About YouLEAD
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Educational Framework
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Courses & Community
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How to Partner |
YouLEAD Courses & Community
Working in collaboration with schools and organizations, IICRD delivers YouLEAD programming in communities across Canada and internationally. Programming includes pracitioner training, applied learning and supporting a community of practice.
"Thank you for this course. This has been pivotol for my life going forward."
- YouLEAD Course Participant
Together, YouLEAD creates:
- Supportive space to experience belonging and shared reflection
- Activities to deepen skills for excellent practice
- Support to reframe challenges into strength-based responses
- Time out to recover, reflect and grow, at times, in nature-based settings
- Opportunity to design action plans that apply learnings
About YouLEAD Courses
To support pracitioner learning, IICRD offers a YouLEAD Certificate Program [9 credits]. This includes seven courses and two applied learning mentorship projects. See our course descriptions below for more information.
YouLead also offers customized certificate training, cross-country youth worker gatherings, conference presentations and publishing, as well as post-secondary credit opportunities. Learn more about how to book YouLEAD in your school or organization.
COURSE 1: THE JOURNEY
The Journey is a 4-day experiential land-based course, focused on strengthening one’s self-awareness and stronger practice in relation to work with children, youth, and families. Activities include deep inner reflection, talking circles, connection to nature and sense of place, and work with Elders including traditional cultural activities. The Journey course promotes a strong personal foundation for safely and mindfully engaging in strength-based, community & culture-centred support for children and youth. We prefer to work with local Elders and knowledge keepers to ensure local relevance and respect for the natural territory. Read this story from course participant, Justin Young, to learn more about the impact of YouLEAD's Journey course.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 2: CREATIVE APPROACHES TO ENGAGING CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN COMMUNITY
Creative Approaches is a 3-day experiential course that offers practical tools and approaches for practitioners to engage with young people (and their community) to reflect on the complex realities facing them. This course draws on IICRD’s Circle of Rights mapping tools which have been used in many countries to help young people identify and make changes in their communities using rights based approaches. These and other creative art tools will show course participants “how” to do participatory, culturally grounded community development to support social change.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 3: THE FLIGHT OF THE THUNDERBIRD
The Flight of the Thunderbird is a 3-day course that addresses how to use traditional Indigenous teachings and values as a holistic framework for youth programming & accountability. In the Flight of the Thunderbird, Snuneymuxw (Coast Salish) Elder Xelimulh/Kasalid, Bill White, and Dr. Philip Cook will draw on rich experiences working with traditionally trained Elders in Canada, South Africa, and Mexico to 'echo' traditional teachings and help communities enhance human strengths and resilience to allow these teachings to “take flight”. Explore how Elder teachings are supporting pracitioners to work with young people in this impact story.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 4: IN ACCOUNTABLE ACTION
We look practically at tools to integrate traditional knowledges into assessment and monitoring programs and other community interventions. This includes looking at strategies to manage complex, contemporary challenges such as family and community violence, HIV/AIDS, discrimination and extreme poverty.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 5: THE ART AND PRACTICE OF HOSTING AND HARVESTNG MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS
The Art and Practice of Hosting and Harvesting Meaningful Conversations is a 3-day course (or 4-day with supervised practice time) that shares simple and powerful practices for hosting community conversations on issues that matter to participants. Doing important and purposeful work in communities usually involves working with diversity, complexity, conflict and uncertainty. The training is based on honouring and seeing the strengths in every person and community.
We provide hands on opportunities for participants to learn and practice facilitating meaningful dialogue that brings different perspectives together towards a common outcome – in the spirit of community listening, healing, and cross-cultural reconciliation.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 6: RESPONSE ABLE PATHS TO GROW©* (rap2grow)
RAP2Grow is a 4-day course (which can also be offered as 4 x 1-day professional development sessions spread over a year.) This course offers leading-edge theory and skills-practice sessions focused on Restorative Practices with young people. Based on positive psychology and solution-focused therapy, rap2grow helps participants understand how young people function and grow, as well as how stress and trauma impact development and functioning. The course focuses on practical skills to respond to pain-based behaviours in a relational way that leads to positive psychosocial outcomes.
*rap2grow is designed by IICRD Associate, Lesley DuToit, MSc and Erik K. Laursen, PhD. IICRD facilitators have been trained by them to deliver the course materials and adapt to local contexts in Canada.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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COURSE 7: HOLISTIC FACILITATION LAB
This course is a 3-day experiential exploration of facilitation theories and techniques for use with any small to medium sized groups, e.g. including youth groups and planning groups who want to have more effective meetings and shared decision-making. Participants look at the role of cultural and emotional safety and how to design helpful agendas and when to “go with the flow”. Participants will experience a variety of group processes and learn how to lead and debrief them, including storytelling, circles, games, small group work, participatory decision-making. Basics of conflict management will also be addressed.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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Applied Learning Opportunities
This applied learning project offers an opportunity to receive mentorship from highly trained and skillful practitioners as you integrate learning from the courses into an actual community initiative or personal project (e.g. business or academic goals.)
Personal/Community Development Project (Mentorship 1 & Mentorship 2)
In Mentorship 1 a personal learning and project plan are created and an appropriate mentor will be identified. In Mentorship 2, a mentor will work with you over 6-18 months to check-in and offer guidance as you implement the plan.
Key Competencies
This course addresses the following comptencies from YouLEAD's Competency Map.
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Community of Practice
YouLEAD reinforces course experiences through virtual learning circles to integrate program learning into practice. This includes a private on-line platform to strengthen social networks and deepen learning as well as to access to peers and practitioners from around the world. Explore our past topics for learning circles.
Learn more about how to book YouLEAD in your school or community.
