PROGRAMS: PRACTICAL

An internationally acclaimed, award winning multi-level career training program designed to teach young people how to build character, resolve conflict and create peace.

What Is Our General Intent?

To provide a multi-level career-training program where participants develop the ability to conduct MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills™ programs worldwide - programs that help young people:

• Learn to understand, resolve and deescalate the bully/victim cycle
• Learn a comprehensive Life Skills Program
• Develop excellent character-development skills
• Learn how to resolve conflict peacefully
• Reduce stress by providing positive outlets
• Build physical strength, flexibility and agility
• Understand the importance of healthy living
• Train in a safe environment to protect themselves
• Recognize the value of community service
• Improve academic performance

 Basic Format/Process:

Through the creative use of specially designed mental and physical activities, stories and games children can be taught life skills that will enable them to understand and cope with the increasing challenges of our society in the 21st Century.  The curriculum used use this process that include role-playing, games, puppets and a specially designed martial arts system of responsible self-defense skills help young people to better understand the world they live in.  Children learn through play.  It is their medium to be able to learn about the world we live in.  Too often we adults dismiss play as not being serious, as being frivolous.  Yet this is how children learn. Play for them is a serious business yet it is fun.  Play can also be a healthy way for young people to express their emotions in a safe and controlled environment.

 

What Levels of Career Training Would Be Possible?

The main goal of this program is to give the trainee the possibility to operate a summer program or one that goes year round after school where one would be able to teach young people our peace educating programs on an on-going, long-term basis at a physical site and location of one’s choosing.  The majority of what is stated in this brochure is geared towards this intent.  But there are other possibilities available beyond a summer or after school program.  And these could be:

Criminal Justice - At Risk Youth: Working with at-risk can be a very rewarding career.  Dr. Webster-Doyle’s bullying program is being used in numerous places in the USA and in Canada especially in Nova Scotia with much success.  His latest program MAP S.T.A.R.S. Youth-At-Risk™ program has been developed to more accurately meet the needs of these special youth. This program is based on Biocognetic Education™ – The Scientific Study of Human Conflict created by Conditioned Thinking and Martial Arts for Peace™, which includes teaching specific mental and physical skills, within a safe and controlled environment, to educate young people in the awareness, resolution and management of conflict through non-violent means so they can experience a reduction in emotional and physical impulsivity. The fundamental intent of this program is to stop conflict at the primary prevention level but also at the secondary and tertiary level and to learn from youth who are at risk as well as identified as problematic behaviorally.  A potential trainee would need to supplement his or her training with the appropriate courses of study related to the field of Criminal Justice

Community Centers:  One could initiate and run our program in this type of facility.  This program originally started in such a facility in California in 1980.  In this way one doesn’t need the financial or marketing skills necessary to operate the program as they would if one operated a summer school or after school program of their own.  For some people this is a better option in that they have less responsibility in the administration of the program and therefore will have more time available to teach.  In other words, not everyone is suited to operate a full time facility and would rather let someone else do that part.

Counseling:  This program can be adapted for a counseling career in that it has elements that can be utilized in a therapeutic environment whether within a public or private school or in private practice.  Again, one would need to supplement this program with the appropriate courses that lead to a counseling degree.

Class Room Teacher: Similar to the career choice in counseling a classroom teacher can utilize segments from this program to complement their existing educational curricula.  This career choice can be for the new teacher or for one who has been teaching for some time.

Home Schooling:  As with the conventional teacher above a home schooling educator could utilize this program with their children at home to teach them life skills, character development and conflict education.

Law Enforcement:  This program could be a useful complement to a career in law enforcement.  Many law enforcement personnel have to work with young people in the prevention of conflict and violent behavior. For example, the Halifax Police department in Nova Scotia is using our program working along with the Youth-At-Risk organizations in their area.

Mediation: A possible career opportunity in the field of mediation could utilize some of the basics tenets of this program to enhance their work with young people and adults who are in the need of learning to understand and resolve conflict peacefully.  Again, as with the other career opportunities mentioned above additional courses of study would be necessary to create a full compliment of skills necessary to deal with young people in these types of situations.

Summer Camp Director:  Summer time is an especially good occasion to do this program for parents are looking for a comprehensive program that can be taught each day over an extended period of time.  This affords one the luxury to go into depth into the more complex issues of conflict education and life skills/character development in a cohesive developmental process with little interruption of the learning process.  This allows for a better retention for the young person’s natural educational progression.

