Showing posts with label Mentor Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mentor Training. Show all posts
Here's EVERYTHING You Need to Get Started in YoungLives!
Feeling confused about where to find a YoungLives resource? Can't remember where you found that helpful handbook or video? Look no further - here are links to many of the essential YoungLives tools for camping, mentor training, discipleship, childcare, staff training, supervisor training, and pretty much anything you could possibly need.
14 Easy Games For Getting to Know Teens
Contact work means going to where kids are, and sometimes (or... usually) that means that we encounter conversation gaps and awkward silences. But take heart - we have put together a list of smooth, fun ways to bridge the gap between meeting new kids and getting comfortable with each other! Here goes:
- M&M’s - mini packs - Ahead of time, write out a question for each color. Kids have to answer the questions for whatever colors of M&Ms they have (one at a time).
- Toilet paper sharing - each person tears off however many squares they want. Then everyone tells one thing about themselves for each square they have.
- Put all the names in center of table. Each person picks a name, and then draws a picture of that person (provide paper and pencils). Collect the drawings and then guess who each picture is of!
- Dice Roll - Bring a set of dice for each person. Simultaneously, everyone tries to roll 2, then 3, then 4, etc. The first person to roll all the way to 12 is the winner!
- Pass the Pigs game (you will need to buy this). It's funny!
- Picture Telephone: Give a paper and pencil to each person, and sit down in a circle (at a table is best). Everyone draws an item, folds it over, and passes their paper to the person on their right. The next person writes down what they see in the picture, folds the paper over, and passes the paper to their right. This person draws a picture of the phrase they see, folds the paper, and passes it to their right. Keep going until the papers have gone around the group. When they get back to the original person, see if it stayed the same item until the end! (An alternative is to start by writing a phrase and have the second person draw it).
- Buzz Blast game - (you will need to buy this) Pull some of the cards from the game and use to start conversation!
- Truth or Lie game - each person names two truths and one lie and we all guess which one is the lie.
- Baby Shower game - print a baby shower game off from Pinterest and play during lunch or another time when you have some time to kill.
- Would You Rather - buy or print off game cards.
- Try to find three things that everyone in the group has in common!
- Mom tips - have everyone write down a "mom tip" on paper, put them in the middle of the table, and read them aloud one by one.
- Mad Lib games - there are actually teen versions or mom versions you can find.
- Two questions - What would you spend $100 on if you had it? What would you do if you had a day to do anything? Write on paper and put in the center of the table. Try to match each response to the person who wrote it!
What other ideas have you used to fill possible awkward silence when meeting a new mom or a group of new moms?
Thanks to Julie VonGunten, YoungLives Coordinator, for submitting this list!
YoungLives Resource Guide
Looking for the best of the best in books and websites that address teenage pregnancy, mentoring, poverty, multi-ethnic ministry, discipleship, and other topics related to ministry with teen moms? Look no further!! We have curated a 6-page list jam-packed with resources, sorted by topic, just for you. Check it out here.
FREE Training Videos for YoungLives
Did you know that as a staff or volunteer of Young Life, you can have FREE access to the Netflix of Christian Bible studies, teachers, kids' shows, and online trainings? Yep, it's true! Through a contract with RightNow Media, Young Life has created it's own online training portal, called YL Access. Every Young Life staff person and volunteer is eligible for his or her own account, which gives them unlimited access to literally thousands of Christian videos and video series on everything from parenting to YoungLives-specific training. Want to watch Matt Chandler? Veggie Tales? Jen Hatmaker? Some of your very own YoungLives co-workers? They're all there!
Don't miss out - ask your local Young Life or YoungLives staff person about getting access... to Access!
Survey Says: Infographics from The National Campaign
The National Campaign has done loads of research about teens, sex, and teen pregnancy. Right now, there are quite a few downloadable infographics full of interesting stats. (How faith affects teen pregnancy rates, for example.) While not all might apply to your work in YoungLives, there is some interesting studies and results! You might find this helpful in raising community awareness and training volunteers.
Remember, this isn't YoungLives specific material. Use what you think might be helpful. Have questions? Contact your Regional or Divisional Coordinator for more guidance. The YL Service Center has some great materials that ARE YoungLives specific. You can order them through the staff site. (Make sure to check out the YLVS Case Statement. This is a great resource and tool for approaching potential donors and volunteers!)
MENTOR Sign
Defining what a mentor is (and what it isn't) with teen moms can be tricky! While we seek to model Christ-like loving relationships, healthy relationships are foreign to so many of the moms we work with. Clorrisa Brooks shares what her club has done in an effort to define the role of a mentor:
We use this sign (pictured above) every week. We always have it sitting somewhere. We have used it by talking through what the girls think the word mentor means and then (mentors) bringing some different words into it. These are the words the leadership team eventually agreed upon. :) There are many more we could have added but didn't have room for.
