Helping at-risk youth ride the wave of uncertainty
COVID-19 and the last round of Gaza fighting shook Israel. Amid the difficulty, the shock and adaptation to this new reality, disadvantaged populations that routinely are at the fringes of society have been pushed even further to the brink. At-risk youth across the country, who face many difficulties daily, have suffered more than ever. Existing stressors transformed into dire situations, worsening depressive tendencies, and contributed to a sharp increase in alcohol and drug consumption and suicide attempts.
Obvious questions are: Is this a matter of fate, or can preventative measures be taken before the next crisis? Can we build mental resilience in advance, especially among at-risk youth, that will serve as a “preliminary mental vaccine” for stressful situations and crises caused both domestically and abroad?
“HaGal Sheli” was founded seven years ago by Yaron Waxman and myself, two educators, surfers and lovers of the sea. HaGal Sheli was established utilizing surfing as a tool for
personal development among at-risk youth. Underlying the organization’s activities is the understanding and proof that accompanies the experience of coping with the sea’s dynamic forces. Constantly changing waves, current and weather conditions, falling off the surfboard, and coping with feelings of uncertainty, cumulate into an empowering and formative experience relatable to all aspects
of life. This formulative experience instills feelings of resilience and perseverance, and through hard work and determination, success is inevitable. Essentially, participants literally “ride the wave” to a better life.
In addition to the encounter with the sea, youth undergo psycho-educational group processes designed specifically to enable and teach how to verbally express and give meaning to the emotional and physical feelings experienced at sea. By doing so, they gradually learn to equip themselves with “lip antibodies” and inner resilience, which enable them to internalize the difference between “discussing the difficulty” and “acting out the difficulty.”
In this regard, the sea has two roles: the sea as a place for enjoyment and release, and secondly, for the development of sports skills. In addition, the sea is a catalyst of sensation. The trainee who attends to surf will feel more than once, helplessness, anger, confusion, and fear. Surfing alone does not provide the participant the ability to objectively observe progress. Rather, only the combination of surfing and internal processing, which takes place in a group setting after each session, will enable a trainee to internalize these feelings beneficially.
Throughout COVID-19 and the period following the month-long civil unrest, we witnessed many of “HaGal Sheli” participants successfully manage negative emotions. This ability to cope is directly caused by “early vaccines,” meaning, participants were taught effective coping mechanisms before the pandemic and the war.
Using this challenging period as a case study, it appears that as teenagers familiarize themselves with the realities of difficulties in which they can express themselves and their personal experiences in the first person, then when the next crisis arises, they will be better prepared in discourse, sharing and finding words for “how I feel.” The ability to successfully express emotion betters the chances of an adolescent to succeed in finding one’s place within an environment.
Dealing with difficulties and crises among at-risk youth is particularly complex, as such complexities are rooted in past frustrations that are difficult to contain. Therefore, the “vaccine” is a process that must be understood to enable mental coping mechanisms. Verbally identifying and describing an emotional experience, or emotional literacy is the antibody of this “vaccine.” Emotional substances that cannot be defined or associated cause anxiety and cause helplessness.
In the analogy between the medical vaccine and the mental vaccine, I want to demonstrate both vaccines aim to inject an attenuated virus into the body, to ultimately develop antibodies. In the mental vaccine, these are verbal tools for coping with negative emotions, so when youth encounter negativity in full force, they will have the tools necessary to counter it.
The feeling of uncertainty inherent externally will meet the certainty internally, and thus, will activate the vaccine.