Seen&Heard: The Gift of Presence - Report - Page 3
What truly makes Seen&Heard unique is we do more than train youth in valuable
social-emotional skills. We are present for our students. This relational work is
sometimes impossible for agencies that are overburdened by county requirements
and may not have the abillity to atend to their client's personal concerns. We get
the privilege to see and hear youth in ways that take time and intentionality.
WE ARE PRESENT.
Presence is also a shared experience among students in class discussions. During a
class this fall, a younger student who is 18 was considering if college was for her. She
named the many obstacles she was facing as other students listened. Before the
instructor coul≠≠d speak, two other students who were currently enrolled in college jumped in to name several resources which had helped them at college. They
encouraged this student not to count herself out of higher education and
encouraged her from personal experience in a way our instructor could not. This
highlights two of Seen&Heard’s core values:
ALL PEOPLE ARE INHERENTLY VALUABLE AND HAVE
THE RIGHT TO DREAM.
YOUTH ARE AT A CRITICAL TURNING POINT IN LIFE.
Simply by providing space to be present with one another, our students engage
together in dreaming about their future and recognizing the urgency of their
present moment. Our youth are resourceful and often encourage each other,
which is ultimately one of the goals of our program. We do not wish to be an
organization that reinforces a learned helplessness; we want to turn youth to
face each other in support and as allies, thereby growing in their personal and
professional wisdom.