WORK EXPERIENCE

This talk emphasises the importance of work experience and includes dress, time management, grooming, manners, making connections, following up on connections and much more.

Duration          15/20 minutes

5TH YEAR

Fifth year can be hard for many as there is a very strong ‘back to study’ ethos, especially in the first few months.  Students can find this very overwhelming and need a grounding.

Duration          80 minutes (one double class)

Preparation for Leaving Cert - importance of starting the year strong, communication, study, making the right choices, social media balance, importance of exercise and diet with study.

School Workshops

All my School Workshops incorporate Social and Emotional Learning.

1ST YEAR

Transition to Secondary School can be a very daunting experience for many - these workshops help the students to deal with this transition in a positive way giving them the tools to work through any issues they may experience.

 Part 1 - duration           80 minutes (one double class)

The Importance of  a positive self-esteem (self-esteem, confidence, friendships, image, food and exercise)

Part 2 - duration          80 minutes (one double class)

Social Media and Bullying Awareness (relationships, bullying in all of its forms, friendships, respect, social media addiction, finding a balance between your real world and your virtual world)

2ND YEAR

Second year, in my experience, tends to be a tough year for students in the areas of friendships, relationships, trust, peer pressure, study, social media, this workshop deals with all of these issues and is very well received by the students.

Duration          80 minutes (one double class)

Positive Friendships (trust, respect, social media awareness, values, peer pressure)

EXAM YEARS

Exam pressure is a growing concern for students, parents and teachers.  Students need to find a balance in their lives between study, pass times, friendships, down time and sleep.

Duration          80 minutes (one double class)

Finding a balance (finding a balance between study and other aspects in their lives, importance of sleep and diet, dealing with peer pressure, understanding what ‘they’ want and how to achieve it)

TRANSITION YEAR - SELF DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

I recently ran a Self-Development workshop with a Transition Year group and was surprised at their reactions. This workshop was aimed at helping the students to understand the importance of a number of topics;

• The importance of liking yourself - Positive Self-Esteem.

• The meaning of Friendship.

• Getting to know your Strengths and learning to understand what they mean.

• Thinking about Values and how they effect your every day life.

• The importance of Believing in Yourself and Setting Goals.

• The importance of having Dreams/Ambitions.

During the workshop we had a lot of discussion about friendships and the importance of face to face communication. This is an area of concern, as when we looked at it most of the students said there was never a time they would be with friends when someone was not on their phone - never a time when they would all be talking together. This is a problem as people are not giving enough face to fact time to real friends and far too much online time to virtual friends (who may not be real friends at all). This was an eye-opener for many as we have to remember some of our kids know no different - this is the world they have grown up in. They began to realise the importance of spending real time with real friends.

When it came to strengths, many of the students said this was not something they really thought about, but after the exercise they realised what great strengths they had, many of which they did not realise they had beforehand. Knowing their strengths is an essential ingredient for them to live a happy fulfilled life - both personally and in careers. We need to understand our strengths to understand who we are and who we want to be. We need to understand our strengths to understand what area of work we should aim for, to be happy and successful in our jobs.

Setting Goals is one of my personal favourites. There is a saying “Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes”, to me this is so important. I have worked with so many teenagers and young adults who have spent months and years reading self-help books and motivation books, and when I ask them “So what have you done”?, they look at me blankly. You have to take the first step to change if you want anything to change, reading about it, writing about it will not Change it. You have to ‘do’ something. This section really resonated with the students as I put the ball back in their court - told them they have to stop blaming parents, teachers, the weather - if they want something in life they have to get out there at get it - make the necessary changes in their lives and go for it. Everything worthwhile takes effort - nothing comes easy.

Values - this section surprised me most of all as it was the area most of them said they really learned something about themselves in.
What are Values -
Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep down, they're probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to.
When the things that you do and the way you behave match your values, life is usually good – you're satisfied and content. But when these don't align with your personal values, that's when things feel... wrong. This can be a real source of unhappiness.
This feeling of ‘wrong’ really made sense to them. The students wrote down the values they thought their age group ‘have’ and the values they thought their age group ‘should have’. What this did was it showed them that they all wanted the same things - yet many were living against their values to be part of their peer group or to be popular. We all need to take time out to allow ourselves to get to know ourselves better, and this is doubly true for our younger generation who have grown up with another voice in their heads - social media.

I strongly believe our educational department has to look at this area and provide modules to help kids live in this every changing technological run world in a more positive and self aware way. We, their parents, teachers, mentors have to help them to get this support.

Lack of face to face communication, low self-esteem, peer pressure, lack of understanding around friendships and relationships are a few of the growing concerns I see daily. We have to support them to understand the importance of realising the reality of social media v’s the real world. There are many positives to social media, but unfortunately there are many very damaging aspects also which I find very worrying.

Transition year is an ideal time to go over the many aspects of the above workshops and also include interview preparation, deportment and growing, and personal hygiene.

I can put together a workshop covering any of the above topics depending on the group's requirements.