\n Eight-year-old Seb Jenkins had loved the water as a toddler \u2013 until a frightening incident in a hot tub at the age of four left him petrified.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe went under the water for maybe three seconds, but it was enough to change everything,\u201d said mum-of-three Stephanie Jenkins, from Thatcham.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFrom then on he was terrified. It didn\u2019t matter if it was shallow \u2013 he\u2019d be clinging to us, begging not to go in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Stephanie Jenkins)\n<\/p>\n
\n Seb also has a physical disability, and Stephanie was determined he should have some basic water safety skills.\n<\/p>\n
\n She came across a post on social media about GR Swimming School, which specialises in helping people with aquaphobia \u2013 an intense fear of water.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was more than just being scared,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSeb had a proper phobia. We needed someone who could approach it differently, because normal lessons just weren\u2019t going to work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n When Seb started lessons with swimming teacher Joanna Lay, progress was gentle and built on trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jo began with a questionnaire to understand his feelings, then introduced ideas that reframed the water as something to work with rather than fight against.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe told him, \u2018The water can work with you \u2013 it\u2019s magic, it can make you float,\u2019\u201d said Stephanie.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey worked at his pace, just letting him get used to having water near his face, letting him explore. Slowly, he started to believe it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The lessons were reinforced by the family, who took Seb to different pools and encouraged him to try new situations.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI honestly don\u2019t know if he\u2019d ever have gone back in the water without that,\u201d Stephanie said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cNow he jumps in, goes under, swims short distances. A couple of weeks ago, he was having fun with his friend at the pool.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She says it\u2019s changed his life beyond safety.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe went to a swimming party recently and just got in without a second thought. Before, I wouldn\u2019t even have taken him. Now he can go with friends, have fun, join in on holiday \u2013 it\u2019s been huge for him socially as well as for safety.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Stephanie says more parents should know there are options if their child has a real fear of water.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere are kids who need a different way in. I didn\u2019t know that until we had a child with a phobia. Parents need to know there\u2019s another way \u2013 you don\u2019t have to give up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Joanna Lay, the specialist swimming instructor who worked with Seb, said: \u201cThe specialised skills learnt when I became an Advanced Aquaphobia Coach, coupled with my own teaching style and sense of humour allowed me to connect with Seb so he can have the experiences and fun in the water every child deserves.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Joanna now works at the Institute of Aquaphobia, an organisation training thousands of swimming teachers nationwide to work with people who are afraid of water.\n<\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for The Institute of Aquaphobia said: \u201cAquaphobia is more common than many people realise and can affect both children and adults. With the right support, it is entirely possible to overcome it.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our aim is to make swimming safe and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of their starting point.\u201d
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight-year-old Seb Jenkins had loved the water as a toddler \u2013 until a frightening incident in a hot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-99600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}