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COMING OF AGE
Middle school marks a critical period in a young person’s development. During this time, youth leave the dependence of childhood to take their first steps on the road toward adulthood. SSP creates a much needed support system, for youth and their parents, providing opportunities to more deeply explore this important transition. |
How does SSP hold 'Coming of Age'?
Our unique program offers long term mentoring, contemporary rites of passage, nature connection & family support.
In the 21st century Bay Area, Stepping Stones offers today’s youth a contemporary coming of age experience, starting in pre-adolescence and culminating during the teen years/9th Grade. Conscious mentoring calls in the need to develop and recognize this true self rather than just letting it happen. The long-term nature of the group helps to develop confidence, self-esteem, and the capacity to engage in meaningful relationships with peers, family, community, and nature.
Stepping Stones is committed to guarding a space for youth to play freely, make mistakes, and develop a true sense of 'self', friendship, and spirituality. SSP prepares youth to make healthy choices and have positive experiences in high school, and lays the foundation for them to ultimately cross the threshold of initiation into adulthood.
The program offers an opportunity for youth to explore themselves within the contexts of spirit, psyche, culture, biology and nature. The curriculum provides the four elements traditional cultures saw as key to preparing for adolescence:
Under the guidance of two Stepping Stones Leaders, a group of 8 youth meet regularly through their middle school years and often into high school. Our groups are historically same grade, same gender, similar geography/location, and are offered independent of schools in evening hours. (Read Program Details)
Many SSP families decide to continue on through high school due to the unique and valuable support youth receive from their group. Since its inception in 2002, SSP has served over 700 families throughout the Bay Area and is the only intergenerational long-term mentoring program of its kind.
Stepping Stones is committed to guarding a space for youth to play freely, make mistakes, and develop a true sense of 'self', friendship, and spirituality. SSP prepares youth to make healthy choices and have positive experiences in high school, and lays the foundation for them to ultimately cross the threshold of initiation into adulthood.
The program offers an opportunity for youth to explore themselves within the contexts of spirit, psyche, culture, biology and nature. The curriculum provides the four elements traditional cultures saw as key to preparing for adolescence:
- mentoring by a non-parent
- positive sense of authentic self within a group
- grounded relationship with nature
- personal code of honor
Under the guidance of two Stepping Stones Leaders, a group of 8 youth meet regularly through their middle school years and often into high school. Our groups are historically same grade, same gender, similar geography/location, and are offered independent of schools in evening hours. (Read Program Details)
Many SSP families decide to continue on through high school due to the unique and valuable support youth receive from their group. Since its inception in 2002, SSP has served over 700 families throughout the Bay Area and is the only intergenerational long-term mentoring program of its kind.
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“The longing for initiation is universal and for modern youth, it is a desperate need. When nothing is offered in the way of spiritual initiation to prove one’s entry into the world of men and women, initiation happens instead in the road or the street, in cars at high speed, with drugs, with dangerous sex, with weapons. However troubling, this behavior is rooted in a fundamental truth: a need to grow.” |
What is going on for youth at this time?
The fundamental task for youth at this time is to develop a self that is both authentic and socially acceptable.
A child’s “me”-centered perspective broadens to include relationships with self, family, peers, community and environment. An adolescent's center of gravity naturally shifts from the nuclear family toward peers and society for reflections of self and relationships. This shift combines with the highly scheduled pursuit of "success" that permeates these times to thwart the essential process of identity exploration. This fierce attention to upward mobility and professionalization of play leaves little time for the development of an authentic self or core values, which will serve to guide them throughout their lives.
Young people are also, consciously or unconsciously, taking their first steps toward fulfilling the universal need for initiation. Along the path to maturity, youth experience the need to form tribes, mark themselves, and flirt with danger. Without guidance in this process, they will self-initiate — tribes become cliques and gangs, marking becomes a private culture of symbols through fashion and technology, experiencing danger becomes high risk behavior.
Studies show pre-adolescent and adolescent youth, even and perhaps especially youth in more affluent families, are likely to engage in substance abuse, nonconsensual sexual encounters, self-harm, and other risky behaviors. Their sense of well-being and self-worth becomes dependent on approval from others and conditions outside themselves. Under the pressures of high expectations in academics and a general climate of competition, youth experience a growing disconnection from those around them.
Young people are also, consciously or unconsciously, taking their first steps toward fulfilling the universal need for initiation. Along the path to maturity, youth experience the need to form tribes, mark themselves, and flirt with danger. Without guidance in this process, they will self-initiate — tribes become cliques and gangs, marking becomes a private culture of symbols through fashion and technology, experiencing danger becomes high risk behavior.
Studies show pre-adolescent and adolescent youth, even and perhaps especially youth in more affluent families, are likely to engage in substance abuse, nonconsensual sexual encounters, self-harm, and other risky behaviors. Their sense of well-being and self-worth becomes dependent on approval from others and conditions outside themselves. Under the pressures of high expectations in academics and a general climate of competition, youth experience a growing disconnection from those around them.
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What are some of SSP's core values?
Our core values find distinct expression through the different Quarters of each group. We explore these through games, rituals, activities and practices.
Our core values find distinct expression through the different Quarters of each group. We explore these through games, rituals, activities and practices.
Key Relationships Explored in SSP:
Relationship to CULTURE:
Relationship to NATURE:
Relationship to SELF:
Core Values Explored In Cycles:
Relationship to CULTURE:
- Family
- Friends
- School
- Media/Technology/Arts/Sports
- Groups
- Core Interests
Relationship to NATURE:
- Nature Skills & Activities
- Nature Connection
- Awareness of the Elements
Relationship to SELF:
- Activities
- Self-Esteem & Mindset
- Edges
Core Values Explored In Cycles:
- Living Your Story - full participation in life
- Belonging & Love - finding home within and without
- Authenticity & Self-Understanding - learning to be real
- Connection to Nature - relationship with the elements
- Rituals & Thresholds - embody values and learning
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"As we went through the opening ritual with the parent group for my 6th grade daughter, I thought about my two sons who went through the program... I knew in the fabric of my being that this was the greatest gift my children can experience growing up. I think it is rare for our kids to be truly witnessed, truly known and so completely engaged by those outside of the family during the most crucial time in their lives." |
Check out Program Details for video highlights, info on group structure, meeting content/calendar and what we do when we meet. Visit the Youth Portal for language and pictures to share with your child, Tuition for financial details, & Testimonials to hear youth, parents and the community voices.
