WALKING ALONGSIDE YOUTH - AN ONLINE ANXIETY COURSE
Session 6 Summary
RESTORE
conditions that lead to wellness, resilience and growth
Restoring Conditions That Lead to Wellness, Resilience and Growth
Session 6 focused on restoring the relational conditions youth need in order to adapt to their circumstances without becoming stuck. The conditions for wellness, resilience and growth can be compromised by many means, including a youth experiencing too much separation, wounding interactions with people who are important to them, losses such as through the death of a loved one, or the unavailability of a parent. When a youth is provided with safe, relational conditions, healing and growth happen deep within the nervous system as a result of primal emotions being expressed. The impacts of colonization and intergenerational trauma will significantly affect an Indigenous youth’s capacity to adapt.
Ways to restore the conditions for wellness, resilience and growth include:
- inviting sadness and tears
- conveying an accepting attitude toward emotion
- working indirectly at getting a youth to feel
- role-modelling emotional expression and feeling
- exploring a youth’s cultural traditions that support the process of grieving
- reaching out to local Elders and knowledge keepers for support and teachings for Indigenous youth
Session 6 ended with Indigenous perspectives on development, suffering and life as a journey toward becoming whole through overcoming obstacles, with hardship as an inevitable part of that journey. Indigenous Peoples have long-established ceremonies, rituals and rites of passage to help youth navigate this stage of their development and emerge with strength and courage.