We are pleased to announce that Rock and Water will be presenting a workshop at the 2011 Positive Schools Conference in Perth
Origins of Rock & Water
In the mid 1990's, Mr Freerk Ykema, a school teacher from the Netherlands, became passionate about finding a program that would assist in reducing the level of sexual violence, crimes and aggression perpetuated by teenage boys. He noted that there was a lack of meaningful programs that targeted key aspects of young men's development, notably:
Verbal and emotional expression
Identity development
Physical boundaries and personal safety
Emotional and behavioural regulation
Skills required to respond to and manage aggressive tendencies in both themselves and others
Mr Ykema's passion for both boys' education and development led him to writing the Rock & Water program. His vision spread and Rock & Water is now widely used in Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and the United Kingdom. Rock & Water is extensively used for girls as well. There are approximately 5,000 teachers across Australia trained in the Rock & Water program.
What is Rock & Water?
Rock & Water is a manual-based program that provides young people and adults a pathway to self awareness, and increased self-confidence and social functioning. The program is based upon a psycho-physical approach, that is, the program contains a large number of experiential exercises that support young people to develop self-awareness through physical exercises. The aim of the program is to support young people in developing:
Body-awareness - or supporting young people become "in-tune" with their body, including body language, posture, breathing and physical sensations (e.g., stress, anger, arousal).
Emotional-awareness - this is the process by which young people learn to understand and identify emotions (e.g., anger) within their body (body awareness is a pre-requisite to emotional awareness).
Self awareness - this is the process by which young people combine body- and emotional-awareness with their thought processes, and through this, are able to manage and regulate their emotions/behaviours in the context of their environment.
In short, Rock & Water provides a systematic way to teach young people body-, emotional- and self-awareness. The program also provides a structured means for adults to nurture the physical and social development of young people. Physical exercises are constantly linked into cognitive and social skill-building.
What sets Rock & Water apart from other programs is its psycho-physical learning approach. The program includes the use of physical exercise, non-intrusive self-defence activities, role plays, group discussions and debriefing exercises. Each participant of the Rock & Water program undergoes a journey of self-awareness as they learn about responding to life in either a "rock" or a "water" attitude. The use of symbolism is central to the success of the Rock & Water program and the reason why young people are drawn to the program.
What is the difference between a "rock" attitude or a "water" attitude?
The "rock" quality represents awareness of one's own possibilities and personal journey in life. A person demonstrating "rock" traits will exhibit resoluteness, be strong-willed and self assured, and may close off to the opinions and offerings from others. The "rock" attitude may confront others in relation to their opinion or point of view, and young people need to exhibit some "rock" qualities if they are to respond to and manage peer pressure.
The "water" quality represents insight and experience, and valuing flexibility within human relationships. A person demonstrating water traits has a strong awareness of their own feelings and ideas, but more importantly, is able to respond with understanding to people around them. "Water" is representative of sharing, co-operative behaviour, negotiating and being able to respond to a changing environment. Social harmony and positive relationships require an individual to exhibit "water" qualities.
The Rock & Water program teaches participants insight into their dominant attitude, that is, whether they are a "rock" or "water" dominant person. The program nurtures appropriate use of both attitudes, while challenging the negative characteristics of each. By the end of the program, each young person has a deeper level of self awareness into how they can apply each attitude in an effective manner.
Why do young people love Rock & Water....?
Rock and Water is not like traditional classroom learning...it is experiential and young people experience it as fun and playful...but at the same time learn valuable insight into themselves and others. Rock & Water fosters success, especially for children and young people who previously have not experienced success in the classroom. Research shows that when young people learn while having fun (or any strong positive emotion) then their brains process the learning at a deeper level.
Young people pick up on and love the use of symbolic language in Rock & Water. They are readily able to understand the difference between acting from either a "rock" or a "water" attitude. The most important part of this symbolism is that it fosters self-acceptance in young people, which in itself, is fundamental to psychological well-being. Young people's behaviours can be described in terms of "rock" or "water" qualities, both of which have positive and negative attributes. This contrasts traditional behaviour management techniques that refer to young people's in terms such as "good" or "bad", "acceptable" or "not acceptable". By using this language, young people exhibiting challenging behaviours are more willing to reflect on their behaviours. Rock & Water is highly effective for children and young people with backgrounds of trauma as the language used reduces the shame that is evoked by the language used in many traditional behaviour management techniques.
Why do adults love Rock & Water....?
In short it is fun...in many cases adults report that it reminds them of the reasons why they became teachers, psychologists, parents, youth workers or entered the helping profession.
Furthermore, adults report that they are able to develop connections with young people which they were never able to develop before. Rock & Water provides them with a tool to engage with young people, develop a shared language and provide a means to understand both themselves and young people at a much deeper level.
Does Rock & Water work?
In short....yes
There is increasing evidence and research that Rock & Water can achieve significant outcomes in the following areas:
Life and educational outcomes of students
Improve teacher or youth practitioner morale
Support adults to develop stronger connections with young people
Support teachers and youth practitioners to develop increased insight into both young people and themselves
Reduce bullying behaviour
Improve school cultures
Be a lead-in to more intensive therapeutic services
At Connected Self, we view Rock & Water as a "tool". It is not the "miracle cure" for youth problems, but instead, when it is used properly and integrated within other services, it has demonstrated the ability to achieve significant outcomes for young people, teachers, youth workers, schools and youth organisations.
Connected Self offers a library of best-practice resources and research on the Rock and Water program. We encourage you to evaluate for yourself the effectiveness of Rock & Water. We are happy to provide you with electronic copies of other evaluations (for personal use only) that have been conducted on the Rock & Water program.
Connected Self and Rock & Water
Connected Self specialise in tailoring the delivery of Rock & Water to the needs of the specific group of young people and/or organisation. We have extensive experience in implementing Rock & Water for children and young people with backgrounds of trauma and abuse, or presenting with complex needs and behaviours. Our Rock & Water programming includes the following features:
We conduct a thorough needs assessment of the individual group of young people before we start the program
Our program is dynamic - we tailor it to the needs of the group, and adapt it as the needs of the group change
We conduct a pre- and post-program evaluation of all our programs and make this openly available to all stakeholders
We base our program upon a relationship model of service delivery - our facilitators strive to "connect" with young people in a safe, responsive and trusting manner
We foster play and fun - if the program is not fun, then we have not done our job
Our program incorporates other experiential exercises and activities that extend the program outcomes, including relaxation, mindfulness and group sport
