Beeing Together in Ullswater

In April, 9 incredible young people from the ‘Beeing Together’ group at GMYN were fortunate enough to be sponsored by Simple Life Homes for a week of unforgettable experiences in the Lake District. Outward Bound hosted them for 5 days of activities they had never done before; including canoeing, gorge-walking, hiking, orienteering, jumping and swimming in the lake, and a range of fun team-building exercises. This group are separated asylum seeking and refugee young people; meaning they came to this country alone under the age of 18 in search of safety. They would not otherwise be able to engage in such activities, so it truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them; filled with challenge, joy, excitement and laughter.

Overall Impact
Our main aims from this week were twofold: for our young people to form positive relationships with the outdoors, and for them to build connections with one another. For some of them, the outdoors was their home for many years, and in many ways, it was not their friend. On their perilous journeys to the UK, they spent time enduring the hardships of the outdoors, being stripped of the privilege to enjoy it and focusing solely on survival. The mental health of our YP is understandably incredibly fragile with high feelings of isolation and uncertainty, and it is hard to find free activities one can enjoy these days to support it. With the outdoors being a free and powerful resource, we wanted to capture its beauty – working through their fears with them and rewiring their brains to show the positives nature can bring. Accordingly, one of the greatest impacts from this week was asking at the end how they felt about the outdoors, and hearing words synonymous with ‘peace’ ‘relaxed’ ‘happy’ ‘calm’ as they discussed the beauty of their surroundings and spoke about wanting to be outside in nature more frequently. We caught one YP staring into the distance on our last day, finally finding something more beautiful to glue his eyes to than his phone screen, and asking where near home he could do something similar with his friends. Another YP was so relaxed throughout the week he managed to fall asleep wherever he lay his head – including on a rock up the gorge! This was an incredible show of the changes in attitudes towards being outside; understanding it can be a safe and peaceful place for them.

Secondly, given our YP came to the UK alone, many had learned to rely on only themselves to survive. Sometimes, it can be challenging for them to trust others in a team, so we aimed to ensure that they spent the week working together, leaning on each other from time to time, and in turn fostering some
new friendships. This was done through team-building games and everyone having different roles throughout their challenges; realising they all have strengths and weaknesses but work best when they recognise this and come together. One YP said ‘I learned that we all have something different to
bring, but together we can do anything!’ which is exactly what we wanted to capture from the week. Before the week began, one YP didn’t speak to any of the other YP there, only being comfortable around 1 member of staff. By the end, she was asking for certain boys to help her down the hills, using them as support, braiding their hair at night, showing signs of beginning to open up and trust others. This was more than we thought was possible in a week and was an overwhelming success of the trip for us as staff. Since coming back, their friendships in our sessions have blossomed and she is even messaging some of them independent of our sessions. We are so pleased this week gave her an opportunity to trust others again and simultaneously make some new friends.

Overcoming Challenges
Each individual had their own challenges to overcome which Outward Bound were aware of, and worked incredibly hard to support throughout the week. For some, it was trusting others to keep them safe, for others it was getting in the water – but each of them were supported and coached every step of the way enabling them to overcome their fears. Throughout the challenges of the week, they were able to learn what skills they have and how they all have something to bring to the table. They recognised when tasks were ‘hard’ and how they would be supported to help them achieve it – one saying ‘I looked at the hill from below and thought I can’t get up there, but then we did by taking it a little bit at a time.’ Learning which of their soft skills they excel at was a wonderful side-effect of this; enabling a sense of pride and accomplishment that many are lacking – given school is a challenge due to their low levels of English, and they don’t have the opportunity to be ‘good’ at extra-curricular activities which they cannot afford to partake in. We made sure to begin the week explaining to each of them what a trauma response was; how our bodies might react to a situation that our minds are not yet aware of – and what this could look like (dizziness, tight chest, headaches, not being focused, wobbly legs etc). We explained it’s okay for this to happen and that this is a chance for us to help your body work through something scary, and just to let us know. This worked well as they knew nothing was wrong with them when these things did eventually happen, and they learned strategies to get through them. For example, one girl was terrified of heights, so found the hike difficult, but knew why her legs were wobbling and saw this as an opportunity to push through a challenge. She was delighted to make it to the top! Another young person was apprehensive about entering a tiny cave with freezing cold water cascading upon him, but recognised that the feeling after would be worth it!

Another YP’s fear was the water – he cannot swim and has a difficult relationship with water, so at the start of the week wasn’t sure that he would be going in. This task was broken down into manageable chunks and as a group, we slowly edged into the water and took it in turns to dip under the water.
Despite the memory of his prior experiences, he saw others overcoming this fear, being supported, being safe, and to his surprise, it enabled him to follow suit. ‘I saw everyone else going in and I was so excited by everyone cheering, I thought if they can do it, I can do it!’ After multiple dips he was
splashing others and having fun in the water. On the last day, he faced his fears and jumped off the peer into the lake, initially panicking, but gradually breathing through it and eventually just lying on his back in the water, giving a thumbs up. This is something we never would have expected from his at the start of the week but was a beautiful (and very emotional) moment.

Take aways
Our young people were stripped of their childhood innocence when they had to leave their homes, and since arriving to the UK and going through the gruelling asylum process full of form-filling, interviews and meetings, it is so rare they can simply enjoy their lives. So being freed of their daily stresses and being afforded the simple privilege of enjoying life for a week was the most significant take-away from my perspective. For a week we watched their serious masks be removed and the playful, joyful, inner child be released. One staff member said in the 2 and a half years he has worked with some of
these young people, and he had never seen them so happy and at peace. The sheer joy and carefree attitudes that were able to come through were incredibly to see; with tears of laughter every day and even the Outward Bound staff saying ‘it doesn’t feel like work’ because it had been so much fun.
One cannot put into words how unbelievably grateful we are for this incredible opportunity, one that we and they did not take for granted. They threw everything into each activity and created memories that will stay with them forever. Thank you.