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Services for Teenagers
Teens from ages 13 to 17 can be registered to TEENPOWER Workshops. Check out our Public Workshop Schedule to see if a class is being held this season.
Workshops can also be organized privately (in classroom settings, after-school programs or youth centers) to cater to the needs of your particular school or community group. Parent conferences and staff training are also available. All our programs can be adapted for teens with special needs. Consult the organising a workshop section for more details on all the steps entailed in a successful group activity.
OUR FOCUS
Our Everyday Safety Skills workshops focus on ways to prevent violence before it happens through boundary setting, awareness and conflict resolution skills. While our Emergency Only Full Force Self-Defense workshops include Everyday Safety Skills, as well as verbal and physical self-defense skills taught with the support and guidance of a coach instructor and head-to-toe padded instructor.
CONTENT
Because of the increasing independence that goes hand-in-hand with becoming a teenager, preteens and teens face an especially high risk of violence. TEENPOWER workshops give them tools for managing the challenges they face, such as:
- dealing with peer pressure, harassment, and bullying
- saying ‘no’ in ways that are effective and practical
- managing emotional triggers
- staying safe from verbal attack
- preventing attacks from peers and strangers
- setting boundaries to stop unwanted touch and attention
- getting help and persisting in getting it
WORKSHOPS
Workshops are usually relatively short (2 to 6 hours) to fit easily into the busy schedule of a teen. Although they often find themselves in our programs because "my parents made me come", young people are almost always enthusiastic by the end of their time with us.
Teens learn how to cope with peer pressure, harassment and bullying as well as how to avoid problems and stay safe in a physically violent situation. Introductory safety skills for preventing gang situations and weapon attacks can also be included. In addition, teen women also specifically learn how to protect themselves from potential sexual assaults and date-rape situations. Teens find the program exciting and powerful.
"Though they were sometimes skeptical and otherwise hesitant or shy to try something so different, they came out of the workshop with greater confidence, both in their inner strength and in using their voice and bodies. Only a few weeks later, one of the girls shared with pride that she used these same tools to assert herself and then physically defend herself and avoided a sexual assault from a former boyfriend. Instead of freezing and not knowing what to do, she was confident, strong, and capable of protecting herself."
– School Educator, Le Tremplin, High School for drop-out teens in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Quotes from teens after taking our workshops:
"TEENPOWER put the understanding into my body that I have the right to say 'NO!' to anyone to keep myself safe, even to people I care about."
"I was afraid I would freeze if anyone came after me. Now I have the skills and belief in myself to know that I can take powerful action."
"I just learned that it can take more courage not to fight than to fight."
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