Shaken
Equipping Young People to Live Life Unshaken
Katherine Dickson, a Programme Worker from The Big House, shares about a new resource designed to help young people find healthy coping mechanisms when life gets tough.
(From the January - March 2021 issue of VOX)
A SHAKEN Youth
Do you like board games? Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly and Boggle are firm favourites in our house. It is all good fun until the dice is shaken and rolls off the table getting lost behind the sofa for years. We all have so much in common with dice. When something difficult happens in life, we too can get shaken; unsure of what to do, how to feel or how to live life well. Thankfully though, we often have more control over how and where we land than dice do. When life shakes us, the choices we make can change whether we land and live well, or struggle.
In The Big House, we know that difficult and challenging things occur every day to shake the young people in our families, youth groups, churches and communities. Illness, family change, low mental health, identity crises, bereavement, peer pressure, concerns about the future and bullying are just a few of those challenges. Over the last year, the consequences of living amid a global pandemic and the reality of upheaval, change, and uncertainty of the future have added to those challenges.
As part of their Big Conversation Survey, Barnardo’s asked 4,000 young people in the UK how Covid-19 had affected them. 41% said they felt more lonely than before, 38% said they felt more worried, 37% said they felt more sad, 34% said they felt more stressed and 33% said they have more trouble sleeping. Similarly, in Ireland, Childline received 70,000 calls and messages from young people during the first three months of lockdown, with domestic abuse, self-harm, suicide and Covid-19 anxiety highlighted as the most common issues raised. We can look past these bleak statistics and think about the faces of our own young people in our youth groups and communities. In a world that currently feels so shaken, as followers of Christ our heart is to equip our young people with the hope and the tools to live life unshaken. How can we do this?
Living UNSHAKEN
“We believe that all young people are precious and deeply loved by God, no matter who they are, where they are from, or what difficulty they may be facing.”
The Big House exists to share God’s love with young people, on their good days, as well as their bad. We believe that all young people are precious and deeply loved by God, no matter who they are, where they are from, or what difficulty they may be facing. Within this current Covid landscape, we stand on the biblical promises that our God is unshakeable; and with His hope alongside the practical help of others, we believe our young people can be unshakeable too.
Our Shaken resource has been created to provide and inspire biblical grounding, and a practical toolkit to help young people live unshaken – right now and later in life. The Shaken game encourages young people to explore and make good choices to live well when life shakes. Shaken is fun and designed to used in a group setting (face to face or online), or individually. There are 20 coping mechanisms, and a 20-sided dice. The number the dice lands on determines the coping mechanism to try out. By the end of the game, each young person will have discovered around six healthy options, which can help them when life is difficult. We have each been uniquely created by God, so there will be a unique way for each young person to cope healthily with their difficulty.
Chap Clark author of Hurt 2: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers said, “Shaken is an engaging, well-designed, extremely helpful and accessible resource that can help any young person take more control of their emotional lives, especially while in the midst of struggle, without adding shame or guilt to their circumstance. As we begin to emerge from the Covid-19 cocoon, teenagers and young adults will be scrambling to try and figure out how to navigate life’s re-entry. Shaken presents a powerful and timely tool for each one.”
Shaken lays the foundations to equip young people to live securely planted and steady through an introduction to practical help and God’s hope.
Practical Help
“Choosing healthy ways of coping is a vital component to living life unshaken.”
When life shakes, each of us uses coping mechanisms to manage our thoughts and feelings. Some are healthy (and good for us) but others are unhealthy and may cause damage. Alongside the hope and presence of God, there are practical things, which young people can do to live life well. Choosing healthy ways of coping is a vital component to living life unshaken.
Shaken highlights the necessity of talking to a trusted support network, and helps young people identify who and how to do this. Sharing with others removes isolation and adds pastoral and practical support from others. Shaken reveals 20 healthy and practical coping mechanisms for young people to experiment and explore and allows room for each to be scored out of 10 (ranking your favourites). Things like blowing bubbles, making stress balls, spending time with God, exercising, blessing others and dreaming of the future are just a few healthy coping mechanisms featured for young people to try. Across the UK and Ireland, we have been receiving stories of hope from young people finding new ways to navigate their day-to-day life:
“I gave prayer 9 out of 10 as a coping mechanism because the ultimate comfort is knowing there is a God who loves you and who you can thank for everything.” - Ellie
“My favourite was talking to a friend and I give it 10 out of 10. I think talking to someone always helps; it lets you vent and gets everything out but also lets you know you are not alone. Your friends can cheer you up or even just be a shoulder to cry on or cry with.”- Myles
“I liked laughing in the unplanned choices as laughter is the best medicine!” - Faith
God’s Hope
Alongside the practical help of others, practising healthy coping mechanisms can help young people feel steadier right now, as well as later in life. Combining practical help with God’s hope empowers young people to establish firm foundations built on the promises of our unshakeable God. Shaken encourages young people to explore and dig deeper into what God says and thinks about them and their situation, and enables them to discover their worth and value to the creator and His constant presence with them – no matter what! During shaky times, we can depend on God.
The Psalmist writes, “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2
David wrote this Psalm at a time when he was far from home and safety, feeling shaken, overwhelmed, disorientated and frightened. Can we relate to David today as we are far from normality, friends, family and with an uncertainty of what lies ahead, feeling out of control, or lost? In his moment of feeling shaken, David recognises that there is one who is good, who is bigger, and stronger, and mightier than all that he is experiencing. He calls out to God.
David refers to God as his “rock”, and other times as his “fortress” and “tower of strength” David’s God is unshakeable. He is solid, firm, steady, immovable, even in the most disorienting and darkest of moments. In the same way, Shaken inspires our young people to call on God just as David did. It is a reminder that in the worst of times, our unshakeable God is with us. God, who made us, knows us, and loves us, God who has seen all that has happened, God who has seen what has shaken us, is unshaken. He is steady. He is strong. He is good. He is kind. He is able to help. He wants to help. And He will. We just need to ask Him.
“In a world that is so easily shaken, Shaken has helped me see that our God is unshakeable, remains the same no matter what happens.”
Unshaken
At times life will shake us. However, with the support and care of others, and the love and care of Jesus; young people can discover new stability and hope. Our prayer is that Shaken can help you in your ministry to young people near you: Providing a practical toolkit and news of Jesus that helps them to live unshaken– no matter what may come their way.
Difficult things may shake us,
But we don’t need to stay shaken.
Because God, who made us,
Knows us, and loves us,
God who has seen all that has happened,
God who has seen what has shaken us,
Is unshaken.
He is steady.
He is strong.
He is good.
He is kind.
He is able to help.
He wants to help.
And He will. We just need to ask Him.
For more information about Shaken, and the work of The Big House, please visit their website www.thebighouse.org.uk.
Katherine Dickson is Programme Worker for “The Big House” and lives beside the sea in Co. Antrim with her husband and two children.
