Young People's trauma - supporting healing & empowerment

We were joined by Brendan Geary, a Marist Brother with experience of ministry from all over the world, including working with young people and young adults, and people who have been victims of trauma. Based in Glasgow, Brendan is a clinical psychologist who worked as Director of Human Development at Ushaw College (2004 – 2009), and who has written about and presented workshops on various aspects of human development in different parts of the world. He will reflect on his experience of supporting people to deal with change, transitions and trauma. His sharing will help us consider what happens when young people’s assumptions about the world are challenged. How do we come alongside and support young people’s healing while supporting empowerment and finding solutions? How do we assist young people to take time to attend to the important internal factors which will ultimately help them grow through this time of crisis?

Read his input from the conversation here.

Prayer and connecting:

Communities like a parish or school should offer possibilities for experiencing openness and love, affirmation and growth. Many young people today feel that they have inherited the failed dreams of their parents and grandparents, dreams betrayed by injustice, social violence, selfishness and lack of concern for others. In a word, they feel uprooted. If the young grow up in a world in ashes, it will be hard for them to keep alive the flame of great dreams and projects. If they grow up in a desert devoid of meaning, where will they develop a desire to devote their lives to sowing seeds?The experience of discontinuity, uprootedness andthe collapse of fundamental certainties… creates a deep sense of orphanhood to which we must respond by 
creating an attractive and fraternal environment were others can live with a sense of purpose.

In a word, to create a “home” is to create “a family”… A home, as we all know, demands that everyone work together. No one can be indifferent or stand apart, since each is a stone needed to build the home. This also involves asking the Lord to grant us the grace to learn how to be patient, to forgive one another,tostart over each day… And that is how the miracle takes place: we feel that here we are reborn, here we are all reborn, because we feel God’s caress that enables us to dream of a more human world, and therefore of a world more divine”. Pope Francis CV 113-114

Faith Sharing​ - How am I arriving here this morning?​When have I felt ‘uprooted’… ​in life … in my ministry? 

O God, we know that you are with us, ​and that you accompany us in all that we do. ​
Grant that by the light of your Holy Spirit ​we may have the wisdom to accompany others well and the courage to take up this work.​
We pray through Christ, our Lord.​ Amen


“Trauma becomes sufferable, even illuminating, when there is a relational home to hold it in.” ​Mark Epstein

“Shutting down one kind of feeling inevitably shuts down all of them. In protecting ourselves from the unbearable affect of trauma we also close ourselves off from love, joy and empathy .” ​Mark Epstein

Breakouts - ​​What have you learned from your own experience and your experience with young people that can help you to accompany them in this present situation?

“Psychological processes, such as mental flexibility, which involves the ability to adjust goals and shift a thought or action according to the fluctuating demands of the situation, can have an important impact on the development of worry and psychological resilience

Three key stages in accompanying young people who are affected by the Coronavirus pandemic and lock down:​
Empathetic listening
Mental Flexibility
Problem-Solving 

Breakouts​​ - What have you heard which may be of use to you in your work of accompaniment and support of young people?

Feedback from participants:
Individual approach will be important
Meet them where they are
Importance of support from “homelife”
Importance of being relational with your young people
Ask them to be honest with their feelings
Remind them of their community who are with them
Invite them to prayer
Can’t express things in word – importance then of safety and space, containment
Having patience will be crucial
Allow them to offload
Importance of grounding, self soothing exercises (nature, exercise), boxing – there is no quick fix
Importance of friendships
Listening skills will be called on
Give them space to process
Self reflection will be important going forward
Believe in your natural skills don’t rush to problem solve
Valuing curiosity

Resources:

Reading:
Achieving resilience during Covid 19. (20th May 2020). The Oxford ARC study research team is based at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. https://oxfordarcstudycom.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/oxfordarcstudy_report_1- 1.pdf .
Young People in Lockdown. (May, 2020). You Gov / Prince’s Trust, L’Oréal, Paris. https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/about-the-trust/news-views/young-people-inlockdown.
LockdownLowdown- what young people in Scotland are thinking about COVID-19. (23rd April 2020). Scottish Youth Parliament, YouthLink Scotland, Young Scot. https://www.youthlinkscotland.org/media/4486/lockdown-lowdown-final-report.pdf.
Positive Emotions: Broaden and Build theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadenand-build.
Cooney – Hathaway, Patricia. (Spring, 2020). Why stay: The role of the Church in the lives of youth and young adults. Human Development, 40, 3, pp. 68 - 85. • Epstein, Mark. (2013)
The trauma of everyday life. Hay House: New York City.
Janoff-Bulman, Ronnie. (1992). Shattered assumptions: Towards a new psychology of trauma. The Free press: New York.
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/blog/teen-mental-health-a-guide-for-parents/

Books:
Rutger Bregman – Humankind: A Hopeful History
Matt Haig – Notes on a Nervous Planet Support the Guardian
The boy, the fox, and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy
The trauma of everyday life - Mark Epstein

Adapting to life after lockdown:
Managing your feelings about changes to lockdown - for young people: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/coronavirus/managing-feelings-about-changes-to-lockdown/?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=cyp%20lockdown%20changes%20graphics&utm_content=cyp%20lockdown%20changes%20graphics
Adapting after loockdown: https://www.goodgrief.org.au/blog/adapting-after-lockdown
Returning to school and coronavirus (COVID-19) – NSPCC- https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/away-from-home/at-school/
In this week's episode of A New Normal, the Guardian journalist Iman Amrani speaks to young people about how they are coping with lockdown and the impact it has had on their lives, looking particularly at education, universities and mental health. She speaks to four young people from across the country, two of whom are about to start university courses and two of whom are about to finish theirs, and asks them about the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcG_sk-JG0I
Supporting a child returning to school after lockdown - https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/supporting-a-child-returning-to-school-after-lockdown/

COVID - 19 support:
Information on mental health from the charity Mind ► https://www.mind.org.uk/information-s...
Emotional support for those feeling down, distressed or struggling to cope – Samaritans ► https://www.samaritans.org/
Support for under-25s at The Mix ► https://www.themix.org.uk/
Coronavirus support hub for the Prince's Trust ► https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/abou...

Other:
Children likely to suffer depression and anxiety after lockdown, study concludes - https://www.itv.com/news/2020-06-01/children-likely-to-suffer-depression-and-anxiety-after-lockdown-study-concludes/
Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/coronavirus-supporting-children-special-educational-needs-disabilities/

For more details on our next conversations and to register please visit: millionminutes.org/conversations

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