Programs – EveryBody Matters

In collaboration with Elyssa’s Mission, Womencare Counseling Center has developed a comprehensive program called EveryBody Matters, designed to build resiliency in teens, giving them tools they need to face life’s stressors and adversities. EveryBody Matters also focuses on building and enhancing a community’s capacity to support its adolescents in making a safe passage from childhood into young adulthood. This program draws upon the research and best practices of prevention models and strengths-based resiliency building programs, utilizing adolescent groups, parent education and teacher counselor training programs.

ADOLESCENT GROUP OVERVIEW

Group
The EveryBody Matters program creates a safe place where adolescents collaborate to develop a model of responsible leadership, cultivate personal power and voice, and transform challenges into opportunities for growth. Participants will identify their strengths and vulnerabilities. They will be provided support to build confidence, create meaningful visions and dreams for their lives.

EverBody Matters Adolescent Groups are designed to foster a sense of belonging, creating a foundation for the development of courage, tolerance, self-respect, pride and awareness. The group draws on the power of experiential learning and creative expressive activities such as journaling, role-playing, painting, poetry, music and collective art projects. These activities are designed to foster resiliency by building specific skills that will support participants in the face of life challenges. Through the group process participants will be encouraged to explore and challenge their own and others’ thinking and see firsthand the power they have to influence their own lives as well as the lives of others. All groups are interactive and respect the strengths, capacities and safety of the participants.

The EveryBody Matters program incorporates a social justice project that provides an opportunity for participants to take action and make a positive contribution to the world around them.

Format
This program is designed for collaboration with schools, agencies, drop-in centers, churches, temples and other venues where teens gather or are served. Groups are tailored to the specific needs of each school or community setting, with a core set of goals that foster the development of resilience. The program may be delivered in a twelve-week, two-hour group format, in a series of three or four hour segments, or as a day-long workshop which focuses on a specific area of concern.
To learn how to implement the EBM program click here

Staff
Womencare will provide licensed professionals to facilitate adolescent groups, as well as parent and teacher programs. Our clinical expertise encompasses work with children, adolescents, individuals and families. Our staff has specialized training in assessment of risk and resilience and is well-versed in the developmental needs of children and adolescents. We have extensive experience working with issues of childhood trauma, grief and loss, as well as with the development of prevention and intervention programs.
To meet our staff click here

Selection of Group Members

1. Prospective group members may be referred by school personnel or self-referred. Students selected for this program are often struggling to cope with life’s many challenges. They are also students who have the potential to become leaders. Students who are at-risk should be considered in the selection process. Interested students will fill out an application. Womencare facilitators will collaborate with the school staff to set up a time to meet individually with each potential group member for an informational and assessment interview.
2. All parents or legal guardians of adolescents wishing to participant in a group will receive a letter sent by the school which outlines the group’s philosophy and content, as well as clear expectations for attendance. Information about the group’s facilitators will be included in this letter.
3. Consistent participation is a requirement and must be adhered to and supported by the school, parents and group members.

Group Curriculum
Topic areas are divided into three core areas:

Building Healthy Relationships
The origin of healthy relationships begins with one’s healthy relationship with self. These sessions help participants to understand the components of healthy versus unhealthy relationships, identify their particular vulnerabilities and strengths, as well as foster a positive sense of self. Sessions also support the development of skills such as the use of voice, reclaiming personal power and choice, and defining healthy risk taking in order to successfully navigate peer challenges such as bullying, violence, drugs, sex, cheating and prejudice.

Building Emotional Competencies
The capacity to identify and safely express feelings, as well as to cope with, disturbing or intense emotions is crucial to managing stress successfully. These sessions support the development of core skills for distress tolerance, emotional identification, healthy expression of feelings, emotional regulation and self-soothing. Participants will identify stressors, explore their particular areas of vulnerability and begin to develop a self-care tool box with which to resource themselves.

Helping Relationships
Teens are a great resource to support and help each other, although sometimes even with the best of intentions, they can get in over their heads. These sessions concentrate on how to help peers while also understanding and honoring one’s own limitations. These groups are designed to help participants understand personal warning signs that signal distress, how to identify safe adults in whom to confide and how to get support when needed. Groups will foster courage, teach the foundations of trustworthy relationships and support participants in building compassion and empathy for themselves and others. To read more about group topics click here

Training Programs
During childhood and adolescence, schools are one of the most influential and lifechanging environments for children. Many teachers report feeling unsure of what to do or say when they sense a child is in distress or after a crisis has occurred. Failure to adequately assess or support struggling children in the school setting is not only a missed opportunity for resiliency building, but can have dire consequences.

Our training program for teachers focuses on skills they can use in the classroom that build resilience in children and enhance the confidence of teachers to respond to children who are vulnerable or in distress.

In addition, we provide training for school counselors and administrators, explaining the concepts of resilience and their significance for prevention and intervention with children and adolescents. This relationship and collaboration will enhance the effectiveness of the adolescent groups.