Many of the youth who arrive at CHV have experienced trauma. The impacts of the trauma that young people face, combined with their homelessness, may have negatively affected their abilities to attach, self-regulate, and develop competencies that they need in order to live independently, build healthy relationships, and establish positive coping mechanisms.
CHV uses a holistic, trauma-informed approach that emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety and helps youth rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
One element of this holistic approach is going to live events. In a recent post, we talked about the benefits of getting out to a variety of events, but today we’re going to talk about getting out to live sporting events.
According to a new study from Anglia Ruskin University’s School of Psychology and Sport Science, attending live sporting events improves levels of well-being (life satisfaction) and reduces feelings of loneliness. Previous studies have shown that “higher life satisfaction scores are associated with fewer life-limiting conditions and better physical health, successful ageing, and lower mortality rates.”
Recently, youth from CHV were treated to a Vancouver Whitecaps FC game. Tickets to the game were donated by players Tristan Blackmon and Mathias Laborda. A lot of youth at CHV have a deep connection to soccer, but have never had the opportunity to see a professional match in person. Not only were youth invited to the match, but they had the opportunity to go down to the pitch to meet the players who donated the tickets. As one CHV staff member noted. “The youth were speechless. They couldn’t stop smiling on the way to the arena, and this lasted all the way until we returned to CHV.” Youth mentioned that this was the highlight of their year. The youth were extremely grateful to Tristan and Mathias and to the Whitecaps organization. On the way home, one of the youth kept telling their youth worker that they couldn’t believe that they had a chance to meet a player, let alone be welcomed onto the pitch, and have the players donate the tickets.
Thank you to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC for their ongoing support of youth at CHV and for giving them such an amazing life satisfaction experience.