Teen Days: made by teens, for teens
We have been loving our year of teen days that have been running monthly. Each session we have brought in a visiting facilitator to offer different workshops which have always been a lot of fun with plenty of diversity.
Some workshops so far have been:
collaborative art
axe throwing
foraging
wild crafting
outdoor cooking
arrow head whittling
tie-dye clothing
sports & games
What is such a delight to witness is the gentle melting away of shyness as the day progresses. Or a deepening of relational moments either with Facilitators or other attendees. These teenage years can often feel confusing and complicated, so we have this space to catch and contain those feelings in a safe way, where you can be whomever you want to be in that moment. We naturally see humour arise in the most unusual places where only teens know how to create those little jokes! What a lovely, soft way for barriers to come down and bonds to be made.
As the months have rolled by, we witness what an important place this is for some that come; whether to socialise, to learn new skills or to simply have some time outdoors.
It makes us aware that there is a great need for young people, whether in school but struggling to be present each day, every day, or the fully home educated. How can we make these more accessible to you all?
We have been working with some schools who are happy to exercise a Flexi-schooling approach and recognise the importance of social and emotional development (especially at this age!). If you are reading this and would like more information on your child (or you) remaining in school but coming to our Teen Days regularly, please get in touch; we would be happy to help and are available to liaise with schools to help them understand our supplemental services that benefit schools so greatly. We are also proud to say we are fully approved by the Local Authority with all Due Diligence and Safeguarding checks, to an excellent standard.
So why this blog about Teens right now?
We would love to shift up a gear for Autumn and bring these to you weekly, with enough interest. And on top of this, we would like to invite some teens to help us create the setting just the way they want it. Might this be you? Might this be your child that would be keen to work on such a project? Get to learn group collaborative skills, creative ideas manifested to action, marketing, and more. This project could be Wildlings certified, which would contribute positively to a portfolio of work when young people are looking into further education or employment. We are well aware that employers and further education settings are keen to spot key skills in an individual, such as:
creative thinkers
collaborative team players
those that can go through the process from ideas to creation, to marketing and production.
So what better way to gain those skills than to actually DO THEM in real time, in a real way, in a held and self-directed environment!?
Get in touch if you are interested to know more about this project and how you would like to be involved!