Staff at the Sunshine League Children?s Home are becoming certified as life skills instructors to better serve their residents. And there are plans to extend the training to other community service providers.

Judith Burch, supervisor at the home for displaced youth, recently completed a course as a life skills trainer with the respected Miami-based Arise Foundation.

?It was an intensive programme and the information will be useful to anyone or any group that interact with young people,? she said.

The programme comes from the view that no one is born with an understanding of what is expected of him or her in society ? that the acceptable and expected behaviours are learned or taught.

The day-long intensive programme details how to engage students through interactive group discussions. It covers anger management, substance abuse and almost every conceivable issue young people face.

The programme boasts success with juvenile offenders in Florida making them socially responsible individuals.

It features 260 lessons that Ms Burch says will be taught once a week for Sunshine League residents. Each hour-long session can stand on its own so that participation is open to everyone at all times. Ms Burch said that the programme encourages the youth to voice their opinions and fosters an environment where their views are respected.

?Students are not preached to in this method,? she said. ?They get involved and learn from each other.?

Last month Ms Burch and her colleague Lucinda Worrell-Stowe trained ten of the 18 Sunshine League staff. Ms Burch said details of extending the training are still being worked out.

She and Ms Worrell-Stowe are hoping to offer it to teachers just before school resumes in September and to the larger community after that.