People are intrigued when I talk about my experiences leading a Costa Rica wellness adventure with teenagers. I explain that we all stay in the same house and adventure, cook and clean together. They look at me with wide eyes and usually say, “Oh wow, congratulations. How did it go?”
Over my years working with this demographic, I've come to realize how afraid our culture is of teenage girls. Teenage girls have a superpower. In fact, they have so much amazing power that they are just beginning to uncover.
Elise Scribner, LSCW
During my time with our Costa Rica Summer students, I was thrilled by how much teenage girls discovered about themselves. I got to witness their motivation to return home rooted in their newfound (or rediscovered) strengths. It was such an experience to be with them from sunup to sundown.
The RLA Difference
Rooted Life Adventures is scheduled so that our students are able to experience a wide variety of new challenges and activities. Teenage girls learn how to deep clean their rooms and cook a variety of meals on a budget. They rappel down waterfalls and fly on a high trapeze and work different positions in an animal sanctuary. They develop skills in how to handle conflict with each other and ask for help. I facilitated wellness groups and psychoeducational groups that helped form a culture of inclusivity, feedback, reflection, and emotional vulnerability.
During the first days of orientation, I led a group on the Stages of Group Development. This included the observable behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and team needs at each stage, plus the leadership to get them there. We wrote these notes out on big papers and hung them in the house to refer back to. The students expressed anxiety about the “storming” stage, and how they hoped the group could just “skip it”. Conflict was a big fear for most students in the group, as they were used to ignoring it entirely.
One week later, the group was whispering about each other, expressing frustrations, having small explosions, and communicating passively. I held a group again on the stages of group development. Everyone agreed that we were in the storming phase… and we celebrated! We discussed how conflict is inevitable and productive. However, as we practice conflict resolution and communication skills, we can continue to move forward through the stages.
Healing with Silliness
This was a time when play and silliness, perfectly intersected with the student’s wellness and personal growth. After this group on storming, we physically played it out and had a huge paint gun fight! Everyone ended up laughing, covered in paint, returning to the house in high spirits.
There’s something really cathartic about throwing paint bombs at everyone around you to let out some tense energy.
Elise Scribner, LCSW
The group thrived in a unique way when silliness and play emerged. Whether it was a planned glow in the dark pool party or singing and dancing to music while cooking dinner. Students experienced a safe space to let their walls down and bring out their goofy parts in a safe space. Many of our students had not allowed themselves to show these parts of at home. For fear of judgment by other peers, or because they forgot they had them. Their sense of true self grew as they accessed these parts again within our wellness adventure curriculum. The rest of the group welcomed them. This process also had a huge impact on the formation of close friendships. Authenticity is a required part of healthy relationships, and the students grew to have tight bonds as weeks went on.
Benefits of a Live-In Therapeutic Coach
I witnessed the way that the psychoeducation and wellness groups helped deepen the students' experiences they had whilst on program. During these weekly groups, students learnt and discussed important concepts such as components to healthy relationships, values, and core beliefs. These conversations did not end when the groups were over. They carried on as the students slowly started turning toward each other. They took risks like practicing assertive feedback to their peers or challenging each other’s negative self-talk. Each student made great strides in becoming more vulnerable with their peers and the instructors. Students learned the importance of being vulnerable and the tools to be able to do so.
Continuity of Care: At-Home Therapist
The students’ growth was not only limited to the program. They also had the opportunity to share it with their at home therapist and receive even more support each week. Their weekly therapy sessions provided a continuation of care, as the therapist learned about their struggles and strengths during the week. They were able to help the students generalize and prepare them to re-enter their lives back at home. I also helped coach the students to on how to share their new insights and goals to their parents. Especially at the end when we prepared for reintegration.
Cultivating Community & Learning Independence
During the first few weeks running this wellness adventure program, Amalia and I were working on setting firm boundaries. We gained rapport and did lots of in-the-moment coaching with the students. As the students got familiar with daily routines and learned to trust each other, a magical thing began to happen. They began to run themselves. Instead of us instructors setting up after-dinner activities, they would discuss it together. Students would have a plan on what they wanted to do after dinner and present it to us. They began to work out conflicts on their own instead of asking us to speak to the other student(s) involved. They held each other accountable if someone was skirting responsibility in cooking or cleaning. Students were proud to recognize that they were in the “Performing” stage, the highly productive stage involving true interdependence.
It was a privilege to see how the students thrived when they were given the skills, space, support, and opportunity. To dig into who they were and who they wanted to be within our wellness adventure format. Watch out world, we have 6 more powerful teenage girls coming out of Costa Rica. Teenage girls who have learned to own their strengths and sense of self!
