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Crucible of Youth: Supporting Adolescent Transformations


  • Seattle, WA (Duwamish Territory) (map)

Adolescence is a special life stage. During this time, we undergo massive physiological changes, more than at any other life transition except for birth and death. Social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive changes  that occur during this critical period often set the trajectory for the rest of a person’s life.

How we support young people during this time of massive transition is critical. It is a time of creative, visionary insights, with the energy and passion to change the world. Yet young people need safe, supportive boundaries while they are growing and changing.  How to balance these needs, while navigating our own unfinished adolescent business, is tricky for the adults who parent, teach and work with young people.

This introductory weekend offers key frameworks for understanding lifespan development, with a particular emphasis on understanding the challenges, gifts and opportunities of adolescence. Through ceremony, talking circles and embodiment practices, we will dive deeply into this life stage as we ask how we remain impacted by our own adolescence today.

Together we’ll explore:

  • An introduction to adolescent development from neurological, psychological, cultural and ecological perspectives

  • Your own journey through childhood and adolescence, with the opportunity to heal some wounds and identify others that you need to work on

  • The complexity of mentoring young people with regards to identity, sexuality and substances.

  • Ceremonial practices designed to explore our own adolescent selves, and “re-story” narratives that no longer serve us.

Cost: Sliding Scale $175 - $295

A Note On Journeys' Pricing

Rite of Passage Journeys is committed to making our programs accessible to all who are called to join us, and we use a sliding scale to encourage everyone to help make this possible. The scale for this program is based on an estimate of moderate enrollment of 12 people:

  • $175 per person falls short of covering our direct expenses

  • $200 per person covers our direct costs of running the program

  • $250 per person covers our full costs (administrative overhead)

  • $295 supports those paying on the lower end of the scale and helps Journeys develop future programs

Journeys has never turned away a participant for lack of funds. If the low end of the Sliding Scale is beyond your capacity to pay, please contact us for information about further financial aid or a payment plan that could make your participation possible. Thank you for supporting this movement towards greater financial equity and transparency!

To register, visit http://riteofpassagejourneys.org/workshops_events/crucible-of-youth

This is one of three workshops in the Restoring Rites of Passage Leadership Series. For more information, contact me or Rite of Passage Journeys!