Rainbow Days Training
Connects
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Virtual Summer Symposium
June 3rd - August 12th, 2021
Use the code FLASH15 to save 15%
Offer good until June 30th
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Beginning June 3rd through August 12th, we will be hosting a series of 17 virtual workshops led by subject matter experts in prevention, resiliency, education and other topics salient to your work with children, youth, adults, families and communities.
All workshops will be held from 10am-12pm CDT. Two (2) CEHs are available for each workshop.
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Virtual CBSG Program Facilitator Training
Kids’ Connection, Youth Connection, and Kids’ Connection, Too (collectively known as the CBSG® Program ) are unique, interactive, multi-cultural curriculum-based prevention interventions that teach high-risk children and youth ages 4-17 a set of essential life skills: skills to help them learn how to cope with difficult family situations (which include Adverse Childhood Experiences), resist negative peer pressure, set and achieve goals, and refuse alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
This training is designed to fully prepare schools, community-based organizations, churches, juvenile justice divisions, volunteers, and other youth service professionals to fully implement the CBSG Program with fidelity.
Those completing this training will receive their choice one of the CBSG Program Facilitator manuals:
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Kids’ Connection for ages 4-12 in Schools and Communities
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Youth Connection for ages 10-17 in Schools and Communities
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Kids’ Connection, Too for Ages 4-15 in Homeless & Domestic Violence Shelters, Group Homes & Other Transitional Living Environments
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Kids' Connection, Too is Half Price |
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Does your facilitating need a little sprucing up? Are you looking for new activities to add to your Facilitator toolbox? Does your program have budget money needing to be spent? With over 100 stand-alone Activity Guided Discussions, Kids’ Connection, Too needs to be added to your repertoire. For trained CBSG® Program Facilitator’s this adaptation will seamlessly enhance your programming. This is the BEST summer deal around. Don’t miss out!
Beginning July 1st you can purchase the Kids' Connection, Too curriculum for only $75. That's half off the regular price of $150.
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I BELIEVE: Sense of Purpose and Future |
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I believe in my purpose and future. |
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“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death.”
~ Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s own way."
~ Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
“You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
~ Winnie the Pooh
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…
Anything can happen, child. Anything can be."
~ Shel Silverstein
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Sense of Purpose and Future Defined:
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“According to the literature, sense of purpose and future appears to be the most powerful predictor of a positive outcome for children and youth. This is why the concept of HOPE is so important. Despite the circumstances they may be experiencing today, they need to know the future can be different for them; the future can be better. And they have some control over the future in large part by the choices they make.” CBSG® Program
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“We need to have a purpose in our lives. Purpose gives us direction, it motivates us, it gives reason for our existence. It also helps make decisions, both minor and major.” Changing Minds
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“When we are able to connect with a sense of purpose it adds significant value to life. Research has revealed that a sense of purpose is actually related to increased psychological well-being and can help people recover from and cope with stressful life events.” PsychCentral
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Personal Reflection:
I am the first to acknowledge the opening quotes, one a Holocaust survivor, another a young girl who died in a Nazi prison camp, and the last two from 20th century children’s authors, is an unusual combination. And yet I think they each have much to teach us about the importance of a “sense of purpose.”
Upon reflection, as we close this series of articles examining the five CBSG® Program Domains and Major Messages, I Believe: Sense of Purpose and Future, is perhaps the most important one of all. In the CBSG® Program Facilitator Training we have often said the two most important skills and messages we hope Group participants take with them are the ability to ask for help and the belief that despite their current circumstances, the future can be different if this is what they desire. In other words, there is HOPE for their future.
This kind of hope is not whimsical or “pie in the sky thinking." It is hope despite adversities experienced, feelings of discouragement, and even what may seem to be insurmountable obstacles. A hope which is a motivating source of action, self-confidence, optimistically trusting one’s own abilities, and relying on God, or a Higher Power, when facing the future.
Maya Angelou said, “When you do nothing you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel a sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”
In early 1981, I admitted I was powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable. Externally my life looked good, and in so many ways it was. Internally though I was a mess. A missing ingredient in my life was a sense of purpose. No longer working as a teacher and counselor I felt adrift vocationally. Fortunately, these realities motivated me to search for meaning and purpose which eventually led to a desire to help young children of alcoholics and empower them with the skills and messages I had needed as a child. And to perhaps break the cycle of addiction in not only my family, but in other families as well. As with most worthwhile endeavors my pursuits required becoming more self-aware, setting goals, asking others for help, persevering despite setbacks, relying on God, and believing I could make a difference. It was a calling I could not deny.
I have no doubt for many of you reading this you have had similar experiences. I invite you to share these with me.
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The CBSG Program I BELIEVE Core Components:
Dreams & Aspirations: Having dreams and aspirations for the future can provide the motivation needed to develop a plan and set and achieve small goals, one step at a time—perseverance. “A dream without a plan is just a wish.” Katherine Paterson, The Invisible Child
Goal Setting: Having both short- and long-term goals is important to creating desired futures. Some goals need to be broken into smaller steps to help tackle even the grandest of aspirations. It is also important to remember goals can be modified along the way.
Self-Control & Self-Discipline: Self-control and Self-discipline are complex skills which begin in childhood and develops as we mature. These skills help us delay gratification and avoid unhealthy temptations.
Motivation: Motivation is the reason(s), purpose, and direction behind behavior(s). It is important to recognize and handle failures and setbacks as part of the process. Failure is not necessarily final, and we can learn valuable lessons from mistakes.
Perseverance: Ask anyone who has achieved success in their pursuits, and they will inevitably point to a major reason for attaining their goal was they stuck with it—they had an attitude of “keep on keeping on”! Talent, intellect, temperament, and physical abilities may all play a part but eventually what most often makes the difference is perseverance. It is also important to be able to recognize when to change course.
Faith/Spiritual Connectedness: Resiliency and Protective Factor researcher and author, Emmy Werner, made this observation, “A potent protective factor among high-risk youth who grew into successful adulthood was a faith that life made sense, that odds could be overcome. This faith was tied to active involvement in church activities…” Overcoming the Odds
In the Curricula:
In Kids’ Connection and Youth Connection Session 5: Dreams and Goal Setting focus on the I BELIEVE Domain. In Kids’ Connection, Too, Unit V: I BELIEVE is focused on sense of purpose and future.
Summary:
As I stated in the beginning, the I BELIEVE message is perhaps the most important. Without a sense of purpose, without hope, then life is difficult. Some of the many benefits to CBSG® Program participants for having a Sense of Purpose and Future include:
- Believing their future can be different from what they might currently be experiencing.
- Recognizing for dreams and aspirations to become reality a plan with specific goals is required.
- Understanding how delaying gratification and resisting negative influences can help in achieving dreams.
- Accepting failure and setbacks as part of the process and treating them as opportunities to learn.
- Recognizing most success in life is a result of “grit.” Being able to stick with something even when it is easier not to.
- Believing there is a power greater than ourselves to turn to for help.
As always, we want to thank you for being part of a group of committed individuals who are making a difference in the lives of so many each day through relationships and connection! You are part of the HOPE.
Cathey Brown, CBSG® Program Developer
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Major Message Infographic |
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