What is a youth circle?

A youth circle is a safe space created for the young attendees, through the leadership of an experienced group facilitator, coach or psychologist. It offers the circle members an opportunity to share openly about what is happening in their lives. This act of sharing provides healing for the participant and for the other people in the circle.

Youth1000circles program is a youth healing program looking at equipping youth with skills of speaking openly about their emptions through creations of safe spaces for sharing their truths and deeper truths.

We provide programs that will help youth deal with depression, anxiety and stress from demanding school work, relationships, drugs, addiction, parental divorces, bulling and exclusion amongst other things that attributes in suicides.

This a three months weekly program will host youth through sharing circles, dialogues and general discussions on issues affecting them as young people. The idea is to have these circles taking place continuously in the estate for youth initially and later to create those circles for parents too.

The circle is conceived to serve as a safe space where youth can talk about what happening in their lives, especially the things they normally can’t to their parents about. These unspoken topics generally cause a drain on emotional energy for as long as they are not discussed or shared. This draining of energy can lead to depression, anxiety, unhealthy ways of acting out and potential suicide ideation.

Some of the circles will discuss more topical subjects with the intent of providing information to youth about various social ills and the challenges of growing up.

We also use these circles to glean information about the challenges facing youth in the community, so interventions can be customized where necessary.

These circles are structured to address the following challenges that affect effective learning for students and learners:

• Family challenges

• Educational Finance

• Relationships

• Gender Based Violence

The Boys and Girls Business of Life

Vision & Outcome

The vision of the Boys and Girls Business of Life program is to offer a development path, which helps youth to create an opportunity for themselves to grow into responsible men, caring husbands, protective fathers and emotionally intelligent partners, who make a positive contribution to society and most important manage their Lives Like Businesses.

The program has been offered to boys and girls Country Wide as part of dedicated interventions, aimed specifically at boys and girls between the age of 14, 17 and 21.

The programme addresses core challenges facing adolescent boys and girls and aims to enable them to: i. Develop a more positive attitude towards themselves, their families and their friends ii. Obtain a sense of vision, direction and desire to take charge of their lives iii. Understand opportunities to modify their behaviour to a more constructive pattern iv. Improve their behavior and social skills at home and in their community v. Experience improved family relationships through self-awareness vi. Improve ability to engage in balanced relationships with others vii. Benefit from improved school performance, and better relationships with teachers

A fundamental component of the Boys and Girls Business of Life program is to offer youth the opportunity to attend a Breakthrough Weekend. This weekend is best described as a group experience which attempts to set each youth on his own unique path towards mature adulthood. Youth is transported to a farm about one hour’s drive from Johannesburg and in a period of 48 hours they undergo an experience which is unique and transformational.

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