Taking young people who are not used to being in a wilderness setting, nor canoeing long distance, can seem quite a daunting task. All you can do to minimise the risks is to prepare well in advance.
Our group of young people from the Berkshire programme started with canoe lessons on Taplow Lake, had a weekend camping at our headquarters in Essex, undertook team building and leadership skills and worked with the facilitation team to learn to work as a group.
So in May, after a long journey of travelling to Scotland and finding ourselves on the shores of the Loch Awe, overlooking one of the most iconic castles, we were in good shape from a practical and emotional point of view.
Our goal was to wild camp and explore the Loch from beginning to end over seven days. Being the longest stretch of freshwater in Scotland it offered islands, wild corners and history. The challenges came with wind on the water and the need to stay on course and paddle hard, to camp wild with no luxuries or comforts, to work as a paddle team and pull together and to deal with the thoughts and feelings that often rise to the surface when one is away from all the usual ‘cover-ups’ that life at home gives us.
Our young people had a mix of issues in their lives and mainly had to deal with emotional issues – and childhood issues that had had a big impact on them and that they were trying to deal with as young adults with little family support. They were fantastic at working through some of the difficult bits, finding joy in swims in icy clear waters, sitting round our little fires at night, singing musical theme songs when the going got tough and we were tired and wet, and being willing to share their thoughts and feelings in our group check in and check out session at the beginning and end of each day.
Wilderness is always the co-therapist in helping the group find their inner strengths and new reflections, understanding how much we can do, and also that it is OK to be emotional and release some of the built up pain and tension. Wilderness is also a great environment to simply focus on the present, to experience a mindfulness in the moments of water lapping, wind in one’s hair or the eye blurring purple of islands covered in bluebells. It is a place where one can come back to life emotionally and reconnect with one’s senses, rediscover your toes under the clear water, and think fresh thoughts. The metaphors that nature offers in the wild are myriad and offer different perspectives and insights that seem impossible in everyday life.
Our role was to keep them safe emotionally and the guides to keep them safe physically. Together we held a space where people can grow and flourish and we work hand in glove as a team. At night we had our readings from our poetry books, told stories, laughed, ate, talked and fell into our sleeping bags. There was a sense of belonging, caring, togetherness and appreciation of beauty and privilege to travel through this place.
We returned midge bitten, windswept, pink nosed from the sun, childish and freer. The young people have fed back their change in confidence, change in knowing what they need to do better for themselves, and with an experience of themselves, others and nature than can never be lost to them. Its ‘finders keepers’ in the best sense of the words.
TurnAround Berkshire is funded by The Woodstock Family Trust.
