27.03.2021

Cirque Hors Piste: an “outlet” for marginalized young people

• Description

  By using the circus arts as a tool of intervention, the organization Cirque Hors Piste provides an "outlet" for young people in very precarious situations whose psychological distress has been exacerbated with the pandemic.
  Each week, Cirque Hors Piste offers six hours of artistic workshops ranging from writing to dance, including clowning.

  With the arrival of the pandemic, the Montreal organization had to adapt its offer to continue its intervention activities with its marginalized clientele aged between 15 and 30 years.

  Otherwise, the impact of the crisis would have been greater on their social isolation, believes Executive Director Karine Lavoie. "This year, we were afraid of losing some young people because the pandemic was having an impact on their mental health and they had suicidal thoughts," she said.

  
  Great psychological distressIn this particular context, the organization continues to offer participants a place to meet, exchange and relax where they can forget their problems.

  
  “We realized how great the psychological distress in the young people we work with was. We really saw the positive impact that our space and the social circus approach could have on the mental health of the young people with whom we work, "continues Ms. Lavoie.

  
  Sabrina, 25, is one of the participants who has frequented this "safe space" on a regular basis for over a year. According to her, everyone needs a place like this "where we can be ourselves, learn things and do better," she says.

  
  Without the activities offered by the organization, the young woman believes that she would have no other resource to turn to. “During the pandemic, honestly, if I didn't have this, I'm not sure what I would do. I might be home to be a little depressed, ”says Sabrina.

  
  And she's not the only one, according to Cirque Hors Piste speaker Marilou Vinet. "As for the general population, the pandemic has caused a great loss of benchmarks for these young people," she explains.

  Especially since the young people participating in the workshops often do not attend other organizations since they "do not consider themselves sufficiently precarious" to do so.

  
  The circus as an intervention tool For the director of the organization, Karine Lavoie, the goal of the social circus is really to "empower" vulnerable young people.

  
  "It's really to make them feel that they have a place in society and that that place can be super positive. We are not here to change their course, but rather to support them in the development of their own life course ", she adds.
  In fact, Cirque Hors Piste has really helped Sabrina find her way as the young woman is now studying at the National Circus School to become a circus arts instructor within the organization.

  
  “It allowed me to discover new passions,” she says. It helped me as much in the development of that aspect as in the development of myself. "

  read this article in French HERE