Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field

I will meet you there. -- Rumi

Connection & Building Community Culture
GIST™ (Gender Integrated Skills Training): Mentorship groups come together in this co-gender format for full day or weekend intensive trainings and community building. Our goal is to foster healthy and fulfilling relationships within a micro-community. In the GIST™ forum we utilize many different modalities to teach, such as: Adventure Leadership, Empowerment Arts and Wilderness & Outdoor Education. The GIST™ program focuses on problem-solving, team building, community development, diversity acceptance and celebration. We teach compassionate communication, conflict transformation and "power with" decision-making. Using focused activities, games, challenges and initiatives, we provide opportunities to learn through fun, creative and dynamic experiences.
This is what the participants can expect:



The Invitation: self-exploration
  • Skill building, self-confidence building
  • Individual problem-solving
  • Exploring modalities as an expression of self
  • Taking safe personal risks
  • Recognizing and exploring universal archetypes and symbols



The Interaction: self in relation to others
  • Group communication skill building
  • Group problem-solving, teamwork, "power sharing" decision-making and exploration of conflict styles
  • Exploring modalities for self-expression in collaboration
    with others
  • Taking safe risks within the group
  • Exploring universal and personal archetypes and symbols


The Initiation: challenging self in service of higher goals

  • Finding inner personal power through deep exploration
  • Addressing life-alienating or self-defeating behavior, communication, relationship patterns
  • Actively seeking meaningful threshold opportunities
  • Commitment and action toward desired outcomes
  • Trying on new archetypes and roles as movement toward personal goals




The Integration: empowered self in relationship with others toward greater goals
  • Developing strategies to maintain personal empowerment and life-serving connections in relationships
  • Managing communication and conflict styles that support personal and interpersonal goals
  • Generalizing empowerment from “container” to everyday life
  • Making commitments to personal threshold opportunities
  • Expanding and reclaiming archetypes and symbols that support the greatest potential for self in relationship to others (family, community, planet)
Change continues as part of Social Action with Youth SAY!



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