Premise
Behind our programs is a Theory of Change that accounts for their success. It derives from certain givens:

• A social emotional learning (SEL) program provides personal, as opposed to academic learning.

• A SEL program is particularly effective if it engages youth creatively and emotionally. If it heightens their awareness and comfort in simply being.

• When this happens, what a youth learns can be integrated deeply into their life – a key to building greater resilience and well-being.

Program Methods
YouthExpress NM programs provide a distinctive approach to SEL. We plumb the singularly captivating subject of personal identity with methods that impact participants.

• We tap the power of attention and artistic expression.

• We tap the power of questions.

• We tap the power of story.

How do our methods work?

Attention and Artistic Expression
Our core program Identity in Ink begins by inviting youth to turn their attention inward to think about themselves as a person. This sounds simple, yet it’s challenging. So much in contemporary life pulls youth away from an inward focus. Smart phones and social media have exponentially increased this trend.

To engage youth in this first key step of turning inward, a poet mentor in an English or English Language Learner (ELL) class presents a spoken word or recited poem that addresses issues of identity. A mentor in an Art class presents a painting or a photograph that does the same. Whether it's words or images, these art works simultaneously focus attention and ignite interest in one's identity.

Mentors use the poetic or visual art work as a prompt for dialogue among students – What spoke to you in the work…what did you notice…what touched you? As a student responds to these questions, they begin a reflective inquiry that deepens as the intensive continues. At the same time, they notice what their peers are expressing – building new bonds of empathy and understanding between students.

Questions

Three core questions frame students’ inquiry:

• Where do I come from?

• Where am I going?

• What is a good life?

Mentors provide thought-provoking prompts for expressive writing and art making that focus and deepen the inquiry around each of these questions. The prompts lead students to discover the key forces that shape one’s identity: parents, family, friends, culture, finances, and one’s own choices. They identify obstacles, opportunities, and challenges.

Some examples of writing prompts:

• I come from…

• My father/mother spells love…

• My family name Rodriguez means…

• What I want you to know about me is…

• One thing I’ll never do again is…

• In 10 years I see myself....

Story

We consider story to be the most potent force in human life. We use it as a dynamic resource in our programs.

Mentors ask students to consider the possibility that the story they tell themselves about who they are, what they are capable of, whether the world is friendly or hostile, determines to a great extent the kind of life they will lead. Further, mentors invite youth to see that their life has its own narrative (story) and to a great degree, they can be the author of that narrative – free to make the most of whatever life has dealt them. In the same way a programmer creates the program that determines a computer's output. Youth realize anew that they possess the opportunity, and the responsibility, to shape their own life.

In our program Campfire Movie Night, a movie's story provides a shared emotional experience that energizes and opens the space for candid, heartfelt dialogue. The story holds wisdom. Youth unpack this wisdom in relation to their own lives. Often they gain new role models and are inspired to set new intentions.

YouthExpress NM engages youth in confrontation, reflection, and expression about who they are as a person.

It's a process that builds emotional clarity, confident, authentic voice, and creative vision – foundations of the resilience and well-being we strive for as program outcomes.

"Not everything that is confronted can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is confronted."

–James Baldwin