Who We Help
Who We Help
With its campus located on the beautiful and serene Caribbean island of St. Lucia and programmes offered in Grenada and Trinidad, the Fransciscan Institute offers a quiet, peaceful retreat where people of all ages can come and relax, learn and grow.
We offer programmes for children, parents, teachers, professionals, religious communities and more, on topics such as development, relationships, conflict management, leadership training and more. We also offer spiritual retreats for singles, couples, families and groups who are looking to rejuvenate and reconnect.
We are itinerant: we will come to your organization, school or parish and conduct any of our workshops. This saves you time and money because it is on-site and allows your entire organization to participate without extra travel or other inconveniences.
We can also work with you collaboratively to develop a programme designed specifically for your needs that will help you create solutions.
Click on the tabs below to learn more details about our programmes for specific groups.
Schools/Students
Workshops for Students
Who Am I When No One is Looking:
This workshop is designed to empower students in developing a healthy self esteem and to help them understand the relationship between self confidence, competence and school success.
Understanding the ‘Changing’ Self and School Environment:
This workshop is designed to make the students aware of the various internal and external forces that shape the adolescent and influence their behaviour. It is structured to help the participants understand the transition from childhood into and through adolescence and the social changes in the environment that also impact on them.
Cold Stares and Warm Smiles:
This programme is designed to enable students to create within themselves and their school/community a way to a kinder, more cooperative culture. It will teach students how to turn ugly situations into opportunities for positive relationships. It is structured to show students how to tap into their inner power and wisdom to ease their conflict, talk out differences, stay calm, find common ground and create peace.
Getting Along with Difficult People and Situations:
As students interact with one another in the classroom, cafeteria, playground, bus and on the streets, conflicts are bound to arise. This is an expected and natural part of social interaction. Problems arise, though, when children are unable to resolve their conflicts peacefully, and more and more time is spent disciplining than teaching or learning. This programme is designed to teach students the necessary skills to become conflict managers. It will help students take responsibility for solving their problems while fostering respect for one another’s feelings and points of view.
Only Pretending to be Tough:
Bullying is an issue in all sections of our community. It is a form of social dominance. It is a negative way of gaining social acceptance. To truly prevent bullying, we must begin with educating students about bullying and provide them with the skills to manage such behaviours.
Being Young and Being Wise:
Targeted toward the youth population, this seminar is meant to equip participants with the skills of career planning, interviewing, resume writing and a general framework for success in life after formal schooling.
Sowing Seeds for Success:
This programme focuses on success in relationships, school, managing emotions and life. Students will develop communication skills, learn how to make a friend and be a friend, learn how to express emotions appropriately, build self-confidence and improve relationships. We seek to teach children to befriend themselves and learn practical coping skills. This workshop is for students, teachers and families.
Educators
Workshops for Teachers & Educators
Success Strategies for Teachers and Educators:
Designed for teachers and principals, the purpose of this seminar is to provide a unique focus on what transpires in the classroom and school community. The focus is on issues such as organization, discipline and behaviour management and many other skills for both teacher and student growth.
Communicating with Children:
This seminar seeks to inform participants about the developmental needs of children and examine the appropriate ways to communicate with children at the different development stages.
Sowing Seeds for Success:
This programme focuses on success in relationships, school, managing emotions and life. Students will develop communication skills, learn how to make a friend and be a friend, learn how to express emotions appropriately, build self-confidence and improve relationships. We seek to teach children to befriend themselves and learn practical coping skills. This workshop is for students, teachers and families.
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Workshops for Parents, Childcare Workers & Teachers
“De-Coding Sexual Con Games:”
Helping Children Recognize & Protect Themselves from Sexual Harassment and Abuse
Objectives:
– To teach children how to set appropriate healthy personal boundaries: to teach them to recognize “con language,” to teach them how to identify emotional grooming tactics and to teach them healthy ways to express feelings.
– To teach participants how to recognize the signs of abuse, teach them the difference between inappropriate and appropriate sexual behaviour and to help them understand the reasons why children don’t disclose. This empowers the participant to respond to disclosure appropriately.
In spite of parents’ best efforts to educate and protect their children and identify sexual abuse behaviour, sexual abuse can happen. This workshop is to help all those who care for children and care about children to be able to prevent the next incident from occurring.
Families
As a Congregation dedicated to service through healing, caring and teaching ministries and a community that always seeks to respond to the signs of the times, we have committed ourselves to the task of helping the Roman Catholic community strengthen families by helping parents transmit spiritual values to their children through the Institute’s activities.
