Learning from & supporting the Youth.

Young people today are inheriting a collapsing world. How are we supporting them in birthing new worlds?

How does it feel to be leaving school/navigating early days of work today? 

What questions do young people hold about the future? 

What support do they want to see from their elders? 

These were some of the questions that led us to host a day for 10 young people (18-24yrs) at Campwell Farm last Saturday. This was a part of our process of prototyping an offering to support young people in resourcing their creativity and resilience in an unraveling world they are inheriting, which is something we feel is missing from the mainstream further education & early work experiences. 

We deeply believe in experiential & relational learning; that’s learning not by listening to hours of lectures but by being together in guided, intentional spaces; connecting with the Web of Life, and giving expression to what’s in our hearts. 

It’s not to say there’s no place for ‘content’ but that we desperately need to practice our way into new futures, not just assimilate knowledge about what they might look like. Today’s gestures of all that we long for are what’s shaping the futures, reverberating beyond what we can verbalise or condense into a lifetime.

So as part of our prototyping process, we invited 10 open-hearted & thoughtful young activists to spend a day with us; giving them a flavour of our methodology and the way we hold our (un)learning experiences and giving us a chance to listen deeply to their insights & feedback. 

We gathered on an unusually cold December morning; the frost seemed to have stripped everything back and revealed a carefully woven landscape of white glistening cobwebs. We were truly blessed with a mid-wintery feel, holding us in our explorations of descent and new worlds being born out of what’s dying. 

The thread for our day together was the following question:

As one world is dying and another is being born, what do you want to see us (society, culture) leave behind & what do you want to take into the futures? 

We explored this through myth, song, listening to each other & the land, being with the elements & writing poetry. It was touching to see the openness and ease that these young people have to connect with & give expression to what’s in their hearts. I was reminded of many young people’s innate & intuitive capacity to ‘drop in’; a natural ability and willingness to explore deep questions through creativity, animist & heart-based/ body-based practices, without scepticism or rushing towards outcomes. Something that often gets eroded after years of working in environments that suppress our natural ability to connect with intuitive, unseen & felt realms.

While we’re in the process of collating & integrating all that was shared on the day, one thing we heard loud and clear on the day was the need for spaces to weave community between young people who are carrying big questions about the futures. Spaces to gather around the fire, to deepen their connection to the Web of Life, where young people are offered guidance, rather than solutions by their elders. This feels vital for sustaining deep-level systemic transformation. 

In light of that, we’re developing a program of seasonal one-day/weekend offerings for young people throughout 2024 as well as a longer-form experience, starting in October 2024.

If you’re a foundation, funder, brand, organisation or business owner, who like us, is deeply committed to supporting young people in this unraveling world they are inheriting, hit us up, we’re looking for funding, resources & learning partners to help us make these offerings happen in 2024 (get in touch with us at hello@becomingcrew.com).