Solution Focus in Youth Work

The training is strategically designed to achieve the following objectives:

• Develop Coaching Skills: It aims to enhance the coaching skills of youth workers and support professionals, enabling them to lead discussions or group processes consciously and support clients and participants on their path to change.
• Promote Solution-Focused Approach: Participants will learn and promote the basic concept of the solution-focused paradigm, utilizing this approach in their professional interactions.
• Facilitate Practice Development: The course encourages participants to evolve their own practice in leading discussions and facilitating group processes.
• Create Experiential Space: A special focus is given to creating spaces for participants to work with their own issues, questions, and challenges, offering a first-hand experience of facilitative conversations around resources.
• Reflective Application: The course fosters collective reflection on how participants can apply Solution-Focused (SF) practice in their everyday work.

The 5-day training will employ the following methodologies:

• Solution-Focused Paradigm: A co-created learning process oriented towards building on participants' existing curiosity.
• Experiential Learning: A hands-on method where participants will try themselves out as coach, clients, and observers.
• Conversation Practice: Recording, observing, and reflecting on conversations to enhance learning.
• Peer Observations: Participants will report back to peers on what seems most useful in their own conversation practice and examine other coaches' interactions.
• Group Reflections: Reflect on the whole learning process through small and large group reflections.

Expected Learning Outcomes:

• Gain a basic understanding of the SF paradigm.
• Broaden their options in facilitation and group process management.
• Learn techniques to keep conversations and group processes constructive.
• Acquire experience in supporting clients in mapping resources and direction.
• Reflect on post-training work focus.
• Address and move forward with personal issues and challenges.
• Collaborate with others to develop their practice further.
• Foster close human relationships.

Participants' profile:

• Motivated to learn new methods of experiential education.
• Interested in coaching and supportive conversations.
• Being able to communicate and express thoughts and feelings in English.
• Motivated to gain new competencies through group or individual challenges.
• Being able to commit to the program.