Leaders Training 2018 | Page 16 | Youth Insearch

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Sun, 29/07/2018 - 20:24

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24 of our new Trainee Leaders started their Monday travelling to Sydney for their first week of Leaders Training. When arriving to the Merroo Centre in Kurrajong, NSW the trainees were welcomed off of the bus by the team of accredited leaders consisting of Jennie (Program Manager), Chloe (VIC) and Aimee, Tyler, Courtney and Brice (NSW).

After a quick lunch the Trainees were straight into learning as much as they could about the inner workings of our weekend workshops and having a more detailed explanation of our guidelines, etc. Later on in the afternoon they spent a few hours with Greg Meyer (long-time volunteer for leaders training) who introduced them to his famous leadership and teams activities. Unfortunately they had to stop the brain teasers with Greg before dinner so they could move on to an equally exciting task of understanding the concept of a Youth Insearch leader and all it entails.

 

Most of Tuesday was spent with Alan Kuczynski who took them through values and beliefs. These topics were covered to give them a deeper understanding of how they have come to have the values and beliefs they do. Tuesday was also a big breakthrough day when they literally broke through the negative beliefs they hold about themselves in an emotionally intense activity. After dinner the team took the trainees through the roles they will have when they attend programs while still in training and the practical things like setting up their emails.

 

Wednesday was another full day of learning for the trainees as they tackled how to prepare and present sessions with Jennie and the finer arts of being a facilitator in the centre of the circle with techniques on how to use the microphone and much more. After lunch the trainees were taken through health, nutrition and exercise with James Wilkinson. During this session they learnt what are the best ways to take of yourself and all of the simple misconceptions that people generally have about keeping healthy. Following dinner there was plenty of time for everyone to practice facilitating a session they had prepared in a group with the team and other trainees as the young people. Of course the team couldn't let the trainees just practice the public speaking part as during an actual weekend workshop, the young people usually present different situations that would test anyone so they came up with a few of these scenarios just to see how the trainees would handle them.

 

Thursday started with a morning energiser to wake everyone up and get the blood pumping. Straight after breakfast it was communication and presentation skills with Rogen SI as the teachers and the trainees as the eager to learn students. As it was the last night of their stay at the Merroo Centre, the team and the trainee leaders held a trivia night for themselves with pretty tough questions and lots of different prizes.

 

 

First up Friday was Youth Mental Health presented by Kathy Morrison. During this session they learnt more about a very personal topic they already know a bit about but could never know all of it. Kathy is one of our clinical psychologists that attends regular weekend workshops so is well-known and respected with our leaders. While attending many of programs over the years, Kathy has picked up even more knowledge to share with our trainees and everyone listened astutely while writing as many notes as they could. After the session with Kathy, the trainees then had the most fun task of packing everything up and getting ready to go home.

 

Over the whole week the trainees were asked to get together during breaks to come up with their very own team name and motto to then share with the team at the end. The team name that was unanimously decided upon was 'Team Storybook' with the motto 'On to the next chapter!' The trainee leaders decided on this name and saying as they all have experienced their own trials and tribulations during their lives or stories as they called them and they have come together to work on their next chapter as a team. Throughout the week the trainees showed tremendous courage and bravery by coming together as a team and stepping up despite feeling nervous and scared. The 2018 group of trainee leaders are the living embodiment of the quote by Bear Grylls 'Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.'