Youth guidance and transition to adult life in Coleg Elidyr
Youth Guidance is a term used in Camphill to describe an approach to education, social development and training for a young person in the period between childhood and adulthood. It is the attitude and the striving to understand and support each young person to enable them to fully become themselves.
Adolescence is for all of us a very challenging time during which we have to step from the comfort and safety of the family and out into the world. We have to define for ourselves who we are, develop and practice new skills for adult life and measure ourselves against others of the same age around us. We have to find our place in society.
For the young person with special needs this is particularly challenging, perhaps especially so because, as parents and carers, we may have tended to overprotect.
Coleg Elidyr addresses these issues by giving challenges that stretch the young person ever so slightly beyond their comfort zone while at the same time providing a safe harbour to which they can return having tried out something new and daring.
To quote Anke Weihs, Camphill Scotland:
“The individual in the period of adolescence is like a small boat leaving the security of a harbour and setting out to sea, full of the spirit of adventure. The boat has to pass through turbulence, as well as moments of calm and peace, before reaching dry land - in this case the more settled shore of adult life.”
Our learners learn to take responsibility for themselves as well as for taking responsibility for tasks within the world of work. They develop their ideals and are encouraged to try to fulfill their dreams for the future. They are given the opportunity to develop personal initiative and are allowed to take risks.
Because of the safe and protected environment within the college campus, they are also able to create their own social life separate from that of their parents and often also independent of staff. They are encouraged to dare to question authority, and ultimately, to search for their own true identity by asking the questions that everyone asks themselves, regardless of ability:
Who am I and who do I want to be?
What are my skills, my gifts?
What can I offer to the world?
In Coleg Elidyr we have the privilege to accompany our learners on this exciting journey, giving each one the support and guidance they need during these formative years.
As one social worker once described, we are like a ‘university of social and independent living skills’, taking the young person on a journey of growth and transition to adult life and to taking their place in the wider world.
