Set out each day believing in your dreams.
Know without a doubt that you were made for great things!
Course Objective |
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As adolescents face an unprecedented time of difficulty, we see a rise in suicidality, self-harming behaviors, identity confusion, anxiety, depression, negative social media impact, truancy, and isolation in teens.
We believe a common thread in these challenges lies in youths’ misunderstanding of their own power to create the life and self they want and the misguided belief that life is happening to them. As we listen to participants’ stories of their past, Safe Harbors helps teens gain evidence-based, therapeutic tools to meet these challenges as the authors of their own stories. They not only learn to tell their story, but to actually create the story of their lives and selves by connecting to a purpose driven vision of identity. |
Safe Harbors empowers individuals and communities toward necessary change. Using trauma informed strategies, Safe Harbors Guides partner with participants through the experience of determining life focus, building positive communities, developing purpose driven identity, adopting a growth mindset, and engaging with daily, focused action.
Safe Harbors expands the singular focus of behavior and supports foundational attention to the additional systems of individuals impacted by trauma including beliefs, biology, bodies, and brains. In doing so, we employ a strengths based perspective that acknowledges what is wrong, but focuses on building upon what is strong. |
What Teens are Saying
"I want to share my story with others and share the advice that they don't have to do the things I've done. I think that will help them. Drugs and alcohol isn't the solution for running from your pain. You have to try as hard as you can to be the better you and look for help when it's hard."
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"I learned that if I focus on small goals that I can handle the situations that I come across."
"It has challenged me to examine myself and begin to answer the question of what do I really want out of my life."
"At a time where I was trying to put my life back together and make changes that would help me get a new future this curriculum provided a roadmap for me to not only believe that was possible but give me an action plan to achieve it."
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"What I learned about myself is that it’s okay to have feelings, but it is not okay to lash out or flip my lid because I’m frustrated. I learned that I'm able to control my anger around some people. I learned that managing my emotions has helped me by knowing I'm able to go through and do hard things."
What Guides are Saying
The first week when I met you I saw you were in a hard spot. You didn’t want to talk. You were hurt. You were frustrated. As they were teaching and asking you to engage you couldn’t. You didn’t want anything to do with that. Then overtime it has been incredible to watch your transformation. There was one class where you just came alive. That young man in the class was really struggling and you came alive. You were so incredible. You knew what he needed to hear. You coached him to believe in himself in a way I had never seen.
~Lisa
~Lisa
As a guide with Safe Harbors it has been incredible to watch what this program is doing for our youth. So many of them are floundering, they have no idea who they are, what they want, where they are going, and what they are capable of. They are surrounded by social media that pushes comparison. They are surrounded by an environment of individuality while at the same time lacking the tools to discover who they truly are.
The amazing part of working with teens through the Safe Harbors course has been watching them come alive and genuinely identify, maybe for the first time who they really are and what they really want in life. Instead of being afraid of failure, or even really giving voice to what they want because they are afraid of what others will think, they are finding voice for what they really want in life.
They find the courage to say 'This is who I am. This is what I want in life. This is what I will do to go and get this in my life.' The empowerment they get when they realize they have the capacity to be a creator of their own lives is when it gets really exciting.
I have watched this course truly help teens by helping them identify their I Am statements, believe they are capable of anything they set their mind to and not being afraid to go after their dreams.
~Natalyn
The amazing part of working with teens through the Safe Harbors course has been watching them come alive and genuinely identify, maybe for the first time who they really are and what they really want in life. Instead of being afraid of failure, or even really giving voice to what they want because they are afraid of what others will think, they are finding voice for what they really want in life.
They find the courage to say 'This is who I am. This is what I want in life. This is what I will do to go and get this in my life.' The empowerment they get when they realize they have the capacity to be a creator of their own lives is when it gets really exciting.
I have watched this course truly help teens by helping them identify their I Am statements, believe they are capable of anything they set their mind to and not being afraid to go after their dreams.
~Natalyn
What Parents are Saying
My son has been taking the class for several months now. I cannot tell you the number of puzzle pieces we are putting together as parents as he is starting to share with us some of the things he is discovering about himself. We are having much better conversations now. I feel like I need to take this class to better understand how to put the pieces together in my own life.
~Angie
~Angie
As a therapist I have seen the Safe Harbors framework transform lives. As a mother with three children still at home I have absolutely seen Safe Harbors tools change OUR lives. I have a 17 year old and 14 year old who are dealing with social challenges, school challenges, divorce, family relationship challenges, loss, mental health issues of varying kinds. They have a lot that they are dealing with on a daily basis. We have been at individual therapy for four years and nothing else that we have tried—nothing—has had the level of impact that we have seen from Safe Harbors. Therapy has been useful, and we will continue that, but the change that I have seen come over my children as they engage with these tools is unparalleled. We have Safe Harbors tools displayed on our back window where we gather for meals. Most of our conversations as a family center around the Safe Harbors concepts.