M - mom, meaningful, moving forward
E - empowering, encouraging
N - nurturing, non-judgemental
T - together, trustworthy
O - open hearts, obedient, one-anothering
R - real, respectful, relationships
Thanks for sharing, Clorrisa!
Community Resource: ReMoved {A Short Film on Understanding Foster Care}
I watched (read: cried through) this video (see below) earlier this week and wanted to share it with you. ReMoved, a short film by Nathaneal Matanick, focuses on the importance of foster care, while serving as a powerful reminder that every single person has their own unique story. Incredibly moving, and at times hard to watch, I couldn't help but think of so many of the girls we work with in YoungLives. The majority of them have close ties to a foster experience. Take a few moments to watch it and share it with your community. (I wouldn't recommend sharing it at club, this may hit too close to home for many girls. Instead, offer it as a resource for mentors, committee, and other community members.)
After viewing this, it's easy to get feel overwhelmed with the need, yet underprepared to help. Just because we can't fix the problem, doesn't mean we can't help. Anna Wehrmeyer (Holland, MI YoungLives) shared an incredible idea with me that her club recently did. A woman from Anna's community decorates suitcases for children entering foster care. Realizing that so many kids leave home with just a garbage bag or pillow case, this woman started supplying a local agency with personalized suitcases to give to kids moving into foster care. This small act speaks volumes to frightened children that are removed from their homes. The Holland YLVS girls spent part of club decorating suitcases to give to kids in their city. This helped the girls give back in a very real & tangible way. It's a powerful way to encourage teen moms to be a positive member of their community!
Thanks for sharing, Anna! Do you have an idea you want to share? Email Amy at greatergryounglives@gmail.com to submit it for a blog post.
Training Call {Working with Adult Volunteers: Giving Them a Vision for YoungLives}
In YoungLives, we often have more adult volunteers than college age ones. While this is tremendously helpful in serving teen moms, it can be challenging. Listen to Katie Pirch's training call on working with adult volunteers. This is full of great information! Let's all strive to make sure each of our volunteers is properly and adequately trained to do ministry. Thanks, Katie!
Club Idea: Mentor Spotlight
Sarah Rozema, the YoungLives Coordinator in East Kentwood, Michigan, shares this great idea from her club for highlighting mentors and their individual stories:
An element we have included as part of our club flow this year is a Mentor Spotlight. It simply is a way to 'spotlight' our mentors one at a time and give them a chance to share their story and allow their fellow team members and girls a chance to get to know them a bit better.
I had the opportunity to do the first one and I used an idea that I had used back in my former professional life as a classroom teacher. It was simply an activity to illustrate how many names one person can have. So I sat down to make a list of all the different roles/hats/names I have. I wrote each name on a name tag and selected a photograph to go with each one.
Below is the list of names I used
Sarah
Friend (shared about some dear friendships)
Teacher (shared about my occupation)
Wife (shared about my husband)
Child of God (shared about my life in Christ)
Thanks, Sarah! "Mentor Spotlight" is a great tool for getting each of your mentors up in front of your teen moms at club, and this is a great (and adaptable) way to introduce it!
You're Grounded: Rooted in Truth in a Shallow World (Book Resource)
Chris Lassiter – a volunteer leader, Relationships Magazine contributor, and staff spouse in Staunton, Virginia has written a new book called “You’re Grounded: Rooted Truth in a Shallow World”. From Amazon: “You're Grounded is an introductory book to the person of Jesus Christ and the Christian life aimed specifically at the Hip Hop influenced generation. Written in an easy to read fashion, each chapter starts with a story from urban culture - using examples familiar to the culture like Michael Jordan, Tupac, the TV show Good Times - and then transitions to highlight truth found in scripture. This book is ideal for small group and discipleship settings. It's a great resource for high school and college campus ministries, as well as juvenile and adult prison ministries.”
A great resource for working in multi-cultural ministry!
Mentor/Mentee Dessert
Pairing up mentors and teen moms can be challenging & sometimes a bit awkward. Lisa Anderson, the YoungLives Coordinator in Grand Rapids, MI, hosted a Mentor/Mentee Dessert as a way of formally pairing up mentors with their teen moms. Here's some details about what she did:
Making a match is a delicate process. It takes time, focus, and prayer. I'd love to share with you how I approached "making the match" this year. For the first semester I got to know my mentors and the moms. As I learned about each of them, I began to sketch out who I thought might work well together, and I put a bug in the mentor's ear to start pursuing a certain girl at club, and on Facebook. It was sort of a behind the scenes courting process. When second semester began, I invited the pairs to come to my house for dessert, with babies in tow.
I invited 4 pairs to my house, and would suggest that as a good size group. (If you have more to pair up I would suggest keeping the dessert night at 4 pairs per event.) Each mentor picked up the mom and baby they would be paired with and brought them to my home. We had dessert and chatted for a bit, and then I shared with them why I had invited them over.
