Forty educators are acquiring new skills to assist the Island's young people through the Arise programme this week.

The programme is being run at The Education Centre (TEC) and offers training to teachers from other schools as well.

The seminars are being conducted by Arise founders Susan and Edmund Benson and participants will be awarded the title 'Arise Certified Master Teachers'.

An awareness of how others feel is one of the most substantial results of the Arise Programme, TEC head Declan Harris said of the effect of the programme on students.

Since the programme was introduced last Spring at TEC, students have come a long way, he said, showing more willingness to speak their minds. There is also a distinct lack of bullying at the school now.

"At first the children were a little confused because they could speak their mind openly and freely in class," he said. "This was a little foreign to them, but in Arise the only constraints are that they remain positive, no profanity, no criticism of other students' thoughts or opinions no matter how far fetched they may think the other student's opinion is.

"After a few days they looked forward to it because they didn't look upon it as an academic or a laborious rote lesson. It was the discussion class.

"They felt as though it was non-threatening and got quite comfortable fast. In fact, the other students would bring new students up to speed. The older students may comment 'it's cool man, this is Arise, you can speak your mind'."

Arise founder Mr. Benson said the foundation's work sprung from an idea his wife had about how to make a difference to the lives young people. She felt he should share the lessons he learned from misbehaving as a young person and later turning his life around.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Benson were schoolteachers before founding Arise.

Once they came up with the idea for the foundation, they spent the next six months talking to incarcerated juveniles and adults.

They asked these individuals what they "needed" and the most common answer was assistance with anger management.

"What we have created is easy to teach and it is very, very important," Mr. Benson said.

When speaking about anger management, Arise stresses that anger shouldn't be the first response.

"Before you make a decision, make another choice to walk away or 'let's talk about it'," Mr. Benson said.

"It doesn't have to be a fist in the mouth."

Their work on the Island has been going well and Mr. Benson said of life skills instructor Lucinda Worrell Stowe, with whom they have been working: "She is the goddess of listening.

"She develops relationships with the kids and she shows them that they are real.

"Her heart is so much into this. Lucinda is really a goddess she is a blessing to have in someone's life. When kids think, 'who made an impression on me or how did I find the path', Lucinda is the person that put me on the right path."

Both she and Mr. Harris are making a tremendous difference in the lives of young people, he added. "They are the kids' dynamic duo! They are showing these kids that people believe in them."

And for the first time ever, the foundation is giving its Children's Champion Award to someone outside of the US — Mrs. Worrell Stowe.

"I don't think that it is hard work for her, it is just like a flower opening up and giving honey to all of these kids," Mr. Benson said. "It is just miraculous. She has turned them into sweet nectar. She has helped them to believe in themselves."

For more information on the Arise programme visit www.ariselife-skills.org or ring TEC on 296-9759.