Throughout the pandemic, personal and professional challenges have left many feeling depleted and stuck in the middle, with a lack of clarity on how to fuel forward.
This has been especially true for non-profit teams committed to serving the common good and transforming livability for the clients they serve.
When that same fatigue started to set in for the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester, they sought service from Winona State to build resiliency within their Youth Development Professionals team that would keep them true to their mission and purpose even in the most challenging of times.
Fueling Resiliency in the Middle can help a team that is feeling stuck make the most of the adversities they face. In a pandemic-burdened world where every demographic and age group has faced unprecedented challenges, this skillset of leveraging the now to build a better tomorrow has never been more necessary.
Winona State University had the opportunity to deliver this timely resiliency training to Youth Development Professionals (YDPs) at the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester in partnership with Sandy Anderson Consulting. The interactive workshop gave YDPs specific tools and strategies to frame, re-frame and reset. Attendees elevated awareness, compassion, and a deeper understanding of empathy towards self, team members and clients. From that space, resiliency building strategies were explored with the intent to meet the needs of the clients in sustainable ways that maintain well-being for self and the team.
“Youth Development at the Boys and Girls Club is a serious business and ensuring that YDPs engage in effective self-care is crucial to our success. Fueling Resiliency in the Middle proved to be a great opportunity for our staff to explore this important, yet often overlooked aspect of their work.”
One YDP commented, “I need to focus on myself to be the best I can in order to provide the best to these kids!” Another shared, “People have their own stories and challenges they are dealing with, and folks should be treated with grace.”
YDPs also explored Adverse Childhood Experiences research and discussed the impact and opportunities in how they respond to each other, their clients and the communities they serve. The post-training feedback from the YDP leadership and participants expressed that the training from Winona State helped to strengthen team culture in ways that have elevated the experience of the youth that the Boys & Girls Club serve.
Sandy Anderson is a frequently utilized WSU trainer with more than 30 years of experience working with organizations and individuals seeking relevancy and resiliency. Sandy shared, “It is vital to create space to explore organizational potential, and emerge with a vision of what can be, and then engage practical strategies in meaningful ways.”
About Boys & Girls Club of Rochester
For over 20 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester is an out-of-school program open to youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The Club provides programs for kids and teens tailored to their specific educational and health needs. https://www.bgclubroch.org/
About WSU-Adult & Continuing Education
Adult & Continuing Education (ACE) at Winona State University offers a wide range of non-credit and for-credit course offerings to enhance professional development. Whether through online learning, immersive classroom experiences, or hands-on training, Winona State strives to meet student needs so that they can reach their personal and professional goals. For more information on continuing education opportunities at WSU, contact Julie Kiehne at jkiehne@winona.edu.
