The Life Skills for Everyone program is taking on a new team member with unique skills, helping even more people achieve levels of inner peace, empowerment and success.
Michelle Obre is joining the Life Skills team made up of Jon Fleming and George Emery.
“I’m so excited to work with Jon and George,” she said.
“This is in my blood: I love helping people.”
Obre works at Horton Ventures, where she was formerly a case manager and is now a facilitator for life skills programs.
“What I do at Horton Ventures goes hand in hand with the Life Skills for Everyone program that George and Jon offer in anger management and communication,” she explained.
“Finding meaningful employment is very connected with how you handle the stress and frustration of everyday life, for example. Sometimes there are a lot of barriers to face before we can look for employment.
“If most people could take the Life Skills programs before going through employment-seeking programs, life would be so much simpler.”
She said that people come out of the Life Skills for Everyone program with practical, specific tools they can use in all areas of their lives, such as communication and relationships. She recently took the course herself.
“You become more self-aware — who you are and how you relate to others, your triggers and help to deal with them,” she said.
Jon Fleming, who was a youth worker for 15 years, said they’d like to expand into programs for youth, noting that having Michelle on the team will make them even more versatile and flexible.
“My background with youth was focused a lot on conflict resolution, Michelle has a strong background focused on employment and George’s field is anger management,” he explained.
“We’re going to concentrate on all three areas, and whatever focus we’re working on, that person will be the main facilitator.
“We’re going to aim at schools, or alternate programs,” he added.
“Adjudicated youth is my thing; I’m going to talk to some agencies that work with youth who may benefit from our programs.”
George Emery said they plan to offer a program called Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World in September 2017.
“It’s a positive parenting program that looks at things like positive discipline, positive parenting and accountability.
“It empowers kids to start taking responsibility for their own actions,” he explained.
“The payoffs for this program may not be right away, but will happen two or three or ten years down the road. This is my answer to the gang problems and drug problems in Williams Lake,” he added.
“I’m not taking the drug problem and the gang problem head-on; I’m getting to them through this program before they get to that stage.”
He said that when it comes to the developing capable young people program, both Michelle and Jon have experience working with youth.
“That’s their expertise. We’re a strong team; we complement each other,” he noted.
Life Skills for Managing Anger will be offered September 2016; Assertive Communication in a New World is also available.
Emery is committed to offering these programs, seeing it as a real need here. He said that there have been struggles along the way, and that he has often paid to put the programs on out of his own pocket. “Sponsorships, a space to hold the sessions and help with grant writing would be incredibly welcome,” he added.
“I’m determined to keep it going: this program isn’t going away.”
For more information about Life Skills for Everyone mail to C/O Box 856 150 Mile BC V0K 2CO, phone 250-296-9151 or 250-302-1078 or follow Life Skills for Everyone! On Facebook.