<![CDATA[Supportive Immersion Institute - Supportive Immersion Blog]]>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:35:59 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[Is a Gap Year for me?]]>Wed, 08 Jun 2022 14:08:15 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/is-a-gap-year-for-meWhat if you were guaranteed immense clarity and direction just from taking a simple year off of school to travel abroad? What if it could propel you way farther than jumping straight into college? Would you do it without hesitation?
Danny Recio, Director and Founder of The Bridge Gap Program, took a gap year in South Africa after high school. It was during his time there where he had a “coming of age” experience and found his calling in working with people. All because of his time abroad, Danny went on to start gap year programs - a therapeutic option called The Bridge (a therapeutic community for young men) and a more traditional coed gap program (Si! Gap Program) in Costa Rica, guiding them along their own coming of age experiences.
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In this episode of Success is Subjective, Danny joins Joanna to share his journey as he traveled as a young adult, exploring different cultures and how his gap year experience has stuck with him, even a decade later. Listen in for Danny’s insight on the impact the right gap year program can have on a young adult, possibly changing the entire trajectory of their life.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-118-making-the-most-of-your-young-adulthood/id1499891712?i=1000550592741
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What You Will Learn
  • What it was like growing up and going to school in Costa Rica
  • Danny’s gap year in South Africa
  • ​How impactful and helpful taking a gap year can be
  • When Danny became interested in psychology
  • Danny’s experience in college in Costa Rica vs the U.S.
  • Danny’s insight on what can be really helpful for young adults as they navigate their identity and the world around them
  • How The Bridge Gap Program came about 
  • Danny’s advice on goal setting
  • Connect with Danny Recio at his Bridge email or his NSA email
#sigap #bridgeyoungadults #gapyear #studyabroad #adulting


]]><![CDATA[The Best Way to Learn About “America” (and yourself) is to Leave It.]]>Sat, 05 Oct 2019 01:23:52 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/the-best-way-to-learn-about-america-and-yourself-is-to-leave-itby Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.D. Posted on Medium at: https://medium.com/@drheathertracy/the-best-way-to-learn-about-america-and-yourself-is-to-leave-it-1cef548fb43f 

​Immersing in a new culture made me whole in places where I didn’t even know I was broken.
Find an opportunity to leave. I’m not talking about a 2 week trip to a Mediterranean island, which although lovely, basically leaves you with a very nice tan and a smaller bank account. I’m talking about real cultural immersion and all of the messiness that comes with it — the language, the food, the driving, the music, the politics, the weather, and the people.
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Why bother? The challenges life hands you abroad may be much more difficult outside of your comfort zone, but the benefits — if you are open to them — will change you, your perspective, and your life for the better. Yes, you will (hopefully) learn a marketable skill by mastering another language. But perhaps more importantly, you will learn problem-solving, empathy, humility, patience, perspective, openness, and completely new ways of communicating — not to mention the grit and confidence that you can indeed get through pretty much anything.
Click here to read more ----------------------->

A Warning About the Two Approaches: 

Now in my 17th year of living and working in Costa Rica, I’ve seen my share of US citizens trying their hand at living abroad with varying degrees of “success.” Some define success through personal growth and self-improvement. These people come in with all the gusto to learn the language and live like the locals. Others define successful immersion as trying to continue living (or to improve) the lifestyle they had in the US but for a cheaper price. Don’t be this person. Those who seek such luxuries for a cheaper price not only find frustration a daily state of being, they are missing a grand opportunity.
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Growing up in a small Midwestern town, I did my best to achieve and experience what was available. I took the advanced public school course load, loaded up on extracurriculars, saved up my restaurant tips to join the high school trip to France, and was awarded a full ride to an excellent university. But my values and lifestyle were never really challenged.

Yes, college certainly challenged me since I was a bit out of place amongst students who had mostly gone to private Catholic high schools, joined sororities and fraternities, and didn’t seem to have any need to work the after-school jobs I had to work. A graduate school research practicum placed me in a public high school where I experienced how it felt to be a “minority” for the first time. But none of these experiences resulted in me being fully immersed at all times in a place where there was no one else like me. Therefore, I just kept being me.

