Turning Winds organizes international service trips abroad for our teenage clients twice a year. We have taken them to Costa Rica, Peru, Ghana, Guatemala, Morocco, Belize, and other places. The 2024 fall excursion will take a group of kids to Greece.
As always, the trip will combine international volunteerism, learning and growth opportunities as well as fun activities for the Turning Winds clients. And as on previous occasions, it will be the first trip abroad for many of the teens.
It will be the second time Turning Winds is taking kids to Greece. “The cultural experience last time was very powerful,” says program director Enoch Stump. “It’s a country with a rich history and culture. On the first Greece trip a few years ago, students got to work with refugees from Syria. This time around the kids are going to work with a school for Ukrainian refugees.”
FORGING BONDS
Our service trips are not only for studying a different culture and having a good time. Connecting with people who are going through significant struggles in their lives can have a powerful effect and is an important element of the therapy approach at Turning Winds.
“The capital Athens will be the base for the team and the kids,” says Stump. “We’re gonna visit the Parthenon, of course, but we’ll also travel over to Delphi, a place steeped in history and the location of the Temple of Apollo with its famous oracle. And the kids get to sail on the Mediterranean Sea.”
As on all previous trips, there will be fun experiences along with the service tasks. “There will be some language instruction ahead of the trip but learning Greek is usually far more challenging for English speakers than Spanish or French,” says Stump. “I’m not sure what the interactions with the Ukrainians are going to be like but language is usually a bit of a barrier and the kids have to get creative when interacting with other kids who don’t speak their language,” says Stump. “That’s part of the process.”
INTERNATIONAL TEEN SERVICE TRIPS AS THERAPY AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Our international service trips are intended to foster leadership, resilience, and a profound sense of global citizenship. Our teenage patients develop empathy and a hands-on understanding of diverse cultures by engaging in community service and contributing to their personal and academic growth.
Exposing Turning Winds clients to the experiences of people in foreign cultures is a powerful aspect of service work. While the visitors may come as helpers, it is often the people being helped who become the teachers of valuable life lessons.
The therapeutic value of the service trip experience cannot be overstated. “We have repeatedly witnessed how the lives of our students change as a result of our service trips,” says chief operations officer Carl Baisden.
TWO DECADES OF EXCELLENCE
At Turning Winds, it’s not only adventures abroad but the people who make the difference. For the past two decades, we’ve built a team of some of the world’s finest academic and therapeutic professionals, who all share the same goal: to help teens re-engage meaningfully with their lives, families, and futures.
Ready to empower your teen? Explore our life-changing treatment options today! Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380 to start your teen’s journey to a brighter tomorrow.
