“This is new and it’s scary”
Hi, I wanted to introduce myself as a new team member with The EDGE program. My name is Jill and I was born and raised here in Tennessee and love working with children and youth of all ages. I just began my new and exciting journey with The EDGE on January 2, 2024. Young people have always held a special place in my heart, and I am so excited to be a part of The EDGE and your community, but I will admit that being new can be a little - or let’s be honest, a lot, scary.
I have worked with children, and especially teenagers, pretty much from my young adult life into now. It’s usually in the realm of youth ministry, so even though I am usually comfortable dealing with young people from many walks of life, I haven’t delved deeply into certain emotional and physical relationships that they deal with these days. And as many of us have experienced, even with all the one-on-one encounters with the teens you know, there will always be some uncertain and scary territory. Even the most involved parents or mentors might be a little hesitant to face. As I was hired for this new opportunity, I am experiencing that firsthand and would love to walk through some of those feelings together.
The week after we were hired, my new teammate and I had the amazing opportunity to attend 16 hours of intense training with the great facilitators from our REAL Essentials curriculum. I’ll admit, I walked in with a lot of fear thinking that I was going to be walking in and immediately be faced with awkward conversations about sex education. I actually walked in and, from the first to the last minute, I was in a place that was informative and educational, but also engaging, fun, and most of all, safe and protected. It was in that moment that I realized that this program is not about telling kids all about how sex works and begging them not to have it, but it is all about taking care of the whole student – body, mind, soul, and spirit – in establishing healthy relationships and goals to have the chance of the having a healthy and happy life. And teaching them that, sex, is just a small part that can come into play due to so many other circumstances in all of our lives.
As a new person to teaching some of this content, I was excited about the unique technique of us walking through the curriculum as the student, not the teacher. You know how people say that good bosses or managers won’t ask you to do something that they wouldn’t do themselves, this is exactly how this curriculum works. We did everything that our students would be asked to do, from the activities to the discussion, we were right there where the students would be. Also, we established safe norms and expectations before we ever began, so we always knew that if something was uncomfortable, we could address it immediately in a safe and confidential manner with respect from everyone in the room.
I know that I am just scratching the surface about this amazing training, not to mention an entire library of resources that we receive that is always being updated so it can be always current and relevant to help our students and their families; I just wanted to share my experience from a new person’s point of view as navigate through some of the more difficult areas in life with your teen - together. And before I leave, that is one very important word that I want to emphasize – TOGETHER! As educators with The EDGE, we want YOU to feel welcome, equipped, and involved. This is a program about relationships and the first and most important relationship is family, and we are not only aware of that, but we support that in every way. We aren’t here just to support your student while they are in school and then move on to the next class, we are here to continue support for all of you, all the time, and we offer so many ways to walk through this positive life journey that are so great for the whole family, and they are all free! So, if you have any questions about all of our family and individual opportunities, please feel free to reach out to us at mail@theedgeonlife.org or call us at 423-775-0019. We are here for YOU ALL and we look forward to continuing this journey with your family TOGETHER!
Thank you for walking through this new journey with me!
Blessings!
Jill