Was There Something Wrong With Being Me? 

No, not really. Sure, I had a questionably (un)healthy dose of Type-A perfectionist drive to achieve; I even ended up at an Ivy League school. That’s what was rewarded in the US, and people were proud of me. But I also never really tried anything that I wasn’t fairly confident I could master, and therefore I never really grew. I learned things in Costa Rica that I never would have learned had I continued down a safe, traditional path. I wasn’t broken, but I also wasn’t whole.

What I Learned From Cultural Immersion in Costa Rica:

  1. I learned to be out of place. I learned what it must feel like to always feel like an outsider — in looks, in speech, in mannerisms — all while wanting to be a part of what was going on. I gained a huge sense of empathy and appreciation for those who feel out of place. I also learned how to be aware of myself and how I was “coming across” in groups or communities that were not just like me.
  2. I learned to take the time to try to understand. Day after day, as I sat in silence, my brain fatigued, trying to catch all the Spanish words and phrases being thrown around, someone would always stop and try to help me understand what was going on. Even in the first six months when I was walking around with an open dictionary, I never truly felt lost. The kids I taught were endlessly enthusiastic to help me learn Spanish. Adults often took the time to write something down for me, consult my dictionary, or simply play exaggerated charades until I caught the gist of the conversation. I know this made me a better teacher and a more empathic human being.
  3. I learned self-acceptance. When I arrived to Costa Rican beaches as a 23 year old, I was in great shape — running miles a day and hiking any trail I could find. Yet I still wore one piece bathing suits (or tankinis meant for women my age now!) from the embarrassment of not having a centerfold beach body worthy of a bikini. After months of watching local Ticas strutting around on the beach with no self-consciousness about wrinkles, cellulite or a belly, I finally figured out that the beach wasn’t about centerfolds, it was about the beach — the sand, the saltwater, the power of the ocean, and the experience of being one with nature and friends.
  4. I learned humility. I remember being picked up by immigration officers at a restaurant in a random raid early on during my stay. I had a valid visa but — as the responsible person that I was — I had turned it in 2 months before it expired to get it renewed, leaving me only with a photocopy. They took me in anyway, and I learned very quickly that the entitled American attitude of the “customer is always right” didn’t get me very far. So, I shut my mouth, ate the rice and sardines they fed us, and became the “model detainee” before being released about 48 hours later once they located my passport… in their own offices. Sure, I cried. I felt the injustice. But on the other hand, I could probably write a whole book about the fascinating people I met who were detained alongside me. PS — Don’t be scared of Costa Rica because of this — it was years ago before cell phones and their now state of the art electronic databases, and I have never heard of any other US citizen being detained in this way. PS #2 —No, I was not doing anything shady (ha!) but I now never leave my passport at home.
  5. I learned how to give up control. If that last story wasn’t enough to convince you of this point, there were less traumatic ways I learned to go with the flow. Before I could even speak Spanish, I learned to dance merengue, salsa, cumbia and any other dance Ticos would teach me. For the first time, since US music isn’t much for couples dancing, I learned how to let someone else lead. I had to go with the flow. I had to listen to the music and let my body move to the joyful rhythms even as the lyrics sang of cheaters and lost loves.
  6. I learned patience through “carma”. Yes, that’s right — CARma karma. In a country where road rules don’t necessarily apply, I started practicing “Carma.” I now quell road rage and wait patiently when someone stops their car in the middle of the road to let someone out or to say hello to a car passing in the opposite direction, oblivious to the nine cars lined up waiting behind them. I now enjoy watching while a herd of (insert animal here) decides to take up my lane for a few minutes. I learned to slow down to let people cut in front of me to help the flow of traffic. I’m a more patient person because of it.
  7. I learned how to communicate. Sure, we all know the difference between verbal and nonverbal language. But until you learn a foreign language in context, I’m not sure you can truly understand how integrated they are. One word can mean 3 different things. One pronunciation can be spelled 3 different ways. The tones and inflections tell you which is which. Reading body language is an art, especially when you can only pick up half of the actual words.
  8. I learned about Cafecito. I used to view stopping to say hello to a colleague, or taking 15 minutes out of the work day to share a cup of coffee and chat about anything besides work, as a waste of productive time. I was wrong. Period.
  9. I learned about complexity. I learned to “see” things I hadn’t seen before, not just in nonverbal language, but in politics, history, and cultural norms. I learned how a small country without a military could survive. I learned what free education and free health care looked like in reality. I learned how having multiple political parties plays out in elections. It all made me that much more aware of how things play out (and why) back in the US, and in the world.

