Discovering Non-Violence
Lead-Up Guatemala workshops
Lead-Up has created a program to help at-risk youth discover their inner strength and become peaceful leaders who promote the wellbeing for their communities, the world and the environment. Youth learn to identify and control their emotions, feelings and thoughts; allowing conscious, non-aggressive decision making and leading to the development of peaceful leadership.
Lead-Up has scientific evidence of significant shifts in attitude and behavior towards non-violence, following participation in the Lead-Up program.
The participants, aged from 15 to 24, are welcomed into a compassionate and welcoming environment, far removed from the extreme adversity that they often experience in their daily lives.
Lead-Up's primary objectives are attitudinal and behavioral changes resulting in conscious decision-making, respectful and peaceful behavior towards others and the environment and the reduction of violence to solve inter-personal conflicts.
The core objectives of the Lead-Up workshops include:
To develop participant’s emotional regulation
To develop participant’s sense of empathy
To develop participant’s respect to nature and the environment
To develop participants’ ability to trust
To develop participants’ level of assertiveness
To develop participants’ sense of resilience
And with the ultimate objective:
To develop peaceful leadership
To develop a commitment towards social transformation and environmental sustainability
When the youth demonstrate calm and assertive leadership, particularly through the transformative experience of Join-UpⓇ the horses communicate their trust and respect via their inherent body language and communication and choose the youth as their leaders.
As a result of these mutually beneficial interactions with horses and specific exercises, that focus on mindfulness, non-verbal communication and emotional regulation the youth discover the power of Peaceful Leadership and develop psychosocial skills and values to become peaceful leaders in their own lives and communities.
These psychosocial skills and the overarching respect towards nature and the environment are transferable skills that will guide the youth in their new roles as peaceful leaders.
