The Circle of Courage resilience model will be the topic of a presentation by Dr. Martin Brokenleg on September 13, 2010, at Starr Commonwealth, Albion, Michigan. Martin is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Lakota tribe. We have attached a descriptive flyer which we hope you will accept as an invitation to join us at Starr.

 The Circle of Courage is based on four universal needs: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. The model integrates Native American traditions of child-rearing, the heritage of early pioneers in education and youth work, and contemporary resilience research. The Circle of Courage is described in his book, Reclaiming Youth at Risk, co-authored with Larry Brendtro and Steve Van Bockern, and has been well received worldwide.

 Are there discipline and management systems that work better than point or level systems?

This is in essence the question that comes from a practitioner and reclaiming youth advocate. He wrote, “I am writing because our program is currently on the cusp of a huge change. Over the years we have had a thoughtful point and level system. It has been tweaked every year. It was designed with the Circle of Courage and a strength-based vision in mind. However, the staff seems to use it more as a tool for control. What I really need is some back up experiences, data or literature that will support doing away with the current level system. The response has been that we can't 'experiment' on our kids.”

Readers, if you have experiences or data that address this question, we would love to hear from you. Send them to Reclaiming Youth International and we will share them in later e-newsletters.

Here is my (Steve Van Bockern’s) initial response to this person.

       We were fortunate to hear the life wisdom of four young adults who attended our Black Hills Conference, June 2010.   Consider what Richard and Riccardo had to say:

By: Azim Khamisa, RYI Board Member

www.AzimKhamisa.com

The work we do in healing and transforming challenging youth is not easy. It takes a high level of dedication, patience, and energy. While a lot has been written on various clinical cognitive therapies the role and effectiveness of spirituality is still in its infancy. The CANEI program that I co-founded with the National Youth Advocate Program (www.nyap.org) has three pillars: Spirituality, Restorative Justice, and Literacy. It is currently in its 9th year with presence in 8 cities showing amazing results. I believe that one of the main reason for this is we are working at the spiritual level. What does that mean?

Modern science would like us to think we are trillions of cells. All medicine then interferes with the chemistry of these cells to cure symptoms. However – every pill has negative side effects. I believe that there is a deeper dimension where healing is far more effective. I have coined the word “soulular” to describe this level. When you are energetically able to vibrate at a higher frequency there is a soulular shift that you create within yourself and the challenging youth. Once this soulular shift occurs – you are not the same. The transformation is permanent. I believe it rearranges your DNA and this is validated by Bruce Lipton’s book “The Biology of Belief”. I have seen this happen to me many times and also seen the impact it has on the many thousands of youth that I regularly interact with in schools, juvenile prisons as well as in the CANEI program.