Workshop Presenter/Trainer: There is a career opportunity in being a Workshop Presenter/Trainer where one is paid to present this program to educators, counselors, school administrators, law enforcement, business personnel and the like who are interested in implementing these skills into their occupational environments.  This level would necessitate training beyond being a teacher of the program. 

Why Is It Important To Have A Quality Life Skills Development Program for Young People?

In our fast pace, high stress competitive world young people need a safe place where they can have the leisure to explore themselves and the world around them.  The intent of conventional education is to teach academic skills to prepare young people vocationally.  But young people also need a host of day-to-day life skills other than academics to be able to successfully cope with the challenges of living. In an atmosphere of friendship young people need to be allowed to inquire into the essential questions of what it means to live with intelligence, to create healthy guidelines for their behavior and to be able to understand and resolve conflict peacefully.  Such is the intent of the MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills™ Program.

How Is this Program Different from Other Programs?

Over 40 years in the making this unique program combines the essential principles from education, psychology and the martial arts to create this unique program.  In the MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills™ Program we provide a Character Development component of personal, social and coping life skills that will help them to better handle the challenges of everyday living, one that teaches them compassionate and sensitive universal values to act with kindness and sincerity in today’s world.  Our Conflict Education Program is a balance of intelligent “mental self-defense skills” and humane and responsible physical self-defense skills – both needed, as two parts of a whole process to help young people understand and resolve conflict peacefully. The physical self-defense component is a developmentally sound, biomechnically correct, age and situation appropriate, nonlethal defensive set of physical skills called S.O.S.™ Safe Options Self-Defense. 

What Recognition Do Our Programs/Resources Have? (To name only a few)

• Selected by the National PTA (Parent Teachers Association)
• Endorsed by Scouting Magazine – Boy and Girl Scouts of America
• Endorsed by Sports Illustrated for Kids
• Approved by the New York City Board of Education
• Endorsed by the National Education Association (NEA)
• Endorsed by Mothering Magazine
• Awarded the Robert Burns Medal for literature by Austria's Albert Schweitzer Society for “outstanding merits in the field of peace-promotion.”
• Nine-time winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing in six consecutive years

The Format of the MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills™ Program:

Core Courses - Classic Classes - Practical Projects

One of the reasons we are excited about our new program is that it helps young people develop on both personal and social levels which contributes to their achieving strong coping life skills in tough situations. 

All of the courses, classes and projects below (a partial list) are developmentally placed in the framework of personal, social and coping life skills

Core Courses
Character Development
Conflict Education

Classical Classes
Rights and Responsibilities
Leadership Training
Stranger Awareness
Manners/Code of Conduct

Practical Projects
Watching Television Intelligently
Making Friends
Cleaning Your Room
Managing Money and Time
Parent-Child-Family Relationships

What Methodology Do We Use in the Character Development Program?

Introductory Level of the Character Development Program:

• The Character for Kids Kit™

The Advanced Level of the Character Development Program:

• Courtesy:  Being Well-Mannered and Considerate
• Gentleness:  Living with Affection and Compassion
• Honesty:  Being Truthful
• Humility:  Acting Without Self-Importance
• Intelligence:  Understanding What Prevents Peace
• Kindness: Caring for Others, as You Would Like to Be Cared For
• Order:  Being Aware of What Creates Disorder
• Responsibility: Meeting Life’s Challenges with a Brave Spirit
• Wisdom:  Living Without Fear
• Compassion: Consideration and sensitivity for another’s well being
• Courage and Commitment:  Fighting Injustice
• Respect:  Honoring the Dignity of All Life

What Methodology Do We Use in the Conflict Education Program? 

The approach is a holistic three-level system called The ABC of Conflict Education™. The three levels are: Avoid - Bargain - Control.  Each level helps young people keep from being bullied, in the following ways:

Avoid:  By simply understanding what causes people to bully in the way they have been conditioned to think, a young person can prevent conflict from arising.

Bargain: Through the use of verbal Mental Self-Defense™ skills, a young person can learn to use words instead of fists to resolve a bullying situation.

