Youth and Teen Programs

Workshop Overview

The Youth Encounters programs were established to meet the needs of children of military families. Youth Encounters are open to youth ages 6-17. (Please note that some programs are age specific.) Encounters are organized and designed by ONE Freedom staff, are taught by trained professionals, and include adjunctive empowering weekend adventures offered by local organizations.

When a soldier goes to war, a family goes to war. ONE Freedom creates a bridge between the service member's experiences of war and their way back home, which means finding a way to re-define oneself in relation to spouses, parents, siblings, friends, and children. This re-definition process is enhanced when the spouse and children of a veteran or soldier understand and can support the overall shifts that occur upon homecoming and/or redeployment.

Youth Encounters look at how external changes affect internal family dynamics — identity shifts, family unification, loss and grief, sibling support, impacts of stress — and to explore and establish skills for self-care, positive stress release, and living in community versus retreating into isolation. We build on the idea that all children and young adults have a deep, instinctual motivation to make their world a better place. It is this inherent strength that we base our Youth Encounters on. Children will be treated as educated, valuable, empowered and innovative family members.

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Upcoming Programs

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Veteran and Family Programs