärme has been offering managers online and face-to-face courses on mental resilience, designed especially for them, since 2016. The offer has been constantly expanded since then. The development of the careyoo platform has been an important further step towards making it available to an even greater number of people while responding even better to the needs of target groups, nestwärme concluded.