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Last week we hosted our first SHOOP webinar - SHOOP student wellbeing. Together we explored how to make connection easier through making space and permission to let go. Within the context of College life, the conversation turned to highlighting how much young people are building up the armour and consistently feeling 'on guard', so even when people are together developing good relationships was a challenge. This also led to the realisation that adults supporting young people are often ‘on guard’ too and that is being noticed by the young people they support. The feeling of being ‘on guard’ faded as we played and
the way we responded to each other was different.
Last year when we were lucky enough to be part of the #BeeWell festival https://gmbeewell.org using movement, improvisation and play to experience letting go, we found that young people highlighted the crux of the issue very clearly….
people are the problem AND people are the solution.
We had about 30 mins to create an experience of letting go but we still worked through different stages of connection, as well as making the most of the environment, and the fact that - here was a group of 200 who could really support one another. In response to the question - what helps you let go? Friends, best friends and people who care for you were high up on the list. In response to the question - what gets in the way? People came out on top followed by friends and family. In response to the question- what does letting go feel like? ‘Letting go feels like just being able to be me without negative comments’ Being able to feel safe with other people is vital as the book The Body Keeps Score by Besser Van Der Kolk says... “safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives”. The team at #BeeWell have recently published their evidence briefing
about relationships and young peoples mental health, focusing on two aspects of the relationships data - bullying and loneliness.
There is loads of detail behind these highlights in the link.
https://gmbeewell.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BeeWell-Relationships-Briefing.pdf
Three things that I want to highlight from the report are that.…
It is possible to prevent mental health difficulties among significant numbers of young people through effective prevention of bullying
With good relationships young people are less lonely
Discrimination has an impact on how young people form relationships
Making friends is not easy, especially when bad stuff is going on and yet friends, people, connections, relationships make a huge difference to how we feel and what we do. We are finding that when we make space to let go we experience a shift.
We feel a change to make something new happen even in the face of adversity -
and we do it together, it makes connection easier.
The next SHOOP student wellbeing webinar is on the 28th of February at 7.00pm click here to join us
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