What is ‘YES’

YES is dedicated to the empowerment of our youth. It is in response to a deep and painful cry amongst our young people, parents and the community.

One of the aims of Yes is to re-educate and de-mystify the experience of depression and helplessness amongst our young people. The aim is to blow up some commonly held views in our society and empower our kids with  tools, strategies and insights that will have them understanding why they feel the way they do and how they can change it.

Each person will learn that despite what is going on in their lives with the right tools, strategies, mindset and beliefs they can destroy old patterns of negative thought, emotions beliefs and experience and consciously create emotions that empower them to take actions and live more happily.

I have been fortunate enough to have worked with hundreds of people in my private practice and workshops over the last 10 years of my life teaching them this process of creating emotional and behavioural change. I have witnessed the pain and helplessness of many young people and their families and it is devastating.  It is now time to dedicate this knowledge to our children and young adults so that they too may become empowered and inspired to live great lives.

Teen depression is on the increase. So is anxiety, binge drinking, drug use, promiscuity, eating disorders, low self esteem the list goes on. Young people are feeling helpless. Research indicates that in Australia 30% of teens will experience depression, kids as young as 7 years old have eating disorders, and binge drinking accounts for 6% of all deaths amongst young people aged between 15-24 years, its worse stil for suicide. One in 4 males aged between 17 and 24 years suicides in Australia. That is unbelievable I had to stop and read that stat again. One in four. Imagine that, in a class of 30, one in four, that is 7 suicides. It’s a dark topic and nobody likes to address it, so we turn our backs and hope that it will go away. It won’t, I’m not kidding that kids are screaming for help so are their parents. Parents, teachers and many health professionals are all feeling helpless too. So what is the answer?

There is a solution and we can do something.

Understanding why we feel the way we do and learning how to change it, is the first step in empowering our youth. The tools and insights they will receive in this program will benefit their lives. FULL STOP. It will also improve their interpersonal relationships with parents, teachers, society and one another. It will improve their focus toward what is important to them. It will a sense of power and purpose. Increase leadership and compassion and co-operation. Increase there sense of certainty, allow them to grow and contribute to themselves and others in a significant way.

WHAT IS YES?

Yes is a strategic response program that will have young people understanding exactly how they create their emotional states and how to destroy old patterns of negative thinking and feeling. It teaches individuals how to access positive states consciously and consistently, so that they may become more empowered and resourceful individuals. This way each individual learns the tools required to lead the lives they want for themselves.

Having this insight allows them to re-evaluate their response to the world, and start living more intentionally, planning for and creating the life they truly desire. This program will equip our youth with the tools to face adversity and hardship when it occurs, rather than living in response to their emotional reactions.

YES teaches our youth how to access empowering emotions which allows them to create empowering lives. This means a reduction in depression, anxiety, helplessness, and the many other emotional and behavioural issues our kids face.

You are probably wondering how, how are we going to accomplish this goal?

First let me tell you a story.

A few years ago a gentleman called me, asking for my help. Clearly distressed and overwhelmed he explained how his daughter was depressed and needed help. He explained how she had severely mutilated herself needed hospitalisation, in fact she had done this 3 times this past week and twice the week before. Visits to hospital were becoming more frequent and he was scared that she would soon succeed and take her own life.

He told me that she was seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist and was on medication, he went on to explain that he felt that he had explored all his options, and he didn’t know what to do next. He went on to explain that his daughter had been diagnosed with a complex psychiatric disorder and the deeper he got into the story the more overwhelmed we both felt. He was asking for my help. “How could I help” I thought. Recognising the state of helplessness that was setting in, I took a step back and thought for a minute.

I help people change their behaviour, that’s it. There is a process to that, it’s not magic, there is a framework proven steps that work and I have done this for years.

So I decided I would help. I decided to put everything I had heard to the side and focuses only on helping this young girl change her behaviour. I spent two to three days with her. About 15 hours. At first she was unresponsive, totally disengaged. The first hour was the toughest but from then on I saw a girl who despite the grogginess of the drugs she was medicated on and the sleeplessness she was experiencing become engaged and inquisitive. She asked many questions BUT mostly why, why, WHY she wasn’t thought this? Why didn’t anyone tell her? She was engaged, she asked me if she could go get a note pad and wrote frantically for the most part of our time together. She understood, it was so simple and made complete sense. She decided to use everything she had learnt and applied it. 36 hours prior this girl had no idea what she wanted for her life, the question left her somewhat dumbfounded, and now she was engaged and told me exactly what she wanted. Better than that she knew how she was going to get it.

It has been two years since I have worked with this young lady. And I am happy to tell you that she has not self harmed since. In fact she tells me she is the happiest and most directed she has ever been. She is currently completing her second year at Uni, making plans to move out of home and travel. Michelle has come to not only understand her emotions but change her emotional response to the world.

What happened with Michelle seems magical, it’s not. There is a process, there is a framework, a strategy that she followed which allowed her to create these changes within herself.

If more kids had the tools that Michelle had, they too could learn to overcome difficult times and create the life they really want. With re-education and greater insights, powerful transformations can take place within our children.

I share with you this story because it inspires me and highlights an important point. If our kids were educated on this topic they would have happier more empowered lives…. the life they truly desire.

You see it’s very simple, I believe that if we all understood why we do what we do and how to change the way we feel, how to change our behaviour then we would all be happier more empowered people. Now imagine this becoming possible for our children.

The choice is ours; we are the voice that influences change for our kids. The YES program is that change. Enlighten our children give them the education, the empowerment and answers so many of them have been searching for.