I started by explaining what YoungLives mentoring was all about, and what it was not. This was taken straight from the YoungLives Mentor Handbook. We talked about Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, and that together we are stronger.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
When new mentor relationships begin it can be difficult to get to know someone, but it becomes easier if you are working on a common goal. So to help facilitate this process I asked the girls and mentors to do an exercise with me. I asked a few questions, and this worked because the small group setting helped create a more intimate atmosphere.
1) How old were you when you found out you were pregnant? The answers ranged from 12-18 yrs old.
2) What was life like one year before you got pregnant? Some girls were having sleep overs every night with their best friends, some were "doing their thing", some talked about just being free to do whatever they wanted.
3) Before having kids what did you think your future would be like? Maybe you hadn't even thought that far ahead. Most girls had not.
We talked about how much life had changed for them, the good, and the bad. Then the next set of questions:
1) In three years, how old will your baby be? The answer ranged from a 2.5-5 yrs old...we talked a bit about what their kids would be doing when they were that old.
2) In three years, where do you want to see yourself? The answers ranged from living on my own, to getting my college education, having a job, etc.
This led into a great conversation about how we need to make small goals in order to reach the big ones. I shared one of the cool things about having a mentor is that we love to dream with you, encourage you, and celebrate you! So then I asked them the following:
1) What goal would you like to accomplish in the next 3 months? Lose 10 lbs; finish 4 classes; find a job
2) How do you plan to achieve these goals?
I had the girls write these things down on a 3x5 card and give them to their mentor. I challenged the girls and mentors to start working on these goals together. It helps set the mentors up for contact work. As a mentor, if you don't know what to do for contact work this has made it easier...go for a walk to encourage weight loss; look through the job adds together and help her fill out an application; ask her how classes are going. When you work together toward a goal, you are giving life to trust and relationship...and it takes the pressure off of having to come up with something to say.
The plan is to meet back with this small group in three months to adjust goals, celebrate wins, etc. This also helps me stay connected to my mentors and the girls and what they are working on.
Thanks for the idea, Lisa!
Conference Call on Poverty Training
Who Am I? A Discussion on Identity.
In Young Life (and YoungLives!) we believe in going to where teens are, entering their world with the love of Jesus Christ. Teen culture is ever changing and as leaders in this ministry, we need to continue to learn how to reach teens today.
Monday Morning featured this article from The YouthWorker Journal on Identity. I highly encourage you to read it and it could be good to share at a monthly mentor training for discussion...lots of great thoughts on where faith and identity intersect.
Humor in YoungLives
Points to Ponder
| Laughter is not just a good mission strategy; it is grounded in the very image of God. "Joy," wrote C.S. Lewis, "is the serious business of heaven." Laughter is the gift of God and its use is one of His most powerful means to meaningful relationship. As humor can bring gracious gifts, it can also, because of our fallen nature, bring distortion in a way that demeans those for whom Jesus gave His life. We have long recognized the difference between negative and healing humor. According to an early Young Life training document, negative humor laughs at the expense of others while healing humor laughs humbly at itself. Negative humor obscures hope and healing humor brings hope. |
Now What
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Offering Care With a Difference
Inter-generational ministry can be messy. So can multi-cultural ministry. Throw in different socio-economic backgrounds, and you've got some serious issues with competing value systems! So how do we move past our own cultural viewpoints and offer neutral, objective care to the girls we minister to? The attached powerpoint presentation "Care With a Difference" comes from a seminar at the Eastern Divisional YoungLives Training and gives some very practical suggestions for listening, asking the right questions, and caring well for our YoungLives girls.
Find Urban Ministry Resources at The Well
Urban Youth Workers Institute has created “The Well”, an exclusive online network program that offers engaging webinars, downloadable resources and a quarterly coaching calls. Join to access the resources you need to impact your community at anytime and anyplace! Register today so you can hear Young Life's very own Bebe Hobson share on October 1st about fundraising. Plus, use coupon code "WellYL" to get the special Young Life rate of only $25 per year! Visit the website to learn more.
What Would You Do If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?
Setting and Reaching Goals with Teen Moms
Establishing a way for teen moms to set and reach goals is an unbeatable way to help them recognize their own value and to give them the tools they need to move themselves forward. The YoungLives area in Pittsburgh, PA has established a program that they call "Goals & Incentives." Every girl has the chance to set goals at the beginning of each quarter. If she achieves them by the end of the quarter (December, March, June, and September), she is recognized in front of club and given an incentive - a small gift or gift card to reward her and recognize her achievement. Not only does this provide motivation for the teen moms, it also gives mentors something specific to do with their mentees, and it is a huge morale-booster for the whole area to be able to see specific milestones that girls are reaching. Check out the following two documents that explain how to set goals with the teen moms in your area. 
Training Mentors for Camp
Preparing Women to Mentor
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