Recently we chatted to Mel, one of our newest training team members. Read on to find out about the interesting work she’s done at Youth Opportunities so far:
When did you start working at Youth Opportunities and why?
“I began Youth Opportunities in mid-May this year, and it has been a great whirlwind ever since.
What I imagined about the organisation, the Personal Leadership Program and its impact is becoming a reality. I really value the difference we make and am grateful to now be one small part of that difference.”
What is your background prior to working at Youth Opportunities?
“After working in the education field for the past 27 years, I thought I had seen and heard most of what was out there to support young people. I had years of experience as a secondary Drama and English teacher, and in most recent years I was leading a graduate teacher development program. But had a magnetic pull to working with young people again. This was not about returning to a traditional classroom, but I recognized I wanted to support young people and their families to thrive.”
Tell us about your role at Youth Opportunities with the Community 360 program.
“I am the coordinator for Community 360 – an embedded service available to all our partner schools and families. Youth Opportunities recognizes the critical role that educators and parents play in young people’s success, and we offer wraparound support to these adults in the way of webinars, newsletters and professional development.
These interactions help to build a shared language, deepen knowledge of the best ways to support young people, and share program tools to create more positive relationships. The adults who engage with the program tools find they can adapt and use them in their own personal or professional life. So, overall Community 360 aims to position these adult ‘champions’ ready to support the young people as they work through the personal leadership program, and beyond.
I’m also one of the program trainers and am delivering the program to an awesome group of emerging personal leaders.”
You recently facilitated a Youth Opportunities Professional Development Webinar, tell us about it.
“We offered ‘Coaching toward a positive classroom environment’ for secondary educators. This was an opportunity to provide an insight into how Youth Opportunities’ personal leadership programs work and their overarching principles. We also shared the great impact our programs have had on young people over the past 25 years. The learning included a focus on The Coaching Model, which is an integral and powerful tool of our program. The 1:1 coaching in the program offers an opportunity to individualise the learning, empower the young people in their application of the learning in their lives, and ultimately maximise the positive outcomes for graduates.”
If you’d like to learn more about the work that Mel is doing, follow the link to watch Youth Opportunities’ Coaching Toward a Positive Learning Environment Webinar.