Stepping Out: How Service Trips Transform Teens at Turning Winds

In this episode of the Turning Winds podcast, host Kevin Zundl sits down with therapist Sean Carlin and drug addictions counselor Tara Stevens to discuss the life-changing experiences that come from planning and participating in international service trips. They explore how these trips help teens break out of their comfort zones, develop resilience, and gain a sense of purpose.

If you are an alumni or a family member of an alumni and would like to share your story, reach out to Enoch at enoch@turningwinds.com. If this conversation resonates with you or offers hope for your family, don’t hesitate to call Turning Winds to learn more about the transformative programs available.

To learn more about Turning Winds, visit turningwinds.com or call 800-845-1380.

Transcript

 These are the encouraging words you get to say to a teen who was able to get out of their comfort zones. And so this was one of those things that we can point to. You went to Greece and you did it. Alright, you can do the next step.  Welcome to the Turning Winds podcast. My name is Kevin Zundl. Turning Winds has a full continuum of care for teens who would benefit from greater support clinically and academically. 

Today, I speak with Turning Winds therapist Sean Carlin and drug addictions counselor Tara Steven.  So you all just came back from Greece.  Which is an amazing trip for anyone to go to, but for you all, there's always a strong clinical component as well. What goes into planning a trip like this for Turning Winds? 

Planning part of it is looking at students that would gain from it in every aspect, not just culturally, but interpersonal and their experience of gaining it and looking at students that  In a way that we can trust, but that we know that we're going to have to set some strong boundaries with to help them grow, because there's a lot of personal time in on this trip that we get a lot of one on one to work with them and help them grow just as a human being, but also what they would gain out of the service project.

And then there's a lot of planning in the sense of time, what timeframe to go. There's a lot of planning into  getting the kids ready to go, getting the students ready to go. There's a lot of time spent in between the date that we set to go and administration goes over, they set, they go and meet with students abroad.

They set up the service project. They set up our guides  and they set up our housing. Yeah, so the administration actually meets,  they go over a month before and they go through the schedule. Um, they meet the people that are going to host us. They go to the places that we're going to be serving at, the things that we're going to be seeing.

Um, so that they have a very good idea of exactly what these kids are going to be getting and what we need to plan for as a staff,  we're successful on our end of things.  And then they come back and we review that and we look at what areas, uh, we really want to emphasize on in putting our main focus. And usually I can honestly say a lot of the service project is our main focus.

Because that's where they gain a lot, but also in that schedule, which gives them opportunities to, to, for us to be able to meet with them individually, just not necessarily as the treatment team, but just as a human being and where we can find those spots, whether it's down on the beach, can we have a one on one on the beach, uh, taking those opportunities. 

In planning ahead of time, areas that we want to take that opportunity, that we're given that opportunity to because there's always safety and security as well. Knowing that Sean's got a couple of kids over here, I have an opportunity to be able to plan to have an individual session over here, meet with that other student individually and find out where they're at and what they're experiencing and what they want. 

Um, we meet with the kids also and find out what they want to gain from the trip.  I think that's very important too. And then we have an orientation with students abroad. And they get to meet our host. They get to see basically where they're going to be staying and they go over the itinerary with us.  And then usually afterwards we have a question of, okay guys, what do you think?

And is there something that you're interested in that we're missing?  Because particularly on this Greece trip, we had, uh, a great deal of students that were interested in the Greek  mythology.  How much of it is really teaching these people early on in life to get out of your comfort zone? I mean, I think that's, that's really so much of what I think about with my boys anyway. 

It's easy to let them go and play Fortnite and all that, but how much of learning comes as a person to do something that's uncomfortable and be of service at the same time? And what does it mean to their self identity and so forth? That was a huge part of this trip. We took 12 kids on this trip and I would say half of those kids are  highly anxious kids.

So, exactly what you're speaking of, getting out of your comfort zone and learning to experience new things. There were some kids that even going into this were, uh, not really on board on going. Yeah. Or trying to convince their parents otherwise. So there was a lot of work happening here at Turning Winds and there was a lot of work happening back at home on the parent's side of things.

As far as helping them overcome those fears and those worries, all the kids honestly did a great job. They've done several of these international trips. This group of kids was a little bit younger, less tenured than our typical kids that go on this trip. So we really prepared ourselves knowing we had a few wild cards on this trip and making sure that we had everything in place to ensure this was a success.

One, they were safe, two, that they were getting something out of this trip and learning from this trip, and we were successful in that process. A lot of it is challenging the skillsets that they're learning here at Turning Winds, their coping skills, their skillset, and being able to implement that in a very public setting, let alone a foreign country.

Or another country. And there was some very high anxiety about that, leaving their comfort zone here at Turning Winds and going with some students, other students that they don't normally socialize with. There was the social cues and part of it that brought a lot of anxiety up that we worked on here prior.

And then just self worth in their own presentation, and they had fears about having high anxiety and not being able to cope with it over there and being able to handle it properly over there. So it was a lot of challenges for them. And, and so we did a lot of preparation in those moments. What can we do?

