How to convince a person who almost drowned to become friends with water again?

Hello there.

I met a girl who almost drowned as a little child. She is extremely afraid of water since that time. I love swimming for lots of reasons, I would even say that it SAVED my life. I'd like her to reunite with water somehow. I also think that her fear is not a normal condition and should be overcome. Any idea how I should proceed not to scare her even more? I know I should be slow and delicate. I am sorry if anything is wrong with my English, I'm not a native speaker.

Luke

[borate]

Yes, the fear should and can be overcome, for safety, satisfaction and fun.

Sign her up with a patient instructor who teaches a small class - perhaps at community college - and who specializes in adult non-swimmers. Encourage her to attend often and regularly, and not be discouraged.

An alternative would be individual instruction, but she may find the encouragement and comradery of a group to be most helpful and supportive. Others have.

[Mike from NS]

Before she will even consider learning to swim ... she is going to have to have the desire herself. Simply because you want her to overcome her fears, she likely won't. She needs to be motivated herself first. She needs to want to over come the fears. I feel the fear of the water is completely normal and reasonable. I was about to take lessons then had an almost drowning experience. For about 2 years after that day I had no interest in learning to swim at all. Eventually the desire to learn returned and I took lessons. About the same time I "found" TI. Without that discovery, I doubt I would even learned to swim. The lessons were useless and I ended up being self taught by following TI and spent hours with lots of patient, progressive practice. Something new learned with every swim. And this was motivation to keep coming back for another try.

So as an analogy ..... her desire to learn must be from within. People who want to quit smoking need to want to, from within. All the coaxing will never make them stop. So don't coax her .... "because she should learn" .... let her see the enjoyment that can be had if able to swim.
Good luck.
Mike

[CoachSuzanne]

You don't convince her, she has to decide for herself. Share you live of water but you can't convince her if she's not ready

Hello again,

just wanted to say I really appreciate your replies. Each of them adds something valuable and you can be sure I will use them dealing with this responsible task.

Luke