Description
The high rates of suicide among youth harassed around gender and orientation indicate a critical need for proactive responses. Our approach is providing education to the caretakers of youth, as well as youth themselves, and empowering them to engage in powerful dialogue on gender and orientation. In this way, we support people in transforming environments to ensure that all youth and families are safe.
The 1999 Florida Youth Suicide Prevention Study report to the Florida State Legislature named YES Institute one of three most promising community-based models of suicide prevention, not only in Florida, but in the entire nation.
- Dialogue for Purposeful Action
YES Institute works in dynamic partnerships with individuals and organizations committed to creating a safer world for all youth. Our trained course leaders and speakers facilitate open, inclusive discussions on gender and orientation that honor all points of view. Initiating dialogue is the first step we take in creating environments that are safe and supportive for all youth and families.
- Powerful Education Courses
YES Institute offers groundbreaking workshops on gender, orientation, communication, and leadership. Universities from around the country seek our materials as the most up-to-date and innovative on these topics.
Our courses are open to everyone and offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to teachers, counselors, registered nurses, clinical social workers, and mental health professionals. See accreditationshere.
- Student Leadership Training
YES Institute'sIntroduction to Communication Solutions™ was created specifically for students. This training empowers students to create change in their environments and connect authentically with their families. Their life experiences become powerful testimony that makes a difference, not something they need to resist or endure. Students learn to use the power of their own voices as speakers for YES, and often continue to become workshop leaders.
YES Institute’s Working Unity course is designed to support businesses in creating workplace environments where all employees relate authentically and work together productively. Moving beyond the call to "celebrate differences," we redefine diversity and shift the focus from what we think to how we think about race, gender, orientation, and all notions that separate us. Working Unity is customized to accommodate a particular corporation’s environment, policies, and needs.
