Living Adventurously Adventure is a Vaccine of Resilience for Real Life. Living Adventurously 51
Mark Davey is the Chief Executive of the Youth Adventure Trust, a charity that uses outdoor adventure to empower young people to fulfil their potential and lead positive lives in the future. They work with them to build resilience, develop confidence and learn skills that will last a lifetime, helping them to face the challenges in their lives.
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SHOW NOTES
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- Youth Adventure Trust website
- Mark once signed his name in the Taj Mahal VIP visitor's book
- Joined the Army aged 19 because it was an outdoors, adventurous job
- Life in the Army teaches you responsibility. It is a swift step into adulthood.
- We wrap our young people in cotton wool and don't allow them to make decisions and responsibility for their own actions.
- Common thread in Mark's adventures is to step out of his comfort zone and tackle things more difficult than he imagined he would be capable of.
- Stretching other people through adventure
- The YAT gives an 'adventure vaccine' to young people - giving them resilience for their difficult real lives
- David Hempleman-Adams - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hempleman-Adams
- Young people often don't have a chance to begin the 'believe-achieve' process
- A lot of the young people who come to the YAT believe they are failing.
- YAT help children for 3 years between the age of 11 and 16
- YAT is not an adventure-provider; they are a longterm intervention organisation
- YAT has an adventure scheme (3 years) then a mentoring scheme
- Developing resilience, mental toughness and the skills they need for life.
- Poverty of opportunity - a supportive family, transport access etc.
- The ability to trust and communicate are new skills for many of these young people
- As the programme progresses it becomes more about communication and conversation than the adventures themselves
- Making everyone in an organisation feel as though they matter: the key is to build a strong team, delegate and trust, give them resources and let them get on with it.
- 200 volunteers help YAT and are a key ingredient to the 'magic'
- YAT run lots of corporate challenges and fundraising adventure challenges
- Fundraising and supporters get similar benefits to the young people