So What's The Point of All of This?

When I go back to the USA (which I do quite often now), I’m more aware. I notice more. I empathize more. At the same time, I’m more empowered and clear of who I am and what I want. I don’t let the drama, the sensationalized news, the airbrushed social media, or the demanding professional culture take over my life. I am not sure I would have this awareness without an extended immersive experience in a foreign culture.

What quality cultural immersion can spark is reflection, awareness, empathy (for yourself and others) and intentional action. Cultural immersion experiences make you face questions you might not have ever asked yourself. In a way that no book or article can achieve, a true immersive experience brings you face to face with yourself, how you grew up, what you believe, and what you want… and it allows you to empathize with the perspectives of others and how they grew up, what they believe, and what they want. From that point on, it’s all up to you. But you will be better for it.
]]><![CDATA[Ecosystems of Learning - TedTalk by Dr. Danny Recio]]>Sun, 15 Sep 2019 04:10:43 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/ecosystems-of-learning-tedtalk-by-dr-danny-recio8628653Subtitles are out! Enjoy Dr. Recio's TedxPuraVida talk about Ecosystems of Learning!
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]]><![CDATA[Process-Based Scaffolding as a Method For Balance]]>Thu, 27 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/process-based-scaffolding-as-a-method-for-balanceby Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.D.
Process-based scaffolding is a key competent of Supportive Immersion. It is based on Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development which asserts that we learn within a zone that is not too comfortable (aka boring) but not overwhelmingly outside of our comfort zone that it causes us to shut down. 
In other words, the Process-Based part of PBS connects with our students and figures out where they are in the learning process, which mental models they have created, and the Scaffolding part of PBS determines what kind of structure and support students need in order to collaboratively engage in a novel learning experience that challenges and expands previous mental models. This is empowered learning. 
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Once we know where our students are (empathic connection), facilitators can design the experiences that structure and support a student to engage in more complex ways of interacting with a problem or issue at hand. This is collaborative empowerment. We provide the learning experience that can empower a student to take on the complex perspectives to solve real-world and relevant problems. 
So why is this helpful? Oftentimes, facilitators who are overly focused on structure can be rigid and miss opportunities to empathically connect to meet a student where they are to facilitate engagement in learning. On the flip side, facilitators who are overly empathic can over-accommodate and therefore miss opportunities to structure learning experiences that push learners outside of their comfort zones enough to actually grow into more complex learners and problem-solvers. 
Finding a balance between empathy and scaffolding can create the most rewarding growth and learning experiences. This not only helps our students grow, but we too (as facilitators) grow.  
]]><![CDATA[Ecosystems of Learning - TedTalk by Dr. Danny Recio]]>Wed, 26 Jun 2019 05:05:57 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/ecosystems-of-learning-tedtalk-by-dr-danny-recioSubtitles coming soon but if your Spanish is good enough, check out Dr. Danny Recio's TedTalk in Costa Rica about Ecosystems of Learning: 
]]><![CDATA[Our Youth Need PROPS Skills for the 21st Century]]>Fri, 21 Jun 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/our-youth-need-props-skills-for-the-21st-centuryby Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.D.
We hear it every day: School just didn't work for ___. Our child is bright, curious, and wants to understand his/her self better. There just isn't room for that in today's schools. 
Why has our educational system evolved so much more slowly than every other field in the Information Age?
  • Our kids have more access to content and information than every before. 
  • They don't need us adults to tell them how the world works; they can Google it. 
  • They are aware of the world's risks and how they can avoid danger. 
  • They know the stories of people who thwarted the traditional "education is the way to success" models and became successful entrepreneurs. 
  • They know they can be "whoever they want to be" and they will fight to be protected to be that individualized person. 
And yet... they struggle. 
Resilience is a key word today because depsite a plethora of opportunities, our kids are struggling to see how they can make it in this world. They need hope. They need 21st Century skills - the skills that many schools are not facilitating. 
Based on research incorporating 21st Century Skills, systems thinking, and an analysis of cultural trends affecting the Information Age, PROPS is Supportive Immersion's answer to the skill set that today's youth need.
Proactive Purposefulness helps students find meaning and motivation in their lives. 
Resilience - both emotional resilience and practical resourcefulness - helps students persevere when outside their comfort zones so they can grow experientially and continue learning. 
Open Collaboration helps students be open to new perspectives and collaborate with global diversity.
Problem-Solving Creativity requires divergent thinking and systems thinking to find solutions to today's pressing problems. 
Self-Governance merges typical executive functioning skills with empowered youth who know how to know themselves and make things happen.
Contact us today if you want to learn more about how PROPS can be incorporated into the development of your parenting, educational, or therapeutic processes. 
]]><![CDATA[The Dangers of Living Vicariously]]>Thu, 16 May 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/the-dangers-of-living-vicariouslyby Dr. Danny Recio, PhD
Some studies say that youth from 30 or 50 years ago are no different than youth today, in terms of their preferences and struggles. Others speak of drastic increases in mental health issues in this age group and severe difficulties transitioning to adult life. From talking to people in different corners of the world about youth growing up nowadays, there seems to be a generalized concern about the effects of the virtual world (i.e. screens connected to the internet) in young people’s psyche. Overall, most of these people seem to believe that the virtual world functions like kryptonite in youth when it comes to having the fortitude to deal with the non-virtual world (or real world).  

