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by Marco Vinicio Masoni - Milan, Italy

The Therapeutic Boat

"You made a boat for yourself ?! In what sense?"
"In the sense that I’ve built it"
"Good heavens, how can you build a boat? You bought the hull and then you made all the little jobs…"
"No, I made the hull too!"
"The hull? Incredible! How did you do it… with all those curved parts?"
"Anyone can. Would you like to see it?"
"Certainly, I would!"
__________

"Here it is!"
"This one?!"
"Yes"
"But you… you are fantastic! It’s wonderful!"

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a punt...

 
... and a 5 meter Sharpie hull.

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One glance at your interviewer tells you that have risen appreciably in his estimation of you. That glance is an assertion of changes you have undergone. You have imagined admiration like this and now it is yours. Now you see yourself in a different way. The skill and self-confidence gained are the key, and Bandura, an important writer, writes about it in a book of eight hundred pages, saying that this is the heart of the matter.

It goes without saying that if building a boat produces such effects, it’s not strange that, in the Juvenile Prison in Bologna the teachers have drawn the same conclusions and they have equipped a shop where the boys are building a boat. But many guides and tutors are needed to build boats and tutors aren’t always woodworkers. That's not so bad, in some cases they can do something else, for example
teach model airplane construction. It’s important that the object built leads to the same emotional magic as building boats.

This is why we add, besides the photos of the boats, some others of an engined aircraft built by the boys of the Juvenile Prison “Beccaria” in Milan. Here you can see some photos of this adventure. Some of them show finished objects, others show some dreams that are now being realized.

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The launch of a Bolger Micro

 
working on floatation

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The Micro's accomodations.

 
Pram

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“If you want understand something, do it yourself.”

This saying is usually applied to life; it’s an invitation to ponder, late at night, the different voices in our heads that whose conflict can lead to inaction. But it can also have a more literal meaning. If you want to understand, “Build” something yourself. And it’s not a question only of building an object to know it better, but of building an object to know yourself better. Which object? In some cases, and when a client has at his disposal a suitable space, we recommend he build a boat. A boat is a “strange” object. It’s not something you can hang on the wall, it’s not the content of a “do it yourself” article. A boat is an adventure in the area of self-esteem and a sense of self-sufficiency. Build a boat and you’ll feel you have dared. Sail it and you’ll feel to have won. The reflection of your success on all the other aspects of your life will be tangible. In some of our psychotherapies the building of a boat becomes an intersecting task which crosses all aspects of the therapy. Boats are generally built to the plan of Italian or well-known foreign designers. The plans, which have been bought, can be used to build only one boat. Many plans can be bought abroad over the internet or they can be bought in Italy, in Milan c/o B.C.A. - Demco Kit.

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A student has begun this Bolger Pirogue for sail or paddle

 
This model airplane is U-control (the pilot flies the airplane with cables that control its altitude)...

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... It was built by this group of boys from the Juvenile Prison “Beccaria” in Milan. It has a wingspan of two meters.

 
This is the boat that is being constructed in Bologna by the boys of the Atlas of Rimini cooperative.

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It's probably Ok to show this sheet with some sketches of the plan and the boy's names. The boat is Farò: a B.C.A. Demco Kit.

Marco Vinicio Masoni
info@formazione-studio.it

SAILS

EPOXY

GEAR

 

 

 

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