Explanation of Service Approach
Life Coaching
The role of the life-coach is to assess needs pertaining to both social skills and life skills and create a customized plan to help youth reach goals that will help strengthen their overall quality of life. We will provide one-to-one and small group mentoring services for youths ages 8-18. These services include, but are not limited to, academic support, job readiness, college experiences, leadership skill building, recreational activities, and much more. Life-coaching creates tangible long and short-term goals and help the youth track progress. Incentives are offered and given within reason for the progress that the youth makes.
Group Mentoring
Large group sessions will be held one time per week and include all of the youth identified by our mentors and life coaches, collaboration teams, care coordinators, social service workers, and/or therapists who are in need of a social approach. The group setting allows youth to engage with peers and recognize that many issues that they face are not unique to them, thus, building a family-like atmosphere conducive of trust, accountability, and hope to gain the skills necessary to lead a more productive life in the home, community, and school. In this large group setting, youth are allowed get to engage in the following:
Engaging in presentations given by guest speakers (Examples include the following)
- Professionals in their field that can offer a new perspective for youth
- Experts who have lived a life similar to those in our program and want to deter children and teens from living a negative life
- Health experts and medical professionals to promote healthy living
- Marion County Prosecutors, Jail Staff, Former Inmates, Judges, Police Officers, Public Defenders
- Corporation heads offering internships and professional training
Engaging in Strength-Based Talent Sessions
- Allowing youth to explore their talents in sessions such as cultural dance, culinary arts, arts and crafts, etiquette, martial arts, sports training, gospel choir, drum line, song writing, recording studio, history, court etiquette, job training, resume building, writing
- Builds character, self-esteem, and personality
- Focuses on unity, team work, health relationships
Engaging with Multiple Mentors and Life Coaches
- Important for youth and teens to create healthy relationships with multiple adults, not just their assigned life coach.
- Allows assigned life coach to witness if there are issues with authority by the youth and teens interaction with other mentors and life coaches so that they can identify needs that will help tackle many of the issues youth have with their parents and school
- A broader network of adults helping to hold youth accountable
- A larger group of cheerleaders and stakeholders encouraging youth success
Event preparation does not take place during the large group session. This is a social skill building and life skills training session.
Small Group Mentoring
Small group sessions combine the model of peer mentoring and senior mentoring. The mentor is the senior to the mentees and, therefore, he or she facilitates the group. Mentees are typically peers who benefit from getting outlook from one another, as well. The experience gained from this is not considered traditional yet it is a research-based approach that can be extremely transformational. Mentees learn to trust a group and it helps boost morale. These youth help to hold each other accountable and offer varying points of view. This approach focuses on multiple development and is more topical and coachable. It also promotes healthy competition. Youth gain a healthy network of peers that ultimately become life-long friends. The benefits from this also include being part of the following:
- Small tutoring and educational study groups
- Real Men Read
- Leadership and Success Team
- Sports Programs and Martial Arts
- Monthly Event Preparation (youth cannot participate in any events or shows without being able to engage in small group sessions)- takes place each week for proper preparation (pageants, fashion shows, talent shows, poetry slam, beautillion, college tours, skits, group presentations, and more.
- Youth are able to perform in various settings, including large venues. This builds esteem, focuses on strengths, challenges the youth to prepare and perfect their talents, allows them to have an audience and puts them on a pedestal.
Parent Mentoring
Who Do We Serve
- Families in need of services through a strength-based approach.
- Mothers needing extra guidance in providing adequate care for their at-risk children.
What is our Commitment
- Working through an independent contract with mothers with a guided 6-8 week (minimum) curriculum that will help strengthen their family unit.
- Work can take place with the mother 1-3 times weekly (as prescribed by individual child and family teams).
- Becoming part of the parent support team by using the given curriculum, as well as being on call for phone calls on an emergency basis or to allow moms time to vent before making unhealthy decisions.
What is My Role
- Working with child and family teams to create a plan that will assist mothers in reaching goals to strengthen their family unit.
- Using the suggested curriculum to assist mothers in creating a home conducive to a loving, productive atmosphere.
- Assisting mothers in creating a household budget, chore lists for their children, incentive charts for their children, safe boundaries for all members in the home, rules and expectations list, etc.
- Have a weekly schedule that stays consistent throughout the duration of the contract. Be flexible but also be considerate.
- Be an advocate, not a judge.
Prevention Mentoring
Using the above-mentioned mentoring strategies to provide direct and ongoing services to youth who are not a part of a contracted agency, non-DCS, non-probation that would like to strengthen their life and prevent becoming labeled as at-risk, juvenile delinquent, statistic, etc. These services are provided typically through group, but 95 youth per year qualify for one-on-one and small group services. They must meet a particular criteria and guideline. This also assists in our agency becoming a natural support to youth after case close-out (though services can look much different after closure). Our agency recognizes that effective mentoring comes through long-term relationships and trust. Because of this, all youth has the opportunity to continue in our program for as long as they are willing. Many of these prevention youth have evolved into volunteer or paid mentors and office staff.
