THE PROGRAM IN DETAILS

The sea as a school of life

The educational team develops an individualized project with the young person, which includes social and educational objectives as well as vocational integration options.

This project allows the young person to project himself beyond the immediate experience by outlining medium or long-term integration objectives. The stay at sea allows the discovery and implementation of professional and relational skills and aptitudes. In contact with the adult world and the demands of life at sea, these young people can draw on resources that are little or not valued in order to get through a rough patch in their lives and forge a new future.

Upon return from the voyage, a personalized follow-up allows them to transfer the skills acquired and implemented on board into a new integration project.

You will find a complete description of the Jeunes en Mer program by downloading our explanatory file at the bottom of the page.

The young people concerned

JEM program is aimed at young people from the age of 14, who are able to project themselves into the future, and who are capable and determined to temporarily move away from their usual living environment. The young people concerned are referred directly by the juvenile protection services or placed by the Juvenile Courts throughout French-speaking Switzerland.

Objectives

The main objective of the JEM program is to allow these young people to live a strong experience that favors a better knowledge of themselves by mobilizing their resources in a natural environment with the sailboat and learning to navigate at the center of the adventure.

It is also to practice living in a group in a limited space, to accept the other in his difference and to think collectively. This trip is a school of life. The discovery of oneself and of others goes through the learning of the handling of the sails, the mutual aid and the solidarity which forge the relations. More specifically, these young people will :

Discover sailing at sea
Work on the handling of sails on board an old sailing ship
Do the maneuvers with several people and by hand
Discover the power of nature
Be aware of the respect of the environment
Experience group life in organized watches
Mobilize their resources, their strengths, taking into account their weaknesses
To be confronted with the challenge of surpassing oneself
Acquire discipline through the repetition of tasks inherent to life on board

Type of commitment

The association offers two different but cumulative types of commitment.

Boarding for navigation
Educational internship in a shipyard

The stays in educational shipyards and the stays at sea are followed by a phase of personalized accompaniment on return to Switzerland according to an educational plan adapted to ensure the achievement of their objectives.

Course of the program

The projects of educational stays take place in three phases:

A preparation phase
The educational stay
A follow-up phase

Phase 1: Preparation

Personal project
Before embarking, each young person develops a personal project that explains his or her personal motives and defines four main development objectives in the following areas Family; Health/consumption; Training/schooling/work; Relationship to self and others. This document serves as a basis for discussion and evaluation of the progress made in these different areas.

Initial discussions

During the preparatory phase, several preliminary interviews (from 5 to 9) are carried out during which the young person must demonstrate his or her ability to get involved and establish his or her own objectives in advance in order to explore the possibilities for resocialization upon return.

The educational team verifies the young person’s ability to plan and mobilize, and assesses his or her motivation and determination to freely adhere to the project. These interviews are the means to establish and develop a bond of trust that allows the young person to enter into this project by expressing his fears and questions.

Before departure, a network meeting is held with various stakeholders (court, social workers, educators, professionals) to allow the young person to share his objectives with his interlocutors. An agreement is signed by all the actors involved: the young person, his legal representatives, the association and the social network partners. A networked collaboration is indeed essential for the implementation of the project upon return.

Boarding criteria
The criteria for onboarding are:

Preparation meetings with the youth (5 to 9)
Evaluation of the presence and relevance of the project during the interviews
Construction of the personal project by guided objectives on the basis of the framework
Free adhesion: no obligation, the young person commits himself by his signature
Validation of the project by the network to launch the experience
Possibly, advice from a specialist (doctor, psychologist or other)

Phase 2: Boarding

Sailing is a privileged framework of exchange and sharing of experience to put into practice and develop skills and know-how in a multidisciplinary spirit. Under the responsibility of the captain and professional sailors and accompanied by an educator, the young people on board are an integral part of the crew. On board, the young people will :

discover navigation
experience life with a crew
confront the challenge of surpassing oneself
mobilize their resources, their strengths and their weaknesses
get into a rhythm, set routines and accomplish the tasks inherent to life on board
participate in routine maintenance (cleaning, handling, painting)
cook, stock up on food, manage housekeeping
become aware of the need to respect the environment, notably by participating in activities related to the implementation of scientific programs