I recently heard a similar argument in the show “Hidden Brain” from NPR. I strongly recommend you give the episode I’m linking a listen, but if you don’t have the time, just listen to the first 3 minutes. Here’s the link:  

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/05/691697963/close-enough-the-lure-of-living-through-others 
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If you just don’t have the time to listen to the first 3 minutes, let me give you the one sentence summary: the virtual world provides very close simulations of what one gets in the real world but cuts out the undesirable parts: the potential rejection, the risk, the boring, sad, anxiety producing, and imperfect parts.  

What do you think? How much do you think the virtual world is a place to hide for those who do not want to deal with the real world? We had our brilliant Bridge students listen to the first three minutes of this Hidden Brain episode called: “Close Enough: The Lure of Living through Others”, and then, they recorded their own episode of their podcast: The Seedpod. Here are their wonderful thoughts on this issue:  
https://www.bridgeyoungadults.com/bridge-blog
Heather Tracy, our executive director, and I had presented at a conference on this issue. We had proposed that when it comes to the virtual world, there’s a “rich get richer, and poor get poorer” dynamic. This means that those with the built-in skills to learn independently, socialize effectively and manage time efficiently, tend to use the virtual world to enhance their ability to accomplish their goals.  

Conversely, those who lack the above-mentioned skills, are sucked into or “used” by the virtual world as helpless consumers. Those in this category won’t build on and grow from the virtual world, but instead will increase their insecurity, avoidance, and anxiety.  
What’s the antidote? The world itself. I imagine this works like real nutrition and supplements. If you have good nutrition, taking supplements can be a good thing, but if you don’t eat well, taking just supplements can make one’s health even worse.
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In a world where the virtual is rapidly overpowering the real, we cannot stress strongly enough how important it is for youth to equip themselves with skills to confront, enjoy and learn from the real. Through our Supportive Immersion approach, we design supported experiences that allow young people to remain in a zone of optimal learning while they acquire crucial skills to function and succeed in the hectic globalized society we live in.  

