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"Things started to happen when I learnt to let go"
If you are supporting young people in the community, at school, college or university you are probably familiar with this…
More young people want help
Suicide was the leading cause of death for males and females aged between 5 and 34 in 2019*
Young people are waiting
1.5 million young people need new or additional mental health support as a result of the pandemic**
What is on offer doesn't go far enough
"I want to stop coping and start living" ***
*ONS: Deaths registered in England and Wales (2019) section six
** NHS England 2021
*** 21 year old student, Shropshire
THE SHOOPERY is an experiential learning company exploring what happens when we make space to let go.
We know that ‘letting go’ is not easy, especially when life is uncertain or we feel under pressure.
However the ability to ‘carry on’ is expected and demanded of us and so we find ways to cope or keep safe - our world gets smaller.
We believe that when we have SHOOP in our life, we make space to let go, we have back up and we can take back some control to make new things happen.
SHOOP is positive, upbeat, ambitious, out of your comfort zone experiences that when you do them, with others, random and surprising things happen… your heart beats and you let go.
No one can be told what the SHOOPERY is...
they have to live it for themselves.
Our starting point is a workshop with a small group of young people at school, college, university or community setting - to experience letting go and what it means. To do this we focus on;
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building relationship
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creating permission for instinct
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entering the stretch zone where fear disappears and excitement lives
To achieve this we use movement, improvisation and play.
After this we can work together to find ways to make this part of real life, figuring out together what this looks like and along the way noticing what difference it makes.
Let's work together.
We predominantly work with young people in small groups (5-15 people) aged 14 - 25 years within education or community settings.
From experience we like to work with a group over 3 months, with 4 collaborative workshop days (between 2-4hrs), access to additional online support if needed and this leads to establishing SHOOP groups which continue as part of real life beyond our support time.
As a teacher, student support worker, or community worker we could start with you - hosting a letting go workshop for your team will help to build a shared understanding of SHOOP within your school, college, university or community.
BOOK YOUR FIRST LETTING GO WORKSHOP - GETTING SHOOPY WITH IT
#EverydayPeople #inRealLife
If I am struggling the norm would be to go to an ‘expert’ for help in places that are ‘clinical’ in look and feel and to do it on my own. If I try elsewhere - friends, family - I can easily feel like a burden because they have stuff going on and to be honest they would prefer it if there was a quick fix expert on hand too.
I become a problem to be fixed and life becomes all about me - even when that is the last thing I wanted.
The way we talk and act on distress, trauma and challenge is through power, systems or complicated relationships which leads to feelings of powerlessness, hopelessness and helplessness for everyone involved.
We almost have to do the exact opposite of what is happening in society today (isolation, polarisation, conformity, containment) to make connection and relationship the starting point.
“I am no better and neither are you
We're all the same, whatever we do
You love me, you hate me
You know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people”
Everyday People, Sly and The Family Stone
THE SHOOPERY works from the understanding that we are all Everyday People and we can ALL contribute to making good things happen in our lives and others.
And obviously we think SHOOP is a great way to do this:
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Creating space to let go - trust our instincts and express who we are - getting SHOOPY
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Actively entering the stretch zone - where fear disappears and excitement lives - finding our own SHOOP
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Knowing what back-up and support really is and knowing our SHOOP group
It’s chaotic, it’s weird, it’s human - it’s needed in Real Life
THE SHOOPERY
is where to go to let go
#EverydayPeople
#inRealLife
To read more about who is behind all this please click here - https://www.theshoopery.com/everydaypeople
How does SHOOP make a difference in life?
too often, when things are not going to plan, the brain can mess with us and the body keeps score…
‘Clinical depression is singularly life-diminishing…despair, guilt, exhaustion, anxiety, pain and cognitive retardation, often making sufferers wish they were dead… the brains of people who are depressed are generally much less active than normal- there is simply less going on than there should be… the area most notably affected was that which is thought to be responsible for the feeling of ‘agency’ that goes along with self-willed behaviour. This spot seems to create the essential feeling of ‘aliveness’ that we usually take for granted’
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/947061.Mapping_the_Mind
‘Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves….. Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.’
