At The Wave, we pride ourselves on the education programmes we offer to all young people who stay at our centre, many of which include our Global Citizenship Programme.
We believe that no young adult should feel left behind or rejected because of their mental health struggles or trauma. With this in mind, our programme enables those in our care to develop connections with others, increase their social responsibility, and get involved with many different projects.
The Wave Trust
Founded in 2018, The Wave Trust provides opportunities for young adults to take responsibility for themselves and participate in community projects. Doing so helps many people develop social awareness and confidence in their abilities, and it also encourages them to showcase their creativity.
In addition to the above, participating in charity work comes hand-in-hand with many other proven benefits. As young people struggling with trauma, eating disorders, and mental illness can often feel isolated and alone, giving back to the community can encourage them to build meaningful connections. Charity work also aids young people in reconnecting to their environment and the world around them.
At The Wave, the change our young people make is tangible and real, and we offer a range of projects that they can choose from to suit their needs.
A Love of Learning
One of the current projects that our young adults are working on is founded on education. Young people plan lessons and teach English, maths, and science to children, providing one full day of teaching per week at a local school. Boasting hands-on learning, many of our young adults have delivered teaching in-person and online, benefitting not only them but the local community at large.
Education can be challenging for many young people who stay with us. For some, mental health difficulties and traumatic experiences may have impacted their academic record, whilst others may have struggled with bullying and still experience its effects today. It is also common for young adults to struggle with authority figures and feel reluctant to engage with education.
By placing young adults in a position of authority, we aim to rewrite those experiences. Our hands-on approach shows young people that learning and providing education to those in need is an enjoyable and enriching experience.
To ensure that their skills remain with them for life, each young adult who chooses this programme route will complete several courses, including:
- CACHE Level 2 Teaching Assistants Diploma
- Level 1 Safeguarding Children
Working With Animals
Working with animals has proven to boost mental health and well-being time and time again. As part of our outreach programme, young adults have the opportunity to care for rescued dogs and cats at Aunty Kim’s Dog Sanctuary and Rescue Cat Home. Here, recent projects have included sprucing up the kennels, playing with the animals, and bathing and grooming puppies and adult dogs.
As young adults complete these tasks and activities, they earn a Certificate of Animal Management from The Society for the Protection of Animals here in Malaysia.
Arts and Crafts
Creativity and therapy often go hand-in-hand, with art therapy highly valued for fostering healing and mental well-being.[1] At The Wave, we wanted to combine this healing with outreach work, and so we offer jewellery making and crafts courses to all of our young people.
One of our projects has recently involved crafting reusable face masks, headbands, scrunchies, and fidget bands out of recyclable materials for the local community. We also run a jewellery making workshop where young people create unique pieces adorned by our signature dragonfly, which helps raise funds for future projects and enables us to make donations to other charities.
In addition to the above, one of our young people has led a project entitled Upcycle Your Life. This project saw them utilise their passion for sewing to create face masks for underprivileged families. Another young person who stayed with us enrolled on a diploma course at The Wave and is now continuing her studies at home with a renowned jewellery design course.
Seeing and hearing that our young people are successful in treatment and beyond is incredibly rewarding and heart-warming for the whole team at The Wave. We aim to give every young adult who stays with us valuable skills and experiences that will remain with them for life.
Caring for Children
In addition to arts and crafts, education, and working with animals, caring for children is part of our eating disorder treatment. At The Wave, young adults and teens receiving treatment for eating disorders work with displaced children, cooking meals for them and eating with them before planning after-lunch activities that everyone can participate in.
Eating disorders can be challenging to recover from as it takes a long time to unravel the fears surrounding food. For this reason, we wanted to incorporate a hands-on opportunity that enables our young adults to give back to the community whilst also helping themselves. Hands-on experience can be a game-changer for recovery, and caring for others is an excellent way to start.
Conclusion
Charity work is an integral part of our programme at The Wave. Giving young people a creative outlet that allows them to help others is beneficial for their mental health and the community.
Please contact us today if you would like to learn more about The Wave Trust or our outreach programmes. We are here to help you.
Sources:
[1] Van Lith T. Art therapy in mental health: A systematic review of approaches and practices. The Arts in Psychotherapy. 2016;47:9-22. doi:10.1016/j.aip.2015.09.003
Fiona Yassin is the International Clinical Director of The Wave Clinic. Fiona is a UK Registered Adolescent and Family Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor (Licence number #361609 NCP/ICP), further trained in the specialty of Eating Disorders and Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment. Fiona is trained in FBT (Family Based Therapy), CBTE for eating disorders, FREED (King’s College, London), EMDR for eating disorders (EMDRIA) and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Neuroscience and Trauma from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Fiona works with international families and family offices from the UK, Dubai, Kuwait, Singapore and Malaysia. Fiona can be contacted by email on fiona@thewaveclinic.com.
