Taking Charge®:
A Life Planning Partnership with At-Risk Youth
by Nancy J. Lavelle, Ph.D., and Nancy Cowardin, Ph.D.

Individual or group training as a mentor, or Linguistic Coach. Includes two hours of initial coaching and two hours of follow-up coaching, and detailed guides and workbooks for the mentor and youth.

Topics covered in Taking Charge®: A Life Planning Partnership with At-Risk Youth:

Workbook I: All About Me

Who am I? What is my life about? How do other people see me? What works well/doesn’t work well for me. What are my likes and dislikes? Who do I want to be? What do I need to learn?

Workbook II: My Concerns and Goals

What are my concerns? What are my choices and their consequences? What are my options in life? What do I want to do? To be? To accomplish? How do I turn my concerns into goals? What are the barriers to me reaching my goals? Who can support me?

Workbook III: My Personal Styles

What is my personal learning style? How do my personal learning styles impact my goals? What competencies do I have that will help me reach my goals? What new competencies do I want to gain to reach my goals?

Workbook IV: My Success Strategies

How can I build a network of support? Who can I talk to about my concerns/goals? Who do I support? What if people let me down? How can I make positive choices?

Workbook V: My Action Plan

Here is my summary of what I need to know, learn, strategies I already have, and strategies I need to develop. What steps do I need to take today, next week, next month, this year? Who will help me? Here are my requests for support from the following people.