Bessel A. van der Kolk,
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Body-Keeps-the-Score-Audiobook/0141992646
there are new conversations happening in science all the time about the brains amazing ability to re-wire at any age…
Catherine studied this whilst working with Jabadao and what happens when we put the body first… ‘Our physical development affects the way we move, how we think, how we feel, our health and our wellbeing. Movement Play builds great foundations.’
‘When we learn something new, we create new connections between our neurons. We rewire our brains to adapt to new circumstances. This happens on a daily basis, but it’s also something that we can encourage and stimulate’
https://positivepsychology.com/neuroplasticity/
‘5 items that are essential for a better brain… diet, exercise, challenge, newness, love’
(Dr Marion Diamond a clip from My Love Affair With the Brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCh29GWQbYM)
And there is a whole library of research with the science behind uncertainty and re-wiring the brain here…
https://uncertaintyexperts.com/research
so our approach might look a little out there, but it is about what makes the heart beat faster to make good things happen in life…
92% OF FIRST TIME SHOOPERS DID SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T THINK THEY WOULD DO
‘What’s life like in the sweet spot?…There’s stress, absolutely. But that stress feels about right for what you are capable of. It’s just a little bit beyond capability… It tantalises and pulls you. It challenges and fatigues you, but it exhilarates as well.’
https://www.exuberantanimal.com
‘The fools approach to life jars us into an an awareness that there is a second right answer to what we are doing, and that we should look for better answers than the ones we have got. Indeed, sometimes the fool makes more sense than the wise man. In a time when things are changing very quickly who is to say what is right and what is foolish.’
‘I now saw that if I was ever to succeed in making the changes in use I desired, I must subject the processes directing my use to a new experience
History | The Definitive Guide to the Alexander Technique
this is not about being introvert or extrovert - your SHOOP is your SHOOP, we all have it in us…
82% OF SHOOPERS KNOW WHAT THEIR SHOOP IS
‘it’s a spectrum, none of it matters. It shouldn’t be like, 'I’m an introvert so this is how I should act' or, 'I'm an extrovert so this is how I should act'. It’s not a medical diagnosis, just something to help us make more sense of ourselves… being empathetic and open towards others encourages a more collaborative and comfortable environment for all’
https://students.ubc.ca/ubclife/conversation-introvert-extrovert
‘We do tell ourselves stories, and it matters what type of stories we tell ourselves. The people I met for my book told themselves more positive stories about their lives — about why they were still just as good, even though they were different…. They seemed to understand that if no one else is okay with you, you have to be okay with yourself. You have to be ready to embrace your weirdness’
Can being weird be a good thing? - Vox
we just need to find the right people to SHOOP with…
75% OF SHOOPERS HAVE A SHOOP GROUP
‘We achieve our very subtle understanding of other people thanks to a certain collection of special cells in the brain called mirror neurones. These are the tiny miracles that get us through the day. They are at the heart of how we navigate through our lives. They bind us with each other mentally and emotionally.’
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZk7sZcAAAAJ&hl=en
‘They may experience self-loss in the dance, or a kind of merger with the group, but they also seek a chance to shine, as individuals, for their skills and talents’
Dancing in the Streets | Hachette Book Group (barbaraehrenreich.com)
We then must shape our public services to better support relationships and social connections and empower people by allowing them to become the decision-makers.
http://www.psychchange.org/building-resilience-and-community-wellbeing.html
‘Seen from this perspective, a young person is a unique individual whose behaviour and attitude is rooted within this lifeworld. The process of change is not separate from people’s activities and relationships. In this space, the person shapes their environment, and therefore their lifeworld, and transforms himself or herself through doing so.’
The Social Pedagogy-
https://sppa-uk.org/the-common-third/
Are you in? book your first letting go workshop - getting SHOOPY with it here - after this we can work together to find ways to make this part of real life, figuring out together what this looks like and along the way noticing what difference it makes.
