Workshops
Our summer workshop offerings are for middle school students who identify as girls, and/or identify somewhere under the transgender umbrella.
If there is a boy in your life who would be interested in one of these workshops, please let us know. We are gathering interest information for future offerings!
These workshops were created as a result of conversations with parents and youth around where more support is needed in raising and being an adolescent in 2018. The main topics brought up were around smartphones, mental and emotional health, empowerment, and personal safety. These 1-3 day workshops invite youth in small groups to critically think about how their values, decisions and actions can be proactive in maintaining their mental and emotional health amongst the challenges that may be presented to them some day.
Limits & Boundaries with Friends
Friends are great. They are powerful and sometimes demanding. Girls tend to live their lives according to their friend’s expectations, needs, and assumptions. Girls frequently put a friend’s needs in front of their own. Why does that happen? We will discuss the importance of personalized boundary setting. Students will practice knowing their own limits with friends and have an opportunity to explore options in moments when their limits are questioned. Empowering.
Register for August session >>
“Going Out” & Dating
When two people like each other, what happens? It is time to talk about how pre-teens and teens get in and out of relationships and what those relationships can look like. What works? What doesn’t? We will lay out and evaluate how romance can work – and doesn’t work, between youth in 2018. We will talk about and create dating values. What limits and boundaries need to be held before the heart awakens to romance? No experience in relationships required to attend.
Register for August session >>
What’s Up? Let’s Talk
It turns out youth have a lot they want to talk about if they are given the opportunity. What’s Up? Let’s Talk are guided, honest conversations on pre-teen/teen-generated topics that are living in them. These conversations will provide an opportunity to develop and maintain opinions that may be different than what others think, learning how to stand in one’s truth.
The Many Moods of Me ~ A Year in Pixels
When we talk with youth about the benefits of journaling, most of them say it takes too much time. Some say they don’t know what to say and feel pressured to do it everyday. A Year in Pixels is an easy way for busy youth to keep track of how they feel and their moods by charting each day using emotions-designated colors. Pixel journaling is emotionally informative, supportive and easy to use. We will be learning about emotional health and how to maintain it through the demands of life at their age.
Topics Discussed Include:
- The landscape of emotions and feelings
- Living with big emotions
- Power journaling successfully
- Tools to support emotional health
- Music and moods
Activities Include:
- Creating an emPower Journal with A Year In Pixels
- Collaging and listening to music
- Building lists of favorites
Smartphone Self-Care
A smartphone is a tool that can take over youths’ lives affecting their emotional, mental, social and physical health. It gives them access both to helpful and detrimental things that can be beyond parents’ understanding. Learning how to manage this powerful tool is essential for youth to maintain a healthy balance in their lives. What does living life beyond the digital world look like? How does this tool affect how we communicate and connect? We will consider healthy and safe ways to manage this tool, so it doesn’t end up managing teens. This workshop is designed for youth both with and without smartphones.
Topics Discussed Include:
- What are your digital values?
- Smart social media management
- Hyperconnectivity: know the signs and what to do
- Friendships & relationships on smartphones
- Using smartphones for self-care
- Etiquette and over-sharing
- App awareness
Activities Include:
- Creating personalized smartphone limits and boundaries
- Setting up successful social media fasts
- Practicing setting boundaries online
- Reading emojis
Register for August session >>
Prevention Through Empowerment
Prevention Through Empowerment introduces youth to the power of boundary setting and community agreements about how to keep one another safe and comfortable as we navigated our sexualized society. Students will be gently introduced to the topic of sexual violence through definitions of harassment, coercion, and assault as they are carefully guided through empowerment-based curriculum focused on action and self-knowledge. With the wide range of feelings that can emerge as we interact with this difficult subject, the space will be held with care as we focus on education, awareness and action.
Topics Discussed Include:
- Healthy and unhealthy interactions
- Personalized boundary setting
- Empowerment strategies
- Communication and consent
- Community care plan
Activities Include:
- Let’s start with what you know
- Personal space practice
- Identifying your team
- Anonymous question box
- Refusal skills role play
- Exploring care statements
Register for August session >>
My Power Panels
Each one of us hold our own unique form of personal power. There are three main pillars in youths’ lives where they can lean into or away from their power: family, friends, and self. How do they develop their power? How do they give it away and to whom? How can they get it back? Using 5”x7” tri-fold panels as a base for collaging, they will create visual reminders of their power in each one of these places. They will find personally meaningful quotes, magazine and art clippings that inspire power in the three main pillars in their lives while we discuss the topics below.
