Life Issues for Teenagers

			Life Issues for Teenagers

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Authors: Wayne Arnason and Cheryl Markoff Powers

Publisher: Unitarian Universalist Association

Pub. Date: 1985

Available From: UUA Bookstore

Theme and Description A structured program for 15 to 18 year olds that explores ethical, social, and political issues and concerns important in the lives of teenagers. Covers values, family dynamics, sex roles, peer pressure and conformity, sexual expression, crisis intervention, choices in drug and alcohol use, loss and grief, and spiritual identity.

Goals for Participants

To empower young people to deal creatively with life issues that they choose to explore
To explore the nature of conscience and to respect the rights of conscience for themselves and for others
To help leaders to model mutual respect and participants to embody these qualities
To present mutual respect as an essential ingredient for dealing constructively in all human relationships
To help young people feel their own dignity and worth
To honor and support each participant's search for new insights and wisdom
To engage them in learning about their own responsibility and potential for creating more peace, liberty, and iustice on this planet
To encourage participants and group leaders to nurture their own LIFT group as a religious community--a context in which people interact authentically, offer genuine acceptance to one another, and encourage and support each other's spiritual growth.

Age Range Senior high (ages 15 to 18)

Size of Group 5 to 25

Space Requirements A comfortable, attractive meeting room that is large enough to accommodate the group

Number of Sessions 20

Length of Sessions 2 to 2 1/2 hours

Leader Training A leader team of 1 male and 1 female is strongly recommended. A leadership training program of 8 to 10 hours is also strongly recommended. The UUA has trained leaders in each district. Contact the District Religious Education Committee Chair for information on training sessions.

Leader Preparation 2 to 3 hours per session (may take considerably longer, depending on the focus and research required)

Strengths

Focuses on life issues of major concern to youth today, with the church providing a safe place in which to deal with them openly
Combines trained adult leadership with a process to facilitate youth empowerment
Encourages independence by allowing teenagers to choose the issues they wish to explore
Follows the successful educational model of the About Your Sexuality program: initiation, interaction, investigation, and internalization.

Limitations

Requires ingenuity from the leaders in guiding the sessions
Needs brief opening and closing rituals, which can be developed by leaders.

Adaptability The program is adaptable to small or large groups. Although the sessions are designed to be 2 to 2 112 hours in length, they can be adapted to a 60 to 90 minute time frame. The key to successful adaptation is to allow two to three 60 to 90 minute meetings for each session plan.

Unitarian Universalist Values Five Unitarian Universalist Principles are clearly and explicitly addressed in the leader guide.