Empowered teen workshop
How the HeroPath approach propels teenagers towards Taking Control of Their Life
From every angle, the teenage years are tough. They're tough on parents, watching their progeny naturally pull away, and even tougher when inevitable conflict occurs.
But for the young people at the epicentre of the huge physical and emotional changes occurring in the teenage life-phase, it can be a quantum leap tougher. Not merely because they're trying to forge their own identities, establish good relationships and keep up their studies - but also because today's world presents enormous choices and equally massive cul de sacs.
Navigating a positive path through the maze of options, peer pressures and parental expectations would test a young Christopher Columbus, let alone those who have no inbuilt sense of direction.
Ironically, it's often parents who are the worst-placed people to provide this sense of personal direction, as their relationships with their children are interwoven with so many vested interests that the teenage ear can quickly switch off.
What's sometime needed is an independent voice, one that can empathise with teenage concerns - and yet provide the reassurance of experience. A non-parental parent in effect. Ideally, this voice will also help build a teenager's self-esteem, their ability to make the correct life choices - and pass on a toolkit for a taking control of their life.
It's exactly with these aims that HeroPath UK was born six years ago under the guidance of Hertfordshire-based Des Barry, himself the father of two teenagers and former British motorcycle champion.
"I'd also wanted to associate with people who are amongst the elite in the world at what they do and in 1997 I met Joseph Riggio. A truly remarkable man, his ability to point people in the direction of their personal success was astounding. Though I had attended many professional development and performance-enhancement training sessions over the years, what Joseph can deliver, then and now, is in my opinion at a completely different, and higher, level.
A few years later I accepted an offer to travel to California to spend a few days learning Joseph Riggio's methodology in his Mythogenic Self Process, studying with him and to meet some of his associates.
"Apart from the benefits my business derived, of far more value were the ways in which I could apply what he taught me to make me a better husband and parent, a much more patient man, much more aware and much more available in the ways my family needed me to be.
"One of the other great things that came from studying with Joseph was that I met a close associate and student of his, Jeffrey Leiken, who is now the only other trainer at master level of Joseph's model of work. I sensed something rare in Jeff when I first met him - a certain charisma and authenticity and gift for bringing out the best in others.
“My association with Joseph and Jeffrey began formally in 2004 when I helped organise the first workshop these two men ran for teenagers here in the UK. Five years on and with minimal marketing and lots through word of mouth, over 100 teenagers and young adults – including those from Greece, Spain and Ireland – have attended these workshops here in London and in Dublin. “
But the irrefutable evidence that the HeroPath approach works and has a profound effect comes from the mouths of the teenagers who have attended weekend workshops that you can read on Teens Say.
Here’s a sample from the testimonial from Robert, Manchester:
“ ,,,,,,,learning how to make the most out of everything, whilst always being positive and making yourself feel ‘in your prime’. Only time will tell if the methods work, but all the questions and problems I went in with were quickly solved and I felt like a different person afterwards.”
The workshop begins with the premise that there is a way that a person knows when they have a sense of being in their prime, when they cannot put a foot down wrong. There are few who operate in the world that way consistently. Each teen is made aware of how they are when they have a sense being that way that sometimes we call ‘Being at their Best’. That is where the workshop begins and over the weekend, through an interactive presentation and small group exercises, we expect teens to leave the workshop Sunday afternoon having learned:
- How to be in control of managing their own state so that they can orient towards positive possibilities in spite of what is going on around them. Because so much of the model is somatic, this is not an intellectual or mental exercise, but rather a physical one. When they learn how they do this in their own unique way, they can sustain it with great ease, and without needing us to be there helping them.
- How to recognise the subtle internal responses they have that help them to make excellent decisions. We begin by pointing out to them how many times in their lives their ‘instinct’ was warning them something wasn’t right and how often they realise afterwards that they should have listened to this inner voice. We heighten their awareness to a remarkably acute level so that, going forward, they will notice the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses in themselves and learn to act much more wisely.
- Lastly, that their life counts and they must live their life in a way that ensures it counts. That in spite of the obstacles they face, if they choose to orient towards positive possibilities and associate with positive people, coupled with following the path of their heart, things will work out for them in ways they can barely imagine. In the end, it is only by living this way, even in spite of the evidence to the contrary, that anyone ever makes their dreams come true. In the world we live in, we need all the believers and doers we can get.
For those who are interested to know more of the body of work that the workshop is based on then read the Article ‘ Soma-Semantic™ Modelling and Academic Excellence’.
If you want to find out more, or put your teenagers on the path that’s truly right for them – the HeroPath – then contact Des Barry, the founder of Heropath UK on 07768 277929 or via email on desbarry@heropath,.co.uk
See Also: What parents say about our workshop