Somehow, over the last year or so, Skills for Living has grown into a legitimate community.

I started this organization 5 years ago out of my car. I drove from home to home on the South Shore, teaching individual kids the basics of social skills. When I had enough like-minded kids, I’d toss them together into a group and we’d meet at the playground… or bowling alley… or mall.

About this time last year, Rob and I decided to rent the little office on Grove Street- and things just kind of went nuts. I had more kids than we had time in a week. I had energetic parents with terrific ideas for programming. I had professionals who were interested in working with me.

I was suddenly a “we…” a team, a community.

Over the course of the next week or so, I will be taking the time to profile each of our fantastic team members. We come from a variety of professional backgrounds, but share a commitment to helping kids and families achieve social success and understanding.

It is so much fun to be part of a team again. It was lonely out there on my own!

Hanging out with people from all over the country who understand, care about, and believe in the same things… and who challenge my practice and thinking.

Michelle Garcia Winner and our mentoring team. SO much fun.

On Thursday, I will come home a better social educator. I can’t wait to get back to implement all I am learning.

Some random streams of thought after spending my first day in the Social Thinking clinic…

-There is a lot Skills for Living is doing right, intuitively.

-Watching one of my mentors work, live, is the most energizing way to learn.

-While there are some tweaks I’ll make to our programming at Skills for Living after spending time at Social Thinking, there are a lot of things I will keep exactly the way they are. One thing I will not change is the community feel to Skills for Living. I think it is what makes us special. Kids and families come to learn, but they also come to be a part of something… to belong.

-Tricky kids are tough for even the best and brightest professionals… because tricky kids are… tricky.

-I need to build in time for parents to learn about what their kids are learning about.

-Helping kids recognize that their behavior leads to “likely” behaviors in others- LOVE this lesson taught by Stephanie Madrigal.

-Superflex is an evolving curriculum, and it’s OK- and encouraged- to use it in our own way (Good- because I have been!).

-This is important work that we do. It’s slow, messy, and often not “scientific enough,” but it’s important.

Off to Day 2.

I am in San Jose, CA this week, studying in a very small group at Michelle Garcia Winner’sSocial Thinking clinic.

My plan is to fill my brain with as much fabulous as possible, then bring it home to Skills for Living.

I am about to walk out of my hotel and over to Social Thinking. I am so nervous, I might throw up. It is also raining and I forgot an umbrella.

Do you think walking through the door barfing with crazy hair will give anyone a red thought?

I’ll post later on tonight… good stuff coming.

I could hardly wait to share the news with my Wednesday night teen group.

“You guys! We’re doing it! We’re moving Skills for Living to a new space!”

Patrick, as expected, was excited and began making plans. Jessie, up for anything, smiled and said, “That’s great!”

The other seven kids just kind of looked at me.

“Um, HELLO… we’re going to have ten times as much space- including a gym to play volleyball in…”

“I hate volleyball,” Elise said.

“Yeah,” agreed Camden. “We like it here.”

“Here?” I asked,  baffled by the underwhelming reactions. “Are you kidding me? You are piled on top of each other! There’s  no room!”

They offered a collective shrug.

The more we talked, the more I realized just how much these kids dislike change… even really positive change. It also came bubbling up, that just like any human being, teenagers are incredibly self-focused in their worries.

• They worried about me not needing them to work as mentors anymore.
• They were concerned that the new place would cost too much, and we’d never have pizza again.
• They asked anxiously about letting new kids into the group.
• They wondered if those new kids being unkind to them.

Once I was able to reassure them that things will be pretty much the same- we’ll even paint their room the same colors- the worry started to slip away, and the were showing me ideas for the new space… mostly generated from an MTV show called Fantasy Factory. 

When it comes to change, we simply can not underestimate the amount of worry kids attach to themselves. Even big kids, even happy change. Even when we, the adults, know the change will be for the better.

I guess it’s our job to just help bridge them through it.