We have developed a daily practice of coming together at the breakfast table where each child states clearly their vision for that day, who they're going to be in this world today. From there, each of us identify four action items, one in each component of whole self wellness that we will engage with that day towards the creation of that vision. The empowerment that has come into the lives of my previously disempowered and stuck children is difficult to describe. They are taking control of their lives. Taking control of their health. Recognizing in a way that I have never been able to convey before, that despite their circumstances, illness, or relationships they always have a choice. They can decide and determine who they will be. They can write their own story and Safe Harbors has helped them to do that. . ~Beth, CSW |
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First and foremost, the model used in the Safe Harbors curriculum is for everyone! I have learned and lived the principles and doing so has illuminated HOW BEST to show up for my teenage daughter. I have learned what it means to be the creator of my own life and doing so has opened the door for REAL conversation and collective growth.
Inviting an individual to CREATE, LIVE and SHARE their story is a powerful approach to mentoring and the traction I have gained in the relationship with my daughter as well as many of her young friends is nothing short of miraculous. Using the Safe Harbors model they are each individually preparing themselves for the road ahead using the principles of vision creation and taking control of their thoughts and actions, aligning them with who they are and what they want most. They schedule time (even on Friday nights!) to come and talk through their visions, presenting challenges and brainstorming next steps. So amazing!! They are becoming better equipped to field social, emotional and physical challenges with confidence and hopeThey are building resilience and developing the independence they need to meet life head on, pursue their passions and achieve their dreams. ~Josh Penrod |
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"My son took the Safe Harbors class his senior year of high school. I knew the class would be very beneficial for him but I had no idea the impact it would have on him.
The following is an excerpt from a letter he wrote to us a few months after he graduated from high school and moved out.
'I always thought I knew who I was. I was funny, I was friendly, I was kind but also I was lazy. That has been killing me inside and out. Telling myself that for years hasn't helped me at all. I know that I CAN be so much more and yet I hold myself back.
'What's getting in your way that is preventing you from being UNSTOPPABLE!? For me, it's myself. It's me telling myself I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that. But I'm more than capable of doing these little things. Is life, your life going to be the thing that gets in your way. Or are you going to stand up for yourself and tell yourself I can and I will. Are you going to happen to life or are you going to let life happen to you. I'm just now taking control of my life. It's just hitting me hard that I absolutely wasted 18 years of life letting life happen to me. Letting myself get in the way of me being great. Let me tell you, I'M DONE.'
I am thrilled that he realized for himself the potential he has, something I've been trying to get him to see and understand his whole life. Thank you Safe Harbors!"
~Heidi
The following is an excerpt from a letter he wrote to us a few months after he graduated from high school and moved out.
'I always thought I knew who I was. I was funny, I was friendly, I was kind but also I was lazy. That has been killing me inside and out. Telling myself that for years hasn't helped me at all. I know that I CAN be so much more and yet I hold myself back.
'What's getting in your way that is preventing you from being UNSTOPPABLE!? For me, it's myself. It's me telling myself I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that. But I'm more than capable of doing these little things. Is life, your life going to be the thing that gets in your way. Or are you going to stand up for yourself and tell yourself I can and I will. Are you going to happen to life or are you going to let life happen to you. I'm just now taking control of my life. It's just hitting me hard that I absolutely wasted 18 years of life letting life happen to me. Letting myself get in the way of me being great. Let me tell you, I'M DONE.'
I am thrilled that he realized for himself the potential he has, something I've been trying to get him to see and understand his whole life. Thank you Safe Harbors!"
~Heidi
Insightful Activities
In one of the lessons we do with teens we dive into a really fun art project to help them express what they are afraid of. Often they struggle to find the words, but as we lead them through the exercise of creating a piece of art to help them find the words it’s amazing what observations occur.
Here are two drawings from our amazing participants of Safe Harbors:
Here are two drawings from our amazing participants of Safe Harbors:
“This represents the giant backpack I am carrying full of rocks. It’s huge and overwhelming. I see myself trying to put on this smaller backpack with no rocks, but it’s “SUS”—that’s teen for totally suspicion. I’m just not sure that really exists. It feels a lot more hopeful to think that it’s there, I just don’t know how to take the big one off and trust the new one exists.”
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"It was hard for me to express what I am really afraid of but I think I captured it beautifully. The blue represents immense sadness. I feel like I am surrounded by the sadness. The purple represents hope and light. It’s so close, surrounding me I just can’t find it. The more I look at it I think I see a cocoon….maybe I’m really close to transforming into a beautiful butterfly? Maybe I’m afraid I’ll always want to be in the cocoon."
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