Top 4 Priorities for Leaders of Youth Programs This Year
Growing up I remember a plaque in my grandparents’ home that was entitled “Irish Blessing.” We’re not Irish so I always was curious why it hung there. The “blessing” went like this: May you be in Heaven a full half hour before the Devil knows you're dead.
As a child, that sign freaked me out--I would run past it as if getting too close would ensure my death or inevitable meeting with the Devil. I missed the point, of course, and years later tuned into the “may you be in heaven...before…” part. Ah, there’s the blessing.
In my own house now as an adult we have a plaque near the front door. It reads: May you be well. May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be free.
It could be a blessing or a wish but I’ve thought of it more as a pathway to action to achieve Dr. Shawn Ginwright’s belief that leaders and staff in youth-serving organizations are the people to transform society and truly change the world for the better.
Like others in people-based professions—social work, healthcare, ministry, education— leaders and staff in youth-serving organizations are drained and overwhelmed. Youth programs are experiencing high demand but extreme staff shortages, so the charge to transform the world feels pretty damn daunting. But, as leaders who are committed to the health and well-being of young people, we know we must persevere. So, how do we do it?
Enter the four statements on my wall. Based on a traditional lovingkindness meditation, these four statements can be used to help cultivate genuine caring and goodwill for ourselves and others. It’s a pretty simple process:
You repeat these four lines. Each time you repeat them you visualize a different group of people: Those you love; Those you don’t love; and, Those you have never met.
In this time of great personal and political division, repeating these statements while considering different groups of people helps dissolve lines of “us and them” and remember our common humanity. Here we can find solidarity as we look for a path forward through all the hurts and traumas that continue through the pandemic.
Additionally, as a field where we’re ever-trying to agree upon “youth outcomes,” it struck me that these statements not only help us connect with our society and our communities, but also frame what we need and want for young people: Wellness, Safety, Happiness and Freedom.
So, how do we ensure these things for young people? We first have to practice them for ourselves.
“Thinking of yourself first, when your goal is to help others, might seem counterintuitive, but in fact it is the only way it can work.”
That is not easy. But what it might mean is getting to your doctor’s appointment, getting a haircut, reading a book for fun, taking a little extra time lingering over your morning cup of coffee. Or allowing yourself to completely unplug from any devices for a day…or an hour. Check out the self-practice here as a way to consider your own well-being and daily actions.
Here’s my brainstorm of essential skills and topics that staff must know and do in order to support wellness, safety, happiness and freedom.
Then, encourage, support, and give paid time to ensure that staff do these things for themselves. (Yes, I said that out loud).
THEN, as leaders and staff in youth programs, entering another set of unknowns for the upcoming school year, we will be closer to ready. I’m not saying all is going to be rosy. I’m saying—if you give yourself a chance to focus on your own safety, wellness, happiness and freedom, you will be more able to offer experiences that ensure those things for staff. If staff are able to focus on their own safety, wellness, happiness and freedom, they will be more able to offer experiences that ensure those things for young people.
What would it look like to really focus on these as outcomes for youth programming? How would we truly prioritize these things? How could we support staff to prioritize them?
Of course, I start thinking about professional learning and knowledge, skills and mindsets that need to be explored, deepened, and embodied in order to make this happen with leaders, staff and youth. Here’s my brainstorm of what leaders and staff need to practice in order for youth to flourish. >>>
When I imagine what programming, professional learning, program and organizational culture and community could look like, feel like, be like if only we prioritized these four things…my heart beats faster. Like—wow—maybe we could really, truly do this.
And so what if each of us really did focus on these four things as priorities for ourselves? What if —as leaders—we mirrored and modeled the way we want staff to be in the world so they can be examples with young people? What if young people could see, experience and confidently embrace their own safety, wellness, happiness and freedom? How could that open the pathways to life and learning as we continue through overwhelming, scary times?
As you prepare to enter a new season of programming, you can lead the program everyone wants to be part of. You can lead the program where staff and students flourish. To do it, start with yourself.
