Network for Peace through Dialogue Confronting Concerns Program
The Leadership Institute: Britani Anderson, Erica Johnson, Jahmala Cornelius, Roshelle Wickham and the Teen Coordinator Tene Howard reviewed the goals and work of the Confronting Concerns Program which interviewed 150 youth in Harlem and then created workshops regarding these concerns. Currently these young women now as the Leadership Institute have been working together for several years, developing workshop skills. The first activity asked the ten adults to stand in a circle and present their first names with an adjective that describes their personality. They then divided the participants into three groups who were given a different scenario of youth and adult situations. Each group after some time in preparation role played a dialogue between youth and teens in these challenging situations.
One scene was a teacher, discouraged about the derogatory language being used toward females and how he would talk to the youth. The teacher in the role said he was disappointed by the language and then tried to get the youth to say how it felt for them to be using it one to another. After the role play the Leadership Institute then led a dialogue with the whole groups in regards to the presentation. This was done for the three scenarios.
This was followed by some questions to the adults: Here are a few of them
Why do teens feel that they have to hide stuff? Why do you think the teens have a hard time talking to adults? They then presented the ten techniques and which led to more dialogue with the adult participants.
Ten Techniques to Talk with Teens
1. Being Courageous: It is important to be strong enough to approach the situation.
2. Listening: Listening to the person without giving feedback right away..
3. Patience: Be willing to accept and deal with the issues in a meaningful way..
4. Non-Judgmental: Not criticizing and not letting the event judge the person’s character.
5. Respect: Showing the same consideration you would want provided to you.
6. Honesty: No sugarcoating or exposing yourself to having a conformable and ones environment.
7. Forgiveness/Understanding: Understanding he situation and taking it for what it is.
8. Involvement: Being active and not just standing in the background.
9. Modeling: Setting a positive example.
10. Trust: After resolving the issue, being able to trust the other person
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