Natural internships for young people in difficulty

Go to five minutes, bivouac bag ready for two days! Barely returned from a morning jog, Maël, Gabrielle, Briac, Marthe and Jules set off in their dormitories under the supervision of Jacques, their instructor. “I’m struggling!” »Panic Gabrielle, who struggles to roll her floor mat. “If you believe it, you will get there,” encourages him Jacques. It is neither in a scout camp nor in military preparation that these young people participate, but in a “remobilization internship”. In the Paimpont* forest (Ille -et -Vilaine) -The legendary Brocéliande -, the Irvin Association welcomes groups of five to twenty young people from 18 to 30 years old, who came to spend twelve days to take a step back on their lives. Only prerequisites: be voluntary.

In this promotion, life in the great outdoors is a first. Until the day before, none had camped in the forest. Upon their arrival, a night walk, under the stars, awaits them. “Something to live! Exclaims Briac. At 30, the young man attended the internship for the second time. “I had some drug problems,” he said modestly. Three years ago, unemployed, he registered thanks to a friend, without knowing what to expect. “The framework, the family spirit, the sport is extremely carrier,” he testifies.

Educational farms, long hikes, integration sites … If the ruptured stays have existed for a long time, Irvin innovates by mixing young people in difficulty and young people without problem. The trainees, of very diverse backgrounds, are however all in search of meaning or benchmarks. Jules, 20, arrested his studies during the year. Marthe, two more years, grew up in a divided family context, “which leaves traces”. She resigned from an animator work that was wrong and joined the January internship. She returned this year, with the project of becoming supervisor.

“Living Beings”

During the camp, young people climb, hike, learn to make fire … Objective: to reconnect with the lifetime, learn to count on each other, and discover oneself. And when some want to abandon, the group carries them. “The first hike was super hard, I couldn’t believe it capable. I’m so proud to get there! ” Rejoices Maël. Marthe confirms: she believes that she took a step back from her story and gained confidence in herself during her first internship.

Seventeen years of scouting and fifteen in the Foreign Legion inspired Patrice Valantin, an engineer in ecological engineering, the idea of founding, in 2012, Irvin. “The Legion is 150 nationalities, various languages, and yet it works. I wanted to set up a demilitarized equivalent. ” From the army, Irvin kept the uniform – black t -shirt flocked from the logo of the association and hiking pants – and anonymity: nobody talks about their job or their past. “Whether you are a polytechnician or toxico, it’s here and now that counts.”

Scouting, Patrice Valantin has preserved the pedagogy of nature, an excellent educator and therapist recognized by psychologists: “We are living beings. Contemplation of ecosystems makes it possible to become aware of their interdependencies, therefore ours. It is crucial for these young people, who will build the world of tomorrow, to learn to have confidence in others and in life, and to understand that it requires efforts and the will. ” A pedagogy of empowerment which results in the duty for everyone to pay the price of the internship, 980 euros: “We adapt to each young person. Whoever leaves the street will reimburse later. But it is fair to show that everything is not due ”explains Patrice Valantin, who specifies that the association receives donations from individuals.

Build together

After the internship, young people can spend six weeks on the association’s educational farm, which also makes the specificity of the structure. They participate in agricultural work and benefit from psychological and human support, before resuming vocational training. But do not go talk to Patrice Valantin of “reintegration”: “I do not want to reintegrate them into a sick society that made them sick! I want to give them the means to build the society in which they want to live. Nearly 300 young people tried the experience, with beautiful stories in the key. Like that of Vianney, who came in 2021 after dropping the school, and which now pursues a master’s degree in computer science. Winning bet, too, for Marthe: her taste for animation was confirmed and she decided to make her job.

*Our report took place before the fire that hit the forest in mid-July.