Change Lives. Save Lives. Giving Tuesday.
YOC will be joining Giving Tuesday on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. It is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving alongside the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick off the holiday giving season.
This year, the Youth Opportunity Center is requesting funding to purchase 100 treatment toolkits. These bags will be given to each kid who begins counseling while at the YOC. For all children and adolescents, therapy can be a scary thing to do and they are often very hesitant and guarded to begin the process. Our residents are much more guarded and resistant than the typical child, often due to a history of negative experiences with therapy and therapists, and suspicion as to our intentions and having their best interests at heart.
The welcome bags will help reduce some of the guardedness by communicating that our therapists desire to help them and want to provide them with the resources to do so. Many children and adolescents understand and comprehend intentions more clearly through actions and behaviors than through words, so this will be a material way for the counselors to communicate with them. The therapists can then refer back to these items throughout counseling sessions when the youth need support coping and calming (i.e. “did you try using that stress ball”, “I would like you to journal about that tonight”).
