This February half term , children’s charity, the Youth Adventure Trust, will be encouraging children from across Bristol and beyond to take on the Virtual Resilience Challenge. The focus of the challenge to to encourage children outdoors to promote positive mental well-being, build resilience and develop confidence, whilst supporting vulnerable young people who are facing challenges of their own.
Families can run, ride, ramble, ski, scoot or swim their way to resilience by taking on 25km, 65km or 100km (at their own pace, spread over the week or done all in one go) to raise much-needed funds for the Youth Adventure Trust. Each participant will be aiming to raise funds to match the kilometres they’ll cover.
These funds will enable the children the charity supports to get outside and start to re-build their resilience and confidence to face the challenges in their lives.
“97% of our families have told us that they are struggling with the cost of living crisis,” said Charlotte Clark, Events Fundraising Officer at the Youth Adventure Trust. “During the October half term, many of the young people told us that if they weren’t coming to a Youth Adventure Activity Day then they wouldn’t be doing anything during the school holidays.
“As one of our participants told us, ‘Youth Adventure Trust allows me to do things that I normally wouldn’t be able to do.’
“Physical activity and being outdoors are golden tickets to physical health and well-being. Getting outdoors helps people to become more confident and develop a higher sense of self worth and self esteem, which in turn helps people to make more positive choices.
“As a society we need to recognise that the earlier we introduce people to outdoor activities, the more likely they are to choose an active lifestyle and that can only be a good thing for our young people, our communities and future generations.”
“The resilience challenge has given us a focus for our walks and a target to aim for,” said Rachel, a 2021 participant. “It has pushed us to walk further, to go outside despite the wind and the rain. Not just funds for an inspiring organisation, but to raise resilience in ourselves at a time when perhaps it is needed more than ever.” –
Find out more at https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/VirtualResilienceChallenge2023
The Youth Adventure Trust supports young people to build confidence and resilience to help them fulfil their potential and lead positive lives. They are currently working with 113 young people and the challenges they face on a daily basis have not disappeared because of Covid-19.
By joining the Resilience Challenge, the children and their families will make a very real difference to the lives of vulnerable young people like Ben, who says about his time on the Youth Adventure Programme, “It’s helped me with my confidence most definitely and with my trust – definitely helped me with my trust. I just want to say a big thank you because without everything that the YAT has done, I would be so different and it’s like you guys have changed me and for the better.”
If you would like to join in the virtual Resilience Challenge for your February half term week (Saturday 11th – Sunday 19th February or Saturday 18th – Sunday 26th February) visit www.youthadventuretrust.org.uk/resilience-challenge or contact Natalie Levin, Resilience Challenge Manager on 07944 666412 or email hidden; JavaScript is required.