Message to a Youngblood – Life Lessons for Our Sons

From Group Home to Aging Out of Foster Care – Critical Life Decisions

Tools for behavioral intervention for youths living in housing facilities and treatment centers, based on my experience working in family mediation and alternative youth programs, using my book Where I Live At – Aging Out of Foster Care as reference. Supervised independent living, being in foster care while still in college, common pitfalls, over-represented populations and current resources for youths who've aged out of the foster care system are among the topics covered. 

Working with Disruptive and Troubled Females

Using my experience as an alternative High School teacher and family mediator developing teen behavioral intervention modules for adolescent non-traditional female students and residential clients, as well as running afterschool programs specifically designed for marginalized adolescent youths, along with my advice book for daughters with and without fathers, this workshop addresses combative behavior in a non-judgment manner in an effort to address not necessarily what our young ladies are doing wrong, but what isn't going right in their personal lives and how youth advocates can see disruption as opportunities for positive engagement. Topics include teen bullying, social media, common and uncommon young adult challenges, female empowerment and sisterhood, visioning and general life skills, and understanding the difference between being assertive and acting aggressively. 

Parent Stress

For frustrated parents and guardians seeking help with their troubled teens and young adults. Aside from being given a safe space to express parental concerns, the objective here is for the family in crisis to learn how to better communicate and resolve disputes, create healthy boundaries, redefine family to meet our current times, address difficult subject matters, co-parent when necessary while having opposite value systems and understand the effects of generational trauma.

The Marginalized Student – From Identifying to Celebrating

This workshop offers teachers and youth advocates non-traditional tools on working with hard-to-reach youths from under-represented communities, including White adolescent and young adults from rural areas, using alternative education and cultural intervention modules. 

Male Sexualities – Doing Away with Assumptions and Re-Learning Our Sons

This workshop addresses challenging yet necessary discussions on Black male sexuality, specifically on males who have sex with other males but do not self-identify as 'gay' or 'queer' nor wish to be labeled in any way. Parents, teachers, counselors, case managers, social workers, group home directors and school and youth treatment center administrators are invited to learn why some of our sons don't feel safe being their total selves in their immediate and larger surroundings nor relate to LGBT culture and centers. The workshop uses this behavioral mediator's book I'm Not Gay, I Just Mess with Guys Sometimes as a platform for discussion, reflection and how to apply new understanding to a population that is hiding in the open. Topics include learned attitudes on sexuality in the Black community, the effects of online dating apps on male-to-male relationships, fem and masc tensions, resources and on testimonials from older Black men who've overcome their internalized shame and living productive lives.

Criminal Justice Reform/Reframed Minefields

While criminal justice reforms have made a significant drop in Black male incarceration, there are new threats on young and older Black men attempting to help create more private prisons with the expectation of new Black bodies to fill up cells and bring jobs and revenue to rural areas. Using my experience working with young incarcerated males on Rikers Island, participants learn about current trends, including the privatization of prisons and using inmates as free labor. The focus of this workshop is on prevention and factors that contribute to over-policing. Also covered is the prison pipeline beginning as early as middle school, educational language used by teachers when covertly placing Back boys on the criminal justice track, the relation between poverty and the prison industry and what happens when the community pushes back.

Released From Prison, Now What? – Discovering New Options for a New Life

This interactive workshop focuses on current resources for newly discharged detainees. un-learning institutional mind training, job readiness and the realities of re-entry into the general population. The workshop also includes guest speakers representing agencies aimed at assisting newly released persons with employment and housing concerns, along with former detainees or court-involved individuals alike to share their experiences with the criminal justice system and how they succeeded in avoiding re-entry, as well as how they manage their personal lives now that reflecting and making better choices for better outcomes is now a way of life.

I’m in College, Now What? – Transitioning from High School to College

Based on my role as a college advisor, I use this forum to help High School students prepare for college-level studies, residency concerns and ways newly admitted college students can avoid academic probation and other common college life pitfalls.

Word and Art Therapy – Healing Our Selves Through Words and Imagery

This is a collaborative life coaching incentive with other interventionists who join me in helping youth and adults experience healing from emotional trauma through writing, photography, music, creative painting and other art forms. Participants aren’t required to be proficient but to engage in individua and group exercises. The goal of this workshop is to learn various non-traditional tools in healing the self from toxic thoughts and habits through poetry and journal writing, as well as sketching and painting, dance and theater, imagery and self-portraits, using all art forms to provoke becoming comfortable expressing our feelings with the objective of developing healthier thought and behavior patterns and ultimately a more fulfilling life.