Combining physical fitness with community service is a powerful way to get struggling teenagers (at risk youth) back on track. Both physical exercise and community service (acts of service toward others) have proven therapeutic outcomes.
The evidence is mounting for the benefits of exercise and community service as effective therapeutic tools used by professional behavioral health practitioners. We certainly use both at Turning Winds. With today’s “entitled teens,” exercise and community service are used as a foundational component of our treatment approach.
Exercise has a lot of benefits. Specifically for “troubled teens,” exercise helps kids to relax, build self-confidence, open up, and learn about themselves. There are countless mental health benefits derived from exercise, particularly for adolescents who are anxious or depressed.
Exercise and physical fitness are something that practitioners and treatment programs have been slow to attend to use for the therapeutic treatment of adolescents. But as evidence of the psychological benefits of exercise on adolescent pile up, the exercise - mental health connection is becoming impossible to ignore. At Turning Wings Academic Institute, we use both physical fitness and community service to support the therapeutic intervention for each of our students.
Short Documentary of the Positive Effects of Physical Fitness and Community Service
(CrossFit Pottstown in Pennsylvania is part of Pottstown Athletic Club, a non-profit youth organization. The affiliate provides an alternative outlet for troubled youths)
If you've ever worked out after a stressful day, the chances are that you felt better afterward. Seems simple, yet many youths today are not engaged in any form of physical fitness. Lack of exercise is directly related to unstable or depressed moods, negative outlook on life, and the poor life choices troubled teens make.