Each person has a unique way to approach the world and problem-solve; we help each of our students find that style, master it and take it with them where they go. Thus, we work on our students going from “outsourcing (their) lives to virtual alter egos” as they say on this episode of Hidden Brain, to reclaiming their agency and embracing and transforming the world.
]]><![CDATA[Education of Appreciation and Desire]]>Thu, 04 Apr 2019 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/education-of-appreciation-and-desireby Dr. Danny Recio, PhD Picture
Have you stopped to think how much of what you appreciate and desire depends on your perspective? 
Last year, during The Bridge’s 2-week project in South Africa, we were hiking in the beautiful mountains around Cape Town. Arnold, the program director of a friend organization, Usiko, and I were walking together. They work with at-risk youth from underprivileged suburban areas of Cape Town. 
I stopped for a moment to take in the view, and asked him if he brought his students often to this area. He said yes, and I told him how important it is to expose people to beauty. He agreed, but proceeded to tell me something that has stuck with me. He said that many of his students could not perceive the beauty; they could see it, but couldn’t really appreciate it. This made me think that appreciation requires education, or else it is not exercised. Every single day, almost all the time, we presence marvelous events. Wonderful feats of human creativity, such as buildings and cars. Incredible skies and natural beauty. People with unique perspectives to delve into and connect with. But it seems like unless we create a container to take it in and appreciate it, it flows right past us like water in a stream. ​
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Educating ourselves and others in the valuable practice of appreciation is not complicated. It just needs practice. You don’t need college degrees, money or higher levels of consciousness. By taking a moment and asking ourselves: what is unique in what I’m experiencing? What would this experience be if the sky was just gray as opposed to blue? What would life be if there was no diversity in perspectives and cultures? What am I taking for granted now that I would miss if it wasn’t here?
And just like appreciation requires education, what we desire is a product of such education,and often goes unnoticed as well. Of course we have basic needs, like food, shelter and belonging; and meeting those needs are part of our desires. However, a simple hut and a mansion are both shelter, just like we can find belonging by being part of a sports team or by posting lots of pictures on social media. Being thoughtful of what we desire is essential, as many people around us want us to desire something they have, like their products, substances, or their acceptance. If we are not intentional and mindful of what we desire we can end spending a lot of energy and time (in some cases a lifetime) pursuing a desire that doesn’t fulfill us or maybe isn’t our desire to begin with. Huts, mansions, sports teams and social media are all fine if they are truly satisfying our deeper needs; otherwise they may become a distraction or an obstacle, and ultimately lead to frustration and disappointment.
A few simple skills really help educate our appreciation and desire: 
1. Awareness: keeping our senses awake to subtleties we might not typically realize. Is there beauty around me I have been taking in? What need am I trying to fulfill by binge-watching Netflix? 
 
2. Flexibility: we shift our perspective, acknowledge the needs we are trying to fulfill, and find alternative ways to meet them. This way, we disentangle our expectations from what the situation actually offers. Instead of waiting for my friends to call, could I just sit back and hang out with my siblings for the night?  
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3. Ordinariness: more often than not, reality is plenty fine, and contains enough to appreciate and to meet our needs.
It’s important to reclaim our own ability to shift the way we perceive what we need and appreciate. It’s not easy, it requires a lot practice, education and more often than not, re-education. But it’s completely possible! And what’s more, we can influence, and therefore educate other people as well, just by sharing our perspectives on what we appreciate and realize we truly need.
]]><![CDATA[Redefining Success as Integrative Growth and Self-Generation]]>Tue, 09 Jan 2018 00:05:48 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/january-08th-2018by Dr. Danny Recio, PhD

Once physiological needs are met, people crave: safety, belonging and mattering, before they can reach self-actualization. Self-actualization is the fulfillment of one's mission, a fuller knowledge of the person's intrinsic nature, and the unceasing trend toward integration within the person. Many of us have privilege of experiencing the safest time in human history when it comes to physical health, violence and ability to fend against natural disasters and disease; however, belonging and mattering is much more difficult than ever before. Societies are immensely large, not just because of the sheer number of people on the planet, but also because they are extremely interconnected. This "global" perspective makes the existence of one single individual appear insignificant, especially in comparison to the images and narratives the media portray. People seek happiness, success and peace in a world so fast, complex and impersonal that people even struggle to find the self that could potentially be happy, succesful and peaceful.
The dissatisfaction of such important needs as belonging and mattering provokes nihilism, exaggerated attempts at asserting a self (selfishness, histrionic tendencies, etc.) and many other unhealthy behaviors (bullying, drug-use, anxiety, depression). The deficiency in belonging and mattering trickle down in the hierarchy and shake up the foundation, leading to loss in safety (e.g. anxiety) and physiological health (e.g. illness due to stress). This deficiency also prevents reaching upward in the hierarchy toward 
self-actualization, inhibiting people from transcending themselves. In other words, they cannot grow as a person, and thus remain stunted, immature, and even perhaps child-like.


