D02P06

Post date: Sep 27, 2016 5:32:5 AM

Reflections on Youth Development towards the holistic development of the individual

Presenter

Lucille Meyer is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Chrysalis Academy.  

She has a BA majoring in Sociology and Communications from UNISA; M.Ed. in Adult Education from the Victoria University of Manchester in the United Kingdom; a Senior Leadership programme through Harvard University in Boston USA; MBA from UNISA and a MPhil in Management Coaching from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.  She is currently a PhD candidate at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (2016) with the title of her research being:  Youth experiences of a holistic approach to personal transformation: A narrative inquiry. In addition to being an Integral Yoga teacher, she is a Quantum Energy Coach and a Trauma Release Exercise (TRE) facilitator.

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to explore a holistic approach to personal transformation with youth who are not in employment, education nor training (NEET).  A holistic approach is a philosophical approach and developmental pathway that intentionally and deliberately focusses on all dimensions of a human being: the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual to birth personal transformation (Upanishads; Nirmalananda, 2009). Many youth experience some form of identity crisis as they transition into adulthood (Erikson, 1968; Pinnock, 2016). This crisis is amplified in the lives of many working class youth who have to contend with heading households due to the absence or death of parents and a socio-economic context of poverty, lack of access to quality learning opportunities, unemployment and deepening inequality (Soudien, 2007). A holistic approach has the potential to build the psychological capital of youth, including their self-esteem and to facilitate reconnection to self, family and social, economic, political and cultural structures amongst youth who have become disconnected and disengaged. The significance of a holistic approach lies in its ability to recognise and integrate all dimensions of their being into the learning process and meet a variety of needs as a result of their particular socio-economic and psychosocial realities. As at the end of 2016, the number of youth who were not in employment, education nor training in SA stood at 7.5 million (CDE, 2017:1), making it imperative to explore ways of addressing the current NEET situation and ‘disrupting’ these states of disconnection and disengagement to make it possible for young people to access employment and further education and training opportunities and not to limit their potential (Weiss and Fine, 2016). The paper is embedded in an ecological perspective that illuminates how children and youth develop in a context of relationships (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). 

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