Control:  A young person who learns how to handle hurt feelings in a positive way is less likely to react in overly aggressive ways when hassled by a bully and more likely to maintain control. It also helps them to Control a potential situation by having the confidence gained through learning responsible self-defense skills so they don’t react unnecessarily in a freeze/ fight or flight manner.

Developing one’s level of understanding, learning verbal mental self-defense skills, and becoming wise in ways to handle hurt feelings all lead to an increase in self-confidence.  This sense of self-assurance keeps young people from “freezing, fighting or fleeing” in tough situations and leads to their learning to think quickly and efficiently when necessary

The Introductory Level Conflict Education Program:  The Bully Buster System™

Advanced Level Conflict Education Program: Eight Stages of Bullying*

1. Why Do We Bully?  When we can understand the causes of bullying - that is rooted in the way we think - we can prevent it.
2. Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Me?  When a bully finds a victim to torment,
   there are always reasons.  A victim benefits from knowing the answer to this question
   and to how a bully thinks.
3. Why Am I Always Picking On Myself?   Each of us has an “inner bully” –an inner
   voice that nags us, intimidates us.  This is where bullying continues after one has been
   personally picked on by another person.  The “outer” bully may be gone but we continue it
   on in our own in our brains creating and “inner” bully” that continues to harass us.
4. Why Can’t I Do What I Want?  Young people need to learn that for every right there is a corresponding responsibility.  Leaning this makes for a balanced frame of mind in one’s relationship to others and the world.
5. Why Is Everybody Always Picking On Us? When we learn to hate and fear because someone else is different then we are caught in prejudice.  Whether it is the color of one’s skin, nationality, age, disability, gender or religion it only creates pain and suffering.
6. Why Are We Always Letting the Bullies Pick On Them?   Bystanders often don’t want to stop a bully situation.  Many times they encourage it. But a peacefully skilled bystander can be powerful and resourceful in stopping a bullying incident.
7. Why Are They Always Getting Picked On?  Youth-at-risk are bullied by fellow youth and by adults.  Understanding how and why they are picked on – by the youth themselves as well as parents and teachers – can lead to helping these young people lead more healthy lives.
8. Why Are We Always Picking On Each Other? Wars break out because one group of people bullies another.  It is vitally important to understand how and where this bullying begins in childhood so we can begin to end it on the playground before it gets to the battlefield.

What Methodology Do We Use in the Life Skills Program?

Personal Skills – How Do I See Myself?

• How Do I Stay Neat and Healthy?
  Good Grooming and Physical Needs
• What Does It Take to Feel Good About Myself?
  Emotional Needs
• Am I Creative?  Am I Smart?
  Creative and Intellectual Needs
• What Does It Mean to Be a Friend?
  Manners and Relational Needs

Social Skills – How Do I Relate to People?

• Am I Programmed to Act in Certain Ways?
  Conditioning Makes Us Creatures of Habit
• How Good Am I at Resolving Differences? .               
  Disagreements and Conflicts
• What Part Do I Play in My Family?
  Parent-Child-Family Relationships
• What Does It Mean to Be a Good Friend?
  Companionship Skills

Coping Skills – How Do I Relate to the World?

• Does Every Privilege Have a Responsibility?
  Human Rights and Responsibilities
• Is Everything We’re Told by “Experts” True?.
  Intelligent Media Reaction and TV Watching
• Why Should I Know About Time and Money? 
  Time and Money Management
• Do We Need Boundaries for Our Behavior?
  Understanding the Law

Supplemental Career Training Skills for this Level of the Program: Levels of Educational Approach

The program offers a multi-level educational approach – three levels.  While we prefer that participants experience all levels, the program allows consideration for previous experience. 

If a potential teacher already has many of the skills and experience of Level One and/or Level Two from previous practice, then he or she may advance to a higher level after passing an interview process that demonstrates the candidate’s understanding of the necessary skills required to enter at a more advanced level.

• Level One: Apprentice
  A young apprentice may get on track by assisting a Certified Teacher in various parts of the program.  This could include teaching from the curriculum at a beginner’s level and working with participants on physical components, particularly the repetition of forms.
• Level Two: Assistant Instructor
  Level Two allows the apprentice to take on more responsibilities in the teaching of participants.  He or she could assist the Certified Teacher by working with beginner students individually, to orientate them to the overall intent of the program.
• Level Three: Certified Teacher
  Individuals who achieve Level Three are those who have the skills to independently teach the program in their community.  These teachers will need supplementary updated training from Youth Peace Literacy teacher trainers annually.

