Most young adults who are feeling stuck, lost or in need for a change are in such situations not because they lack potential, but because they lack perspective. They tend to find themselves seeing the world and themselves through unhelpful, often rigid and negative, worldviews. These patterns have been created through experiences in their home environment and reinforced by their perceived societal and familial expectations. This is why making the necessary changes can feel (and probably is) insurmountable, unless the young man goes away to shift perspectives, add new skills, and come back a new man in many ways.
The Bridge is an invitation to bring a paradigm shift to young men’s lives, to open up to other ways of being and integrate them into an expanded world and self concept. Delving into such an adventure of personal transformation can be scary and disorienting, but we make it very safe and exciting.
"You have given parents and kids an alternative to a traditional gap year program - that offers too little support- and other programs that are more extreme, designed to fix things that for many of these kids aren't broken."
"What helped me the most was taking me out of my comfort zone and throwing me into new experiences with people that were going through something similar, and with people who wanted and could help."
We provide elements that have been proven to shift people’s perspectives and incite them to create new skills, such as:
- Cultural Immersion: seeing how other people solve similar problems to one’s own in completely different ways, or how they don’t even see as problems situations one might see as big issues.
- Community Service: realizing that one’s self-worth is not measured by how much attention one gets from others, but how much care one can give to others.
- Career Exploration: through engaging internships, students learn hands-on where their passions and unique skills are; this shifts motivation and direction toward a clearer future path.
- Responsibility: learning to feel good being in charge, instead of seeing it as a burden.
And we combine these elements with others that create a sense of safety to the adventure, as well as enhance the potential for reflection and integration of the new experiences:
- Support: teachers, mentors, therapists and peers accompany the student every step of the way, so that any insight, perspective, or reflection can come from many angles, thus increasing the chance to get the most out of the experience.
- Experience: change and progress become self-evident when skills can be put into action. We make sure that experience is the main teacher, and the obstacles, feedback, and accomplishments are revealed by real life experiences.
- Community: the culture of The Bridge house, the town we live in, and the Costa Rican culture are very welcoming and non-judgmental; this provides the perfect setting to try out new ways of being and take risks without fear.
The Bridge strikes the perfect balance between support and challenging adventures, so that changing perspectives and learning new skills becomes fun and exciting, and not scary and burdensome. Once these new ways of being have been integrated, facing the struggles that seemed insurmountable is easier, not because the challenges have changed, but because the young man himself is different and can see and address the challenges differently.