Topics Discussed Include:
- Teen Thunder: what is it and why is it important?
- Misuse of power
- Where does courage live within you and what does it look and feel like?
- Noticing imbalances in power and power drains
- Refueling your power: what are your sources?
Activities Include:
- Collaging tri-fold power panels
- Projecting your voice: microphone magic
Register for August session >>
Everything about Menstruation. Period.
Body Basics was built on the idea to educate young people about periods before they begin. Turns out, there is a lot more to talk about once menstruation starts to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with this body process. There is so much to know about how, when and why we shed the uterine lining about 450 times in our lives. In this workshop, we will talk everything about menstruation, period. This workshop is open to students who haven’t started their period yet, as well as to those who have!
Topics Discussed Include:
- Menstrual changes
- Self-care during menstruation
- Review of ovulation
Activities Include:
- Playing educational period games
- Considering menstrual supply options
- Period Question Box
Questions and Queeries Summer Session
All youth need a space to connect about what is happening in their lives and ask questions of the adults around them. Often, LGBTQIA+ and gender questioning youth lack specific support around their identities and crave spaces where other people share their perspectives, unique challenges and joys. Questions and Queeries is a one-day workshop where youth will be able to ask questions, share experiences, and engage in affirming and connective activities centered around identity and acceptance. LGBTQIA+ identified youth, gender diverse youth, and youth who identify as allies are welcome at this workshop.
Topics Discussed Include:
- Representations of gender and sexuality in media
- Book recommendations and resource sharing
- Self-care strategies for identity affirmation
Activities Include:
- Community building improv games
- Journaling structures for identity tracking
- Anonymous Question Box
Parent Evenings
Dads & Developing Daughters
As girls develop and change during adolescence, it can be confusing for dads to know how to interact with their daughters. Many dads and male role models feel the girls in their lives losing interest in the activities they used to enjoy together and may be unsure about how to stay connected with them. Bringing dads and male guardians together to share the evolution of the father and daughter relationship as it steps into puberty offers support, guidance and a sense of community. We will talk about teasing & boundaries, privacy, and how dads can best support their daughters as they develop into adolescents.
Register for August session >>
Cyber Values and Your Family
The internet and social media have found their way into our homes and into our children’s hands. The internet and social media may not be in your home, but what about when your youth visits other homes? As parents we need to develop and hold cyber values for our children, much like we do with other basic values we hold in life, in order for our youth to be safe and to learn how to manage cyber tools. What are your cyber values and how do you hold them? Let’s share and develop a quality list together for you to draw upon and discuss how to hold them in the face of enormous social and peer pressure.
Register for August session >>
Holding Healthy Boundaries: Preparing for Adolescence
“Can you please add some restrictions to my life?” said no child ever. But that is exactly what they want. In interviews, teens stated that even though they don’t/didn’t like boundaries they repeatedly said that boundaries provided them with a sense of comfort, security and relief. Setting boundaries based on parents’ value system is in the job description of “parent” and is essential to the healthy development of youth. It’s important to practice managing boundary testing now when they are younger rather than waiting to set and manage limits when they are teens. We will talk about purposeful boundary placement, the importance of boundary push-back and boundary crossings.
Register for August session >>
Life Conversations at Home: Ongoing Check-Ins With Your Youth
“How are things going?” is a typical question parents ask in hopes of initiating a conversation with their pre-teen. Conversations can quickly freeze with a typical “fine” or “good” response. Though it may appear that youth don’t want to talk to parents, the opposite is true. Of teens interviewed between the ages of 13-20, 80% said it was difficult to talk to their parents about important issues in their lives. Why is this? We will talk about how to foster conversation awareness and management within your family, as well as tactics for staying curious instead of pushing them for information, and how to notice and what to do when you are emotionally hooked in a conversation.
Register for August session >>