How do you help them process all this, especially with high anxiety?  So processing prior, I think, honestly, is building, building what they want to get out of the trick, what's really important to them, and what they want to gain from it, whether it's learning more about Greek mythology, whether it's learning more about just another culture, or even discovering more about themselves. 

Helping them work through that process right then and there, and for me, there was several times, I think that's one of the things that we gained the most out of this trip, is we had several students that were utilizing skills that they gained here, coping skills, to, and they didn't seek our support, they utilized their skills themselves, and were able to reset themselves and then rejoin.

And that gave several of those students a lot of self confidence in their ability to do that when they'd return home.  First of all, it's about pumping up the trip, getting them excited about this trip. And not only with regard to the cool things that we were able to see, like the Temple of Zeus and Temple of Poseidon and Acropolis. 

And you name it, but also the service opportunities and what comes from giving back to others. Cause a lot of times we were like, Oh, we got to go work and get back. And it's like the typical teenager's like, Oh, really? But there's so much value and benefit about being able to give back to others. And that was one of the coolest things of my trip, being able to see them. 

They just loved it. They loved, we served in a soup kitchen. We made 200 meals for the homeless. We went into a Ukrainian refugee home and painted and interacted with the kids in every one of those steps. Some of the kids even brought them to tears talking about, we would go back at the end of every night and talk about what we learned from this trip.

And just one of the biggest things I took away was gratitude and appreciation for the things that we have.  And not only did they see it at the service projects, but they saw it with the people of Greece. They realize as American citizens,  how good we have it, right? Yes. Um, cause we get to know our hosts on a pretty good level.

Um, and we spend seven, seven entire days with our hosts and you learn what life is like living for them in Greece and the hardships that they have. Yeah. And man, we do have it pretty good and the kids pick up on that and they come back and they're more appreciative of what they do have in life. And hopefully they're going to complain a little bit less and enjoy the little things a little bit more.

And actually we got to see a lot of that day to day, especially when we first got there. Prime example is we had family style dinners and they never thought about wasting food, throwing the food away. We're And then after we did the service project, one of the things I really noticed was the extreme decrease in that.

They only took what they actually were going to eat and how important it was for them to make sure that food was put away so that somebody else could utilize it.  And then with the orphanage,  even when we returned to Turning Wind,  the realization that  they had a home to go to.  That they had a family to go to  and that they had taken that such for granted, the value of family and the value of having a home that they knew that no matter what they were doing, they could open that door and they had a home to go to.

That was a huge impact for a lot of them. Um,  and then realizing too, that it didn't just have to be in Greece.  The service that they can give back to others didn't just have to pertain to an international trip. The soup kitchen played a huge part in realizing, um, some of the students made a comment that they'd go by a soup kitchen and make fun of people. 

And then, reflecting back, they want to be a part of that, they want to go into their own community and be a part of that and give back. On the way back from making the meals for the homeless people, we happened to be on the bus and we come across the district that those meals were going to be provided to. 

Several of the students just sank back in their seat.  And I said, what's wrong? And they go, wow, I'm a part of helping that person today.  I can't change their life, but at least I know I did something today to give them, they've got a meal tonight. And that was a, that's huge. And the challenge for us was to take that self reflection  and have them not just in that moment, but how could they bring that back here to their community here at Turning Winds?

How could they apply that here and then apply it at home  into their communities, into their future?  At that soup kitchen, they got to meet some extraordinary people that work six days a week and on their only day off. Yeah, we met this police officer that worked six days a week and on his day off, he was there at that soup kitchen giving back to the people of Greece.

And there were several people like that and how humble they were about it. And for a lot of them, it's, I want to be more like that guy. They learned a lot about economics and that they learned a lot about education, which they take for granted as well.  And how important education is.  To be successful, no matter where they go. 

So there was so much culturally we learned about us, but the gratitude for what they do have. I had one young lady on the plane ride home turned to me and she kept turning. And I said, what's wrong? And she goes, nothing.  And I said, no, what's wrong? And she goes, I just started to complain to you about the food. 

And she said, now I feel really bad because I have food to eat in front of me and all those people that we served didn't. And we, we had several kids along the way, make comments that were in that same tone, as far as man, I had kids talk about, man, I really. I can't believe I acted that way prior to treatment or whatever it might be.

I'm so selfish. I'm self centered and, and this has just given me a new perspective. It's pretty awesome. And I want to change this because I don't want to be that person anymore. Yeah. Um, on the flip side of that, the Greek mythology, there was so many of the students that were gone and  Old, uh, but they'd say I waited my whole life to learn more about this.

And I can't believe that I'm really here and what it took for my family to send me here. And that was pretty incredible too, but it was really incredible. The amount of students that were interested.  In that, as well as the history of Greece and how it helped play in democracy and bring in here and seeing the 1923 Olympic stadium and it just different.

History pieces to that,  it not only educated them, but fulfilled something that they really desire a sense of fulfillment. I  think what's interesting is when one thinks of Greece, they don't think of an impoverished nation. And even at nearly 50 years old, if I was going to take a trip there,  I look at it. 

