MIND MOVES:Journey through adolescence can be traumatic, writes TONY BATES
AS YOU exit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, there is a 90-second video clip of her father Otto speaking about one of the key lessons he learned from reading Anne’s diary. He describes how close he was to Anne, and how much closer they became through spending every day for almost three years together in hiding. Yet when he read her diary after the war, it revealed an inner life that was far more complex and nuanced than he had ever suspected. His message to every parent was that they should never assume that they have the measure of their adolescent children.
Adolescence is an in-between space. The child is no longer a child but neither is she or he ready to step into adulthood. Deep in their subconscious there are memories of things they have not yet resolved, and strongly felt urges they have not yet managed to integrate. They want to emancipate themselves from the clutches of adults, to assert their autonomy, but they need the support and mentoring of adults if they are to establish their own identity and take their place in the world.
How can we best equip our young people to cope with the unstable and fragmented world to which they awaken from childhood? How can we support them in managing their complex inner lives and dealing with an external environment filled with opportunities and stresses that differ from those encountered by previous generations?
In the past year, a team of four mindfulness teachers and psychotherapists, including myself, have been working with 16 young people aged 19-24 to explore whether mindfulness could be a resource for navigating the everyday tricky terrain of adolescence.
Mindfulness training builds on our innate capacity to be open and present to whatever is happening in our lives. We wanted to see if the practice of mindfulness could give these young people a greater sense of awareness and ownership of their experience of life, and teach them the skills that would help them to remain grounded in the face of difficult experiences, without becoming overwhelmed.
On May 24th in Dublin Castle, these 16 young people and their team of trainers will make a presentation to the second conference in the series The Art of Being Still to share what we have all learned from this training experience. The theme of this year’s conference will be Mindfulness and Young People, and our contribution will be just one of a range of presentations.
President Mary McAleese will give the keynote address. Susan Bögles, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Amsterdam, will present on the benefits of mindfulness training with young people (and their parents) who experience serious mental health difficulties.
Brother Richard Hendrick is a priest-friar who has worked with the Sanctuary (founded by Sister Stan who is hosting this conference) in the creation and evolution of a number of youth programmes and teacher training courses. Hendrick and Niamh Bruce are the core facilitators of the Sanctuary Warrior and Wisdom Journeys as well as the Art of Stillness in the Classroom. They will present on The Power of Story in working with young people. Richard Burnett, housemaster at Tonbridge School in the UK and co-founder of the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), will describe how Tonbridge integrated mindfulness into its curriculum for 13-14 year olds.
This conference should be of interest to educators, clinicians, youth workers and all those concerned with the welfare of young people growing up in this country.
Too often we only appreciate the challenges that our young people are facing when it is already too late. May 24th promises to help us all to become more aware of their life experience and to offer us innovative ways to respond to and support our young people.
Tony Bates is founding director of Headstrong – The National Centre for Youth Mental Health (headstrong.ie)
The second Art of Being Still conference will be hosted by the Sanctuary in Dublin Castle. Contact: 01-6727545 or e-mail enquiries@sanctuary.ie