Course Curriculum

• Resilience and Positive Youth Development

  • Brain-Based Drives: Attachment, Achievement, Autonomy, Altruism
  • Universal Growth Needs: Belonging, Mastery, Independence, Generosity
  • Powerful Relationships: Family, Peer Group, School, and Community
  • A Paradigm Shift: From Deficit and Disorder to Strength and Wellness

• The Primacy of Staff Teamwork

  • Staff Cohesion and Participation
  • A Unifying Theme for Reclaiming Youth
  • From Autocratic to Democratic Leadership
  • Constructing Positive Organizational Cultures

• Creating Climates for Growth

  • Connecting Youth with Adults
  • Creating Positive Peer Cultures
  • Engaging Students in Learning
  • Mobilizing a Caring Community

• Problems as Learning Opportunities

  • Understanding and Preventing Conflict Cycles
  • Reframing Problems as Unmet Growth Needs
  • Communicating with Kids in Conflict
  • Enlisting Youth in Problem-Solving Groups

• Strategies for Positive Peer Influence

  • Demanding Responsibility instead of Obedience
  • Tapping Positive Potentials in Negative Leaders
  • Relabelling Behavior to Make Hurting Dissonant
  • Making Caring Fashionable to Reverse Peer Deviance

• Transforming Troubled Lives

  • From Peer Harassment to Peer Helping
  • Trauma-Wise Principles and Interventions
  • From Antisocial to Prosocial Thinking and Values
  • The Resilient Brain and Enduring Positive Change