This seems to lead people to feeling lost, adrift without a captain of their own ship, without the lead in the script of their own lives. This is much more the case in younger generations, because they are growing up in an exponentially larger (i.e. interconnected) world, who needs them less (due to advances in technology), demands more (because of trends in economy and perfectionism), and connects with them less (because of tendencies toward decreased face to face time between people). Thus, one could say younger generations might not have even lost themselves, as they have not even created themselves. They are not adrift in the ocean of life, because the ship hasn’t even sailed. 


When asked, adolescents and emerging adults will say that the markers of reaching adulthood are financial independence, independence in decision-making, and acceptance of responsibility. The direction of the idea makes sense, but the use of the concept of independence is inaccurate. Independence, dependence or even interdependence are not at the core of the issue, as they speak of the degree of influence or control from others in one’s actions. This is important, but what truly makes a difference here is the degree ofself-generation, which speaks of how much is originating from within. Reaching the point of adulthood should mean that one is making the transition from having all aspects of one’s life originate from the outside, to originating more from within. Motivation, finances, problem-solving, learning, the satisfaction of basic and complex needs, all of these ought to move from a place of outer-generation when we are younger, to a place of self-generation as we develop. The variable of independence does not matter here, as one is always interconnected with the environment, always needs it, and always draws resources from it, and hopefully gives as much back as well. Self-generation, instead, is about where the initial force, energy and motion are coming from when taking care of a need or fulfilling a goal, and who is keeping the process going toward completion.


Integrative growth is the type of learning that leads to self-generation. In learning experiences or processes, especially those that are facilitated by others, there is a strong tendency to facilitate growth that is induced and where the learner remains passive -- being a patient, like in psychiatry or psychology. Facilitating learning that leads to self-generation requires a sophisticated and careful approach, especially because the tendency in our culture is to focus on content outcomes, like grades in education, or symptom reduction in psychotherapy. Passive learners are good for business, because they’ll always need facilitators, but not good for social development. 

Integrative growth is not just about self-generating, it is also coherent, so the person grows as a whole and not just parts at the expense of others. For example, one doesn’t grow financially but at the expense of diminished health. Integrative growth is also inclusive, so as the person grows, others around grow as well: his family, community, etc. Finally, integrative growth is sustainable, so the growth now makes growth more likely in the future. These three elements are possible because of the self-generating nature of integrative growth, as without this characteristic one cannot permeate growth toward one’s whole being, toward others and perpetuate it toward the future. 


All living beings are biologically self-generating; they combine inert elements and activate them in combination in order to grow in a self-generating way. Machines cannot do this, as they require external forces to induce action and keep it going. People in learning processes must function like organisms, and not machines, and must combine different elements to activate self-generated learning. The elements that when activated lead to self-generating growth are: proactive purposefulness, resilience, open collaboration, problem-solving creativity, and self-governance. These five working together are called the integrative function, and are signs that self-generation and hence integrative growth is taking place.


Supportive Immersion / Supported Immersion ©2017
​ Dr. Danny Recio, PhD & Dr. Heather Tracy, EdD
]]><![CDATA[Growing Up in the Age of Complexity (Presentation)]]>Mon, 20 Nov 2017 02:36:40 GMThttps://www.supportiveimmersion.com/supportive-immersion-blog/growing-up-in-the-age-of-complexity-presentationDr. Danny Recio, PhD, and Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.D - Presentation at Young Adult Transition Association Conference in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in October 2017. 
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