If you want to get rid of your fear of flying, you can contact the Valk Foundation in Leiden. In a 2-day course and a number of individual sessions, you will learn how to deal with that fear. This does not mean that the fear disappears, but that it becomes manageable.
First individual sessions at the Valk foundation’s fear of flying course
The Valk Foundation’s fear of flying course starts with an individual intake of 2 to 2.5 hours. In that conversation with a psychologist, the entire past of the person in question is discussed and how the fear may have arisen. A questionnaire must also be completed, which should show what a person’s personality is like, but also how great the fear is. At the end of the session we will discuss how to proceed. The Valk Foundation has a 1-day course, but also a 2-day course. The 2-day course is often necessary, because both also include a flight. As a result, part of the day is already lost.
The structure of the Valk Foundation’s fear of flying course
People who register for the fear of flying course are often first offered one or more individual sessions. They also often look at how they respond to fear. This could be by taking them to the Euromast to combat fear of heights or claustrophobia. The student is often given the necessary relaxation exercises to take home beforehand.
Breathing exercises are very important for anxiety
Those who are anxious often experience higher and faster breathing. And that in turn causes more anxiety and more muscle tension. Not useful if you are already nervous about a flight. That is why students at the Valk Foundation learn to breathe properly. That makes someone much calmer.
Eating advice for anxiety
What many people don’t know is that eating well and especially breakfast is also important if you are anxious. Many people cannot swallow something when they are afraid. But that causes someone’s blood sugar level to drop. And anyone who has a low sugar level becomes shaky and miserable. Also not beneficial for people who already suffer from anxiety. The Foundation therefore urges you to have a good breakfast and then eat small amounts of food before the flight. Coffee and tea with theine, cola or caffeinated drinks are also not recommended for people who are afraid. These cause the body to become restless. Chocolate, cheese and mushrooms can cause headaches. That is also not recommended.
A pilot’s explanation of how an airplane flies
What is very nice about the Valk Foundation course is a whole morning of information given by a captain (pilot) of a KLM aircraft. He or she really explains everything there is to explain about a flight. How an aircraft works, from the smallest parts to the operation of the engine, from the influence of wind on an aircraft to what could possibly go wrong. Students can ask absolutely anything they want to know and that usually provides a lot of clarity and more confidence in what is happening in the cockpit. Anyone who knows how everything works and what can still be done if something goes wrong or if something breaks down, also knows that little can actually happen with an aircraft.
Fear may be there: it’s how you deal with it
After that exciting part, we discuss how people deal with fear. Fear of flying is not strange at all. Most people do not like that, especially when there is turbulence. But anyone who knows what turbulence is and knows that nothing can go wrong can learn to deal with it. By paying attention to good breathing, but also especially by putting thoughts that arise about what could go wrong into perspective. Because it is precisely those thoughts that fuel fear. And that makes him bigger. Anyone who is able to realize that his or her thoughts are not based on anything can also learn to deal with them.
Fear must reach a certain peak, only then can it fall again
Many people drink or swallow their fears away. With pills or with alcohol. At least that’s what they think. The point, however, is that fear that is constantly repressed remains at a point where it consumes a lot of energy. Whoever lets his fear run wild reaches a kind of peak. From that moment on, the fear can only become smaller and therefore consume less energy, especially if someone knows how to deal with it.
View aircraft in the hangar
Exposure to fear is the only remedy for most fears to make them manageable. This also applies to fear of flying. That is why the Valk Foundation ensures that students view an aircraft from all sides before taking a flight. In a hangar where the aircraft are viewed (which also gives citizens courage, because it becomes very clear how meticulously aircraft mechanics handle the maintenance of an aircraft) the fear is also tackled. Everything is looked at and explained. Because anyone who thought that an airplane lands on wheels as big as a bicycle wheel is completely wrong. Anyone who thinks that a wing can simply break off is also completely wrong. By walking around and under the aircraft, climbing into them, seeing where flight attendants sleep and where pilots lie and seeing what the cockpit looks like, it becomes very clear how an aircraft actually functions. And that almost nothing is left to chance and that there is a safety net for everything. It is also explained how an airplane flies on the wind and that it cannot simply fall out of the sky. (Because this is what many people with a fear of flying think). People with a fear of flying sometimes suffer mainly from claustrophobia or fear of heights. Practicing in an airplane that is still on the ground exposes the student to fear. And of course that produces emotions. But that’s a good thing. Anyone who steps into the cramped sleeping quarters of the flight attendants and suffers from claustrophobia (or who may have ever been trapped) will thus experience fear. By then learning to convert irrational thoughts into real ones and relax, a kind of foundation is laid for doing the same later in a flying plane.
Really take a plane trip because of your fear of flying
Once the students have completed all these matters, they can take a flight under the guidance of a psychologist who has been guiding the group the entire time and the pilot who has explained to them how an airplane works. The destination is kept secret until a few hours before the trip. The reason for this is that many people with a fear of flying are control freaks. If they know in advance where they are going, they check wind directions, local weather and other things. While this is not relevant at all, because it does not change the journey itself. That surrender is also part of the process of making the fear of flying manageable,
The usefulness of the group in a fear of flying course
Anyone who participates in Valk’s fear of flying course does so in a group. The group dynamics are of great importance, because the students also go through a process together. They support each other, learn from each other that what they have is not strange because others have it too and they all step in together. That creates a bond, but also trust. By the way, a flight as part of the fear of flying course naturally consists of an outward flight and a return flight. An outward and return flight that follows each other very quickly, so that you experience two take-offs and two landings. And if you’re lucky, twice as much turbulence. There is no time to relax at the airports. There is often only half an hour to an hour between landing and boarding again. The outward journey will also be evaluated at that time. After three months, the students meet again to see how things went. Because there is of course guidance during both flights, but afterwards the students have to do it themselves. my view on