The Directions Pre-Employment and Life Skills Program
Jennie runs the pre-employment and life skills workshops at the Directions Drop-In Centre, facilitating weekly workshops to homeless and other vulnerable youth. We’ve shared about entry point programs and how they’re often a first point of contact or what initially brings youth to the Centre. Jennie’s program, in contrast, is one that youth are referred to once they’re already onsite. If, in conversation with a staff member, a youth mentions that they have a job interview, or are applying for work, that youth worker will suggest Jennie’s program to them.
The programming for life skills and pre-employment is informed by the youth at Directions. The Youth Advisory Committee meets once per month and youth attending can make requests for topics for future workshops. A recent request, for self-regulation techniques, has sparked a potential teaming up between Jennie and another FSGV program. This type of collaboration is typical of how Jennie approaches the program; she’s constantly leaning into the ecosystem of supports available at FSGV to advance youth interests and youth-led skills development.
Youth-Requested Workshops and Support
For example, a few youth have recently expressed enthusiasm for learning how to make hollandaise sauce, so Jennie and Harp (the Kitchen Supervisor at Directions) are building and planning a workshop on some staple sauce techniques. In another example of collaboration, the FSGV Financial Empowerment Program hosts workshop series a few times per year, where FE coaches cover foundational financial skills with youth.
Housing topics are popular and for those Jennie teams up with the Directions Housing and Life Skills Worker. They host workshops on topics from how to be a good roommate and renters’ rights, to pet care and how to identify whether you’re ready to rent. With Alysha from the Galaxy Program, there are sexual health and relationship workshops covering topics such as consent, pregnancy and contraceptives, STI’s, healthy relationships, and more. There are even workshops with community partners to assist youth on resumes and cover letters, navigating job search tools, and learning about apprenticeships and trades.
It’s probably pretty clear that Jennie’s program has a wide scope of offerings, designed to bridge information- and skill-gaps that youth identify and ask for. Though workshop planning and facilitation is the bulk of Jennie’s work, she does meet with youth 1:1 as well. Recently, a youth asked if they could meet a few days before an upcoming job interview. Together, they went over her resume and had a mock interview. This is just one example of the ways youth find individualized support with Jennie and at Directions more widely.
It’s About Learning More Than Skills
When asked about what her program brings youth, the benefits, of course, include practical skills, information, and trainings. However, the program offers more. It’s an opportunity to build community. It’s common for youth to attend workshops for quite a while, and they get to know each other and staff during that time. They even get to know themselves more. Jennie shares the story of one youth, who’s been able to explore a lot of skills and interests at Directions.
“There’s one youth I’m thinking of who, over the last year, they’ve come to so many workshops. They’re very involved. They also do SYJA, have started back at school, and have a lot of interests, like they go a lot to the art and culture programming. Directions having so much to offer has given them the opportunity to find out what they’re interested in, what they’re good at, and maybe what isn’t for them. And when we’re able to do those one-to-ones, to have a bit deeper of conversations than in group settings, we get to support that exploration, and the youth, more.”
For some youth, their time working with the Directions staff helps them discover that they want to go into some kind of social or community work themselves. What they are and will be able to bring to this line of work with their lived experience is priceless. People often come to social services because they have a personal connection to the work, sometimes even wanting to be a beacon for the next people who need it. Youth discovering this sort of passion in themselves is only possible when we’re offering abundant opportunities, including ones that do more than meet their basic needs.
Sometimes, with the number and scope of programs at FSGV, it isn’t always obvious how the work interconnects. Our programs overlap because people, and their needs, are multifaceted. Offering opportunities where support intersects, like Jennie’s collaborations with others, make more room for people. This room gives them space to learn skills and about themselves, which is a vital part of helping people get where they want to be.
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