Today’s guest blog about some of the problems facing young people (and some solutions) is by David Charles, Expeditions Manager at British Exploring Society.
The rise of social media, exacerbated by pandemic isolation, has created what social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has coined ‘The Anxious Generation’.
At the same time, funding for youth services has plummeted by over 70% in the UK since 2010, leaving our most vulnerable young people with little access to the freedoms, role models, and confidence-building support they need to thrive.
Despite these challenges, young people who participate in British Exploring Society expeditions report significant improvements in confidence, resilience, and overall wellbeing.
Using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS), we have seen post-programme wellbeing scores increase each year since 2021.
By the end of their expedition in 2024, our Young Explorers were scoring inside the top 15% for mental wellbeing in the UK — proving that the courage, challenge, community and self-belief that young people find on adventure has the power to transform lives.
British Exploring Society was founded in 1932. We know what works and our proof is a lineage of Young Explorers that goes back 93 years.
But as young people increasingly absent themselves from school, socialising and the workplace, so they are also dropping out of our expeditions before they can experience the full benefit of life in the wilderness.
We cannot help young people who aren’t with us. So British Exploring Society is evolving once again to meet young people where they are today.
In addition to our famous multi-week expeditions, we are now introducing two new UK-based programmes that offer young people a chance to find their feet and hit their stride without compromising our unique person-centred approach, based around Adventure, Knowledge and Personal Development.
- Adventure Weekends (for ages 14+) provide an adventurous entry point, with two nights under canvas at a residential outdoor centre.
- Adventure Weeks (for ages 16+) offer a wilder challenge, with five or seven days of immersive adventure in England and Scotland’s most dramatic and remote environments.
These UK Adventures will allow young people to build confidence gradually, at a pace they choose.
Our ambition is that our Young Adventurers of 2025 will become our Young Explorers of 2026 – ready to explore the wildernesses of places like Arctic Iceland, mountainous Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and the deserts of Oman.
All British Exploring Society programmes are free-to-access for young people resident in the UK and aged 14-25.
One thing you can do today is share our Expeditions page and help your favourite young people apply to join our Adventure Weekend or Adventure Weeks. They have nothing to lose and a whole world of adventure to gain.
Our expeditions and adventures are led by an incredible community of professional volunteer leaders, including social workers, scientists, bushcraft instructors, school teachers, psychotherapists, engineers and mountain guides. If you are interested in leading with us and helping young people unlock their self-belief, please get in touch.
Thank you.
[Young people need a new kind of adventure – and @britishexploring can help provide that: ]