More singularly from the  standpoint of history and looking at not as a three dimensional culture, but okay, what it was 3, 000, 5, 000 years ago as a 13, 15, 14 year old, how did they start to absorb that? And how does that shape their understanding of a, of a people?  I, I, I think of one example, so that our hosts, our hosts asked us one day, what minimum wage was in America  and, uh, and I could tell where she was going with this and then come to find out their minimum wage in Greece is under 4. 

Under 4 an hour. And most of the people of Greece, that's what they're making. Most of the people and our hosts were in that same boat. So we, we had some conversations over that. Yeah. We talked about, uh, the political nature of Greece versus America. We were able to get into some of those discussions. So these kids, that was entrenching themselves in the The culture of Greece and realizing, holy crud, the city itself was a little dirty, a little run down.

There was a lot of trash and we obviously have that some of in some of our American cities, but they're like, holy crud, there's graffiti everywhere. There's cigarette butts everywhere.  Man, we've got a good, we couldn't wash our own toilet paper because the sewer lines are too small. So we're throwing away our used toilet paper or, or taking showers from small shower stalls where just we have a good as Americans. 

So I think all that came into play. All of it did. And yet I love the fact that they, the gratitude again, part of it and being to realize that because And they started asking questions of our hosts. How do you do this day to day? What's your day to day life? What was it like for you? A teen? As a teenager here?

Yeah. What did you struggle with? Um, so it became even more personal in just that interaction at the orphanage, one of the things that our students were the most worried about was communication.  How are they going to be able to talk, communicate, and we really on just grab a paintbrush and hand it to somebody and show them how to do it.

That's communication, nonverbal. Come to find out most of those young people know three to four languages, which absolutely blew our students away.  But on the other side of that, it had been raining one day and we ducked into a library and it was really awesome to watch. Some started looking, those started looking for books and everything, but then some of the other students found.

Some Greek students that were sitting in the back playing. And so they asked if they could join in and then they were asking questions back and forth about cultures from a teenage, a teenager to a teenager, just a kid being a kid playing a card game. And then we took the opportunity and a few of us just sat over there and held a group with a few of them just talking about what they had seen that day and how they could or couldn't connect it to their life. 

It seemed like almost every day there was an opportunity  to connect with their culture at home, to connect with, um, gratitude, but also to do a lot of self reflection and growing those that were struggling, were able to come and talk with us and work through it.  And be able to overcome it. We had one young lady that hadn't rid a bike. 

Like me, for one, I hadn't rid a bicycle since I was 10 and I'm 60, so I wasn't too sure about it. But she wasn't either and I said, it's okay, we'll do this together. That young lady fell down five times and never one time complained. And she was one of our wild cards. Never complained and kept pushing and pushing herself every time.

And part of it was that she realized that she didn't want to be selfish and complained and hold the group back. Recognized in herself that she had done that a great deal here in the community. And this was a girl that could not have done that on campus. If she would have fallen off that bike on campus, she would probably have not gone back up because of where she was. 

Her trying to show appreciation for the opportunity that she had. All five of those times she got her butt off of the ground with a smile on her face and kept moving. And it was enormous growth for this young particular girl who did amazing on this trip. Yes, and we had another young man that in social gatherings, his anxiety gets extremely high.

Every time that he felt his anxiety building, he took his skills that he acquired here at Turing Woods, his coping skills, and he didn't say anything to anybody. He went over, he sat down, and he started using his four box breathing. And this is a kid that three months ago would be head butting walls.  When he got to that point and, and yet we took this opportunity.

He had grown obviously over the last three months and he utilized those skills. We didn't have those episodes. He was able to work through that. Um, sometimes it would require myself or, or one of the staff to help him process and go through those feelings. But for the most part, they did a pretty good job of self regulating while they were there and really overcoming some huge challenges.

Every kid, I could name the challenges that they had before going in and what they were able to do to better themselves and improve themselves and generalize the skills that we've been working on, adapt to the situation that we're in. But to also build the confidence in themselves that they are capable of managing themselves.

And I seen a lot of that, that. They, it was like, I can't do this. I really can do this. Not just here, but I can do it anywhere. And that was a wonderful piece too. And our kids with substance abuse issues, it was,  what are we getting ourselves into going to Greece? And substances were everywhere. The people of Greece smoke a lot of cigarettes.

And our kids deal with the temptations of seeing those cigarette butts on the ground. We walked past  hypodermic needles. We walked past They had opportunities, let's just say. So that's something that we're constantly teaching to, working through. And helping to ensure that they're not going to have a relapse and mess up their sobriety.

And all the kids did a great job. We didn't have any issues with that. Because we have kids. They know they're going home in a few months and it's like all these things I had access to. And so this is one of those things that we can point to. You went to Greece and you did it. All right, you can do the next step. 

If you are an alumni or family of an alumni, and would like to share your story on this podcast, email enich at enich at turningwinds. com.  And after hearing this, if it brings you a bit of hope for your situation, I highly encourage you to call Turning Winds and tell them what's happening in your family.

At 800 845 1380,  or you can check out the wealth of resources available at turningwinds. com.