New Years is a time for New Beginnings. We have a wonderful program at Aquabilities that will support you every step of the way towards your success and comfort in the water. An added benefit is that you will even enjoy it! Please read the following article written by our instructor, Jeff Krieger, who is the director of the S.O.A.P. program (Strategies for Overcoming Aquatic Phobias) that we are now offering at Aquabilities. If you or someone you know is not comfortable in the water, please consider joining us this winter and enjoy the success that so many others have found!
For last minute gift ideas, we also offer gift certificates! Happy Holidays!
Fear of the Water: a Powerful Motivator, Not a Painful Deterrent.
by: Jeff Krieger, MS
The S.O.A.P. (Strategies Overcoming Aquatic Phobias) Program is a highly successful “Health and Wellness Aquatic Program” that offers an innovative approach to helping people overcome their fear of being in and around water. As the Founder and Director of this program, I have had the privilege of working with a highly diverse group of people who have been unable to enjoy the many emotional, physical and recreational benefits that result from participating in an aquatic lifestyle. Every S.O.A.P. client has a personal story that is inspirational, but here are a few highlights that paint a colorful picture of a very special journey.
There has been nothing that has served as a more powerful example of the depth of aqua phobia as one of my clients who is a retired Marine Officer. He shared with me and the other members of his S.O.A.P. group that although he served in military conflicts in both Korea and Vietnam, which clearly required tremendous courage and physical and emotional strength, that surprisingly, nothing during those extremely difficult moments on the battlefield terrified him more than the thought of being in water over his head. The smile on his face as he jumped off of the one-meter diving board into thirteen feet of water after completing his S.O.A.P. Program was perhaps the most powerful sense of accomplishment that I have ever felt as a professional.
However, there has been nothing that helps define the hope that the S.O.A.P. Program offers as the story of my oldest client to date, who at the age of ninety-one, had never learned how to swim because of her fear of water, especially in water over her head. As a result of the skills and encouragement that she received during her S.O.A.P. Sessions, she was finally able to swim the entire length of a twenty-five meter pool, finishing in ten feet of water. The huge ear-to-ear smile on her face was not only shared by her SOAP Instructor and her fellow SOAP classmates, but also her ninety year old husband who watched nervously from the side of the pool and could not believe what he had just witnessed.
Furthermore, there has been no better example of the importance of a program such as S.O.A.P., than the story of a young mother of two toddlers who had never learned to swim because of her fear of water. Being a new mom, her biggest concern was that she would be unable to protect her children in and around water and be unable to enjoy special moments in the water with them as well. Towards the end of her SOAP sessions, I enjoyed watching her put her newly acquired skill sets to use as she became a role model to her fellow SOAP mates and confidently helped them to achieve their own aquatic goals. This convinced me that her fear of water would no longer prevent her from feeling anything less than an attentive and competent parent being able to enjoy family outings to the pool or beach.
Finally, there has never been an experience as satisfying to me as both a mental health counselor and special needs swim instructor as the story of a very special six-year-old boy, whose parents brought their son to me with a combination of guilt, anger, sadness and frustration. Unfortunately, with the best of intentions, they had decided to send their son to summer camp where they offered swim instruction. They had alerted the camp director that their son was afraid to put his face in the water. Despite a series of swim lessons at the local pool during the previous winter, their son continued to struggle in the water.
When the young child returned home from his first day of camp, he became hysterical and asked that he not return to camp.
After a great deal of questioning, their son reluctantly told his parents of the very bad experience he had at the pool that day. His parents offered to go to camp with him the following day and speak with the camp director and swim instructor about his experience at the pool. He adamantly refused. They finally offered to let him skip swimming altogether and the boy remained unwilling to return to camp. This type of unfortunate experience often results in not only a more intense fear of water, but it opens the door for the development of other negative feelings that can impact a person well beyond their childhood.
While working with this child, it became very clear that he desperately wanted to overcome his fear of water and learn how to swim, but that his lack of confidence in his physical skills in general was adding to his high level of anxiety and fear of being in water. Fortunately, the more he began to trust me, the more he began to trust himself. As his confidence grew, so did his interest in learning how to swim. Hearing him tell his parents that he could not wait to attend camp and go swimming that summer was not only a defining moment in his life, but another one for the S.O.A.P. Program as well.
The message behind these stories is that the S.O.A.P. Program can help any person, regardless of their age, life experience and fitness level, who suffers from a fear of water and who is unwilling or unable to overcome that challenge using “traditional” learn to swim programs or therapy. Unfortunately, very often these silent sufferers choose to avoid water and never seek help for overcoming their fear. Many of them who have taken steps and enrolled in aquatic or therapeutic programs in an effort to overcome their fears, become increasingly disappointed in their results and their failure to overcome their fear and never try again. Sadly, the fact remains that both the mental health and aquatic communities have historically ignored this group and effective resources have not been widely available to them.
The S.O.A.P. Program offers resources in three different areas: cognitive awareness, emotional support and aquatic skills. When combined, these components will significantly increase an individual’s “Aquatic I.Q.” The program defines “AIQ” as an individual’s age appropriate ability to effectively perceive, process and proceed successfully within an aquatic environment. The introduction and application of the cognitive, emotional and physical skill sets required to improve an individuals’ “AIQ” can only be achieved when an individual overcomes their fear of water. This process will allow an individual to consistently make choices that will keep themselves and those around them safe in an aquatic environment.
Interestingly, most people who suffer from an exaggerated fear of water did not suffer a near drowning or terrifying experience in or around water and have no idea why they respond to water in the way they do. All they know is that they have no control over their reactions, which includes increased heart rate, feeling dizzy, nauseous, increased sweating, headaches, trembling, weakness in their limbs and being unable to think or communicate clearly. Their view of the aquatic scene is so overwhelmingly skewed, that they truly believe that they are in imminent danger when in fact there is none.
There are also those people whose fear has been the result of a traumatic aquatic experience, while there are still others who are fearful due to their lack of exposure to the water as a result of health and financial issues or even their geographic location. As time goes on, their fear increases, while their interest and efforts to confront and overcome it diminishes.
The most important part of this process lies in the emotional support that client’s receive both in and out of the water. This support includes a healthy dose of empathy and patience along with the introduction and use of relaxation, behavioral modification and systematic desensitization techniques.
When the time is right, S.O.A.P. Instructors teach their clients the aquatic skills necessary for a participant to feel safe and competent in the water, such as breathing, floating, gliding, rolling over and treading. These skills will enable the client to develop and expand their comfort zone in areas where they had none previously. Once that zone is established and their “AIQ” is in place, then they will be ready to learn how to apply these skills so that they can swim for enjoyment and not just survival.
The S.O.A.P. Program remains one of the few programs that is designed specifically to help individuals understand and manage their aquatic fears and allows them to wade into an aquatic lifestyle and be able to continue to improve their “AIQ”. This is possible through the unique blend of cognitive, emotional and physical support both in and out of the water. The program is offered in both individual and group format for adults and private or semi-private sessions for children. Remember, with the help of a little SOAP, any person can wash away their aquatic fears forever and that:
Failure, no matter how significant, is only temporary.
Success, no matter how small, lasts forever.
For more information on our program please email us at: aquabilitieswithjennifer@gmail.com
or visit our website www.aquabilitieswithjennifer.com
www.waterphobias.com
As one of Jeff's early SOAP participants, I can honestly say that Jeff and the program changed my life for the better. I now swim weekly with another graduate of SOAP. This is something I never imagined being interested in doing. It's hard to believe now that I was so fearful, when being in the pool is now a comfort to me. I am so thankful for Jeff's enormous understanding and support throughout the program and after.
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