Life Skills

Preparing For The Future

During their stay with Teen Challenge, clients are exposed to new people, experiences and opportunities that will expand their worldview and will guide them toward a more positive, hopeful way of thinking about life.

A Teen Challenge Client Life Coordinator works with clients to give them the tools they need to live a healthy life. The Coordinator meets with clients once a week to introduce new experiences and opportunities, to encourage clients to learn about themselves and to expand their worldview. The goal is to help clients to discover their own creativity, skills and talents so that the allure of their addictions is replaced by something more attractive. Activities might include a day of hiking, a tour of an art studio where they may try painting and sculpting or they might go camping, or learn cricket or some other new sport they may not otherwise have the opportunity to try.

Our life skills component is customized to the interests and needs of the client. Clients are sometimes paired with other clients to learn a new skill or may learn a skill from a volunteer or staff. The new skills are as diverse as,

• Culinary Arts
• Landscaping
• Graphic Design
• Budgeting
• Time management
• Team work skills
• Drywall repair
• House painting
• Grocery shopping
• Balancing a chequebook

Clients who are at least halfway through their program have the opportunity to study to complete their GED and Teen Challenge will arrange for them to write their GED test.

During the last 4 months of the program transition phase clients receive career counselling and learn resume writing, interview skills, budgeting, goal setting, and job finding tips from a local government-funded Occupational Skills Development agency. Here clients may take skill and personality tests so that they can learn more about themselves in order to assist with career planning.