For the second year, the Guiding Hands Recreation Society (GHRS) will host YA!, a weeklong program for 17- to 21-year-olds.
Held at the Tipi Camp Nature Retreat on Pilot Peninsula, the 11-day wilderness experience, with in-camp and mountain adventure segments, allows youth to discover themselves by connecting with nature and their elders.
“The activities are intended to stimulate them physically, mentally and spiritually, and integration allows them to sink into the consciousness,” said Jonathan Taylor.
The 70-year-old SelfDesign High teacher from Nelson, who has a PhD in marine biology, began volunteering at the Tipi Camp after visiting on open tipis day three years ago. He immediately appreciated the physical setting of the camp, the high regard for First Nations and the deep connection to wilderness that it encouraged.
The YA! program, which gives credit to SelfDesign High students, grew out of the kid and teen program that had been offered for many years, and offers young adults a means to discover who they really are.
“Absorbing the power from wilderness, with supportive mentoring from the staff and elders, each person receives the necessary self-awareness, confidence, inspiration and passion to fan the flame of personal leadership in their field of choice,” said a GHRS press release.
Each day usually has a specific developmental focus, and campers are led through a series of activities, discussion and integration. Topics range from fire to diversity to gratitude. With the latter, for example, Taylor said, “We point out how the natural community is a web of giving and taking. … The hole a woodpecker made in a tree can become home to a starling or squirrel.”
Older teens are already more open to learning about themselves and have a stronger awareness of others.
“We’re trying to get young teens to settle, hold hands and say grace, and the older ones are bargaining to see who gets to say grace,” Taylor said.
And when they can set aside the technology that has become an integral part of everyday life, they are able to slow down and worry less.
“Don’t think about the goal, think about the next step,” Taylor said. “By that means, we can help each other. On the other side is not disaster, but the other side.”
Volunteering has taught him a thing or two, as well. Hikers will often offer to help Taylor — the self-proclaimed “old guy” —with his pack, something he was initially reluctant to allow.
“I can’t offer eldership such as it is if I don’t let them help me,” he said.
It all adds up to an experience that Taylor isn’t ready to give up any time soon.
“I have an opportunity to work with young people in a program just down the road from where I live on the world’s most beautiful lake,” said Taylor. “What’s a guy to do?”
For more information on YA! or the Tipi Camp, visit www.tipicamp.bc.ca.