Certification as a MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills™ Teacher/Trainer

Upon completion of the training program, a participant will be certified as a MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills Teacher™.  A graduate-level training program is available for those who want to attain the level of MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills Trainer™ to train others in the program.

Benefits Beyond Those Expected

Non-Profit Franchise.  There are extra benefits that can result from a program like this.  For one, it could become a model for a “non-profit franchise.”  The people involved could receive many benefits that this type of organizational model gives them, and more.  For example, the “graduates” and future business “owners” could form an advisory board in their communities, and give back, not only to the source that helped them in the first place, but also to others within the community. 

An Outreach Program:  Graduates of this program could also act as MAP S.T.A.R.S. Life Skills Ambassadors™” by assisting others to develop these programs nationally, and eventually internationally, through an outreach program.

The Main Career Opportunity That Can Enhance Your Economic Security

After School Care  (USA):

The Market Condition: After-school care is in demand and, nationally, there is a critically short supply. Demand exceeds supply at least two-fold and probably more. As a direct result of the lack of supervised programs available to children, national organizations, such as Fight Crime, have identified the hours between 3pm and 6pm as the highest risk period for juvenile crime.  It is estimated that more than 70% of working parents (single parents and nuclear families) require after-school care for their children.

What is available today from private child-care providers is basic care that generally lacks structure and age-specific activities because the market for infant and pre-school care is lumped together with the after-school care market. This is a direct result of a supply-driven market that creates little or no incentive for providers to offer programs of excellence.  So even though every state has a federal subsidy to help lower-income working families afford after-school care — there is no incentive to make this care first-rate.

The Financial and Good-Turn Opportunity:  Financial success can be achieved by providing one important service: quality after-school care. Unless subsidized by the state, most parents have to pay up to $100 per week for their children to attend an after-school program.  Most of these programs do nothing more than entertain kids with sport activities that serve as “filler.”  In other words, they “fill up” the three to four hours per day that young people are required to be present. 

Our program includes a full schedule of life skills classes, plus responsible martial arts skills — there is even time for tutoring and homework.  There is considerable market opportunity in offering a structured program of excellence that offers after-school care as well as essential life skills and academic support. This unique program has attained proven positive results in its classes on conflict education and character development.  Children have changed — and always for the better.

State Licensing (USA) State licensing requirements vary from state to state, but they are usually required in order to receive Federal monies and to help children from lower socio-economic situations.

Transportation (USA) Schools generally provide transportation to the facility in the community. If there is a need to reach beyond the immediate community to get the program up to critical mass, vans equipped with “teacher/drivers” can be utilized.

What Does the Program Cost?

While program costs and profits can vary widely, depending on locale and transportation needs, the pricing structure needs to be competitive with other after-care providers.

* This aspect of the training encompasses the full spectrum of the bully/victim cycle – from the playground to the battlefield.  This holistic program is necessary for all youth in understanding the relationship between their individual behavior and what occurs in society.  In other words, we are the world and the world is us.  Too often young people do not see this connection, seeing only the effects of what they do in their own limited perspective.  Teaching them this all-inclusive and far-reaching program allows them to see the effect that they have on society as a whole and therefore can bring about a mature understanding of one’s relationship to the whole, to the world-at-large.

This unique comprehensive program is vitally important to comprehend if we want to understand how the factors that create bullying on the playground can lead to the extreme of war.  The nature and structure of conflict is essentially one whole movement whether it is with a bully terrorizing children at school or a terrorist bullying people through acts of violence in their cities.  Realizing this one sees the urgency to teach this holistic perspective to young people before they have been conditioned to act in ways that create conflict. 

Once one has been conditioned to behavior that engenders conflict it is all too often an inevitable step to carry that violent behavior into adult hood in domestic and other forms of individual and social violence.  In other words, this all-inclusive program not only demonstrates how the initial bullying behavior starting in childhood can lead to adult bullying but also how they are all related to a single fundamental root cause – conditioned thinking – and how this type of thinking stimulates the emotional and fight or flight centers of the brain thus compounding the initial impulse instigated by thought that is based on a self-defeating, self-destructive understanding of  how to relate to others.