At sea, the young people are integrated into a team under the responsibility of a watch leader. Day and night, they take turns according to a watch schedule that lasts 3 hours each per 24-hour period. During the watches, the young people will :

become familiar with reading nautical charts, onboard instruments, weather information and keeping a logbook
drive the sailboat (steering, maintaining a course)
monitor maritime traffic
maneuvering with several people, together and by hand
set sail and dock
to measure up to the forces of nature

The educator accompanies the young people to facilitate their integration and their involvement in the life of the group. He/she ensures that safety instructions are respected and that the work is carried out correctly. The main objective of the YWAM program is to confront the young people with the rhythm of work imposed by navigation and to help them better communicate their immediate experience and emotions.

The educator takes care to make them autonomous so that they appropriate and master their experience. Every ten to fifteen days, the educator on board establishes an individual assessment which allows to trace the progress of the young person during the follow-up phase. This educational report is transmitted to the association which relays it to the network.

The life on board in a restricted space is constraining but it allows to apprehend the other in his difference and in his role.

Practice working and interacting with others
Adapt attitudes to facilitate interactions and integrate into a group
Adapt to performing tasks, not for oneself but for all
Understand the roles and responsibilities for a well functioning group

Boarding lasts a minimum of two months. This time is necessary for the young person to become aware of the experience and to calm down in the process of maturation. In consultation with the network, the program can be continued, either by planning stays with returns to Switzerland, or by extending the current stay.

Phase 3: Follow-up upon return

Upon returning from the trip, the educational team follows up on the experience in four areas:

Assessment of the youth’s experience and skills
Valuation of the experience of the young person in his network
Support, relay for the registration of the young person in a reintegration process
Involvement of the young person in the activities of the Pacifique association during internal events, media requests and conferences, etc.

In collaboration with the youth and the network, the educational team defines the priority objective to be pursued upon return. The role of the educator is updated in this follow-up: who does what? The follow-up is always for a minimum of one month, but can last up to four months or more.

Assessment of the youth’s experience
Young people are often out of touch. The relational follow-up is important. The educator is the guarantor of the experience lived by the young person. The transfer of the experience is done on the medium and long term. The educational team accompanies the young person so that he/she translates his/her experience concretely into the world around him/her. The educational team :

helps them put words to the experience they have had
elevates the difficult points, the positive points and the personal victories
highlights the benefits and changes that emerge

The youth’s experience in their network
When the youth returns, the educator helps him reintegrate his social network (family, entourage, friends). The youth may want to make changes that are not always credible in his network. The educator highlights the evolution and the realizations made and achievable by the youth. The educational team:

supports the youth and helps him/her to express his/her experience
transmits the observations made
establishes a report of the expedition
gives the youth a certificate of completion
can be solicited by the network in case of new difficulties

Participation in public events
The association organizes public events during which the active participation of young people is solicited. These events are: interviews, films, exhibitions, meetings, drawing workshops, etc. They are not mandatory but those who get involved are always proud to participate. The young people are also invited to communicate in front of an audience, which helps them to measure their progress and acts as a source of valorization of the journey made and consolidation of self-esteem.

Conditions of participation

The following information on the Youth at Sea program is intended for services that work in favor of integration and youth, the Juvenile Court or parents of young people in difficult situations.

It is not necessary to have any sailing skills to board one of the association’s sailing boats. However, young people who wish to come aboard must meet the following conditions:

Be a minor
Be volunteers for a minimum 2 month stay at sea
They must have psychosocial support
Need to be away from home to gain perspective on their situation

Each situation is unique and does not necessarily correspond to the points listed. If this is the case, please contact the educational team with a brief description of the situation through our contact form.

For more information

Contact the socio-educational team directly via our contact form

or download our explanatory brochure

Association Pacifique

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