One-Day Seminars for Families
A one-day retreat begins at 9:00am and ends at 3:00pm.
Restoring Family Values:
This seminar will teach ways to strengthen the family. At the end of this seminar, families will be able to define values, clarify their particular family values and idenfity positive and negative behaviors that are necessary to have or avoid in order to live these values. It also addresses practical ways to communicate these values to children of different ages/stages of growth.
Common Sense Parenting: (SEE FLYER BELOW)
Using your head as well as your heart to raise school-aged children. This programme empowers families and strengths society through courses to help parents communicate and build relationships with their children.
Weekend & Weeklong Family Workshops/Retreats
A weekend retreat begins on Friday at 7:00pm and ends with Sunday noon lunch.
Celebrating the Family Workshop:
What does family mean to you? Spend this weekend exploring the language of love in your family. Experience the expression of love through art, storytelling and adventure.
Family Healing Retreat:
This retreat is an opportunity to put the past behind you; to embrace forgiveness and start building authentic relationships with your self, spouse and children. What to expect: for a weekend or a week, your family will pray together, sing together and join in family-centered activities, such as role play or skits, to empower communication, facilitate forgiveness and nurture commitment.
Creating Memories by Living Values:
How to have a conversation with your teenagers – moving from “normal” to dialogue.
Called to the Vocation of Family Life:
Learn the qualities and skills for strengthening the family. Content includes spirituality, teaching, modeling values, conflict resolution and techniques of keeping families together.
Family Communication: Road Map for Relationships:
Learn speaking and listening skills, the art of dialogue, how to build relationships rather than breaking them down, honesty in communication, and the ability to respectfully and assertively discuss problems, hurt and pain.
Forgiveness in the Family:
For all family members
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Professionals
We offer a variety of training courses for professionals of many types.
Workshops for Parents, Childcare Workers & Teachers
Common Sense Parenting:
Using your head as well as your heart to raise school-aged children. This programme empowers families and strengths society through courses to help parents communicate and build relationships with their children.
“De-Coding Sexual Con Games:”
Helping Children Recognize & Protect Themselves from Sexual Harassment and Abuse
Objectives:
– To teach children how to set appropriate healthy personal boundaries: to teach them to recognize “con language,” to teach them how to identify emotional grooming tactics and to teach them healthy ways to express feelings.
– To teach participants how to recognize the signs of abuse, teach them the difference between inappropriate and appropriate sexual behaviour and to help them understand the reasons why children don’t disclose. This empowers the participant to respond to disclosure appropriately.
In spite of parents’ best efforts to educate and protect their children and identify sexual abuse behaviour, sexual abuse can happen. This workshop is to help all those who care for children and care about children to be able to prevent the next incident from occurring.
Workshops for Teachers & Educators
Success Strategies for Teachers and Educators:
The purpose of this seminar is to provide a unique focus on what transpires in the classroom and school community. The focus is on issues such as organization, discipline and behaviour management and many other skills for both teacher and student growth.
Workshops for Professional Counselors
Art Therapy:
Geared toward professional providers of mental and behavioural health services. This session explores how the art product is used in the therapeutic process.
Trauma Counseling:
Helping those who help children and adults affected by past traumatic experiences.
Helping those who help children and adults affected by past traumatic experiences.
Turning the Water into Wine:
This seminar is geared toward refocusing group leaders on the purpose of their ministry, inspire them to keep the flame alive, and to ignite the same in others. Participants will be trained in techniques of leadership, managing group dynamics and event planning.
Religious Communities
At the Franciscan Institute for Personal Family Development, we develop programmes to help other religious communities in a variety of ways.
We currently work with Conference of Religious of the Antilles (CRA), Family Life Commission Archdiocese of Port of Spain, Caribbean Conference of Churches and many religious congregations.
Seminars
Turning the Water into Wine:
This seminar is geared toward refocusing group leaders on the purpose of their ministry, inspire them to keep the flame alive, and to ignite the same in others. Participants will be trained in techniques of leadership, managing group dynamics and event planning.
We can also work with you collaboratively to develop a programme designed specifically for your needs that will help you create solutions.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
At the Franciscan Institute for Personal Family Development, we develop programmes to help NGOs in a variety of ways.
We currently work with The University of the West Indies, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of National Security, the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights and Justice, among other organizations, to help achieve our mission of creating a culture of peace.