Writing a list of ten things that are good about yourself sounds like a simple exercise on the surface. For an at risk teenager with low self-esteem who has heard nothing but negatives their entire life, it can be a real challenge.Writing a list of self-positives is just one of the many self-esteem boosting exercises that students in the ARISE programme at the Educational Centre on Roberts Avenue in Devonshire undertake.

ARISE is a life skills class that teaches everything from information about sexually transmitted diseases, to handling conflicts on the street to job interviews and attitude.

Some of the students at the Educational Centre have had brushes with the law or have been asked to leave their regular school due to behavioural problems. The school is often the last stop before the students hit the adult world.

Royal Gazette Lifestyle reporter Jessie Moniz recently sat in on an ARISE class taught by Lucinda Stowe. All the students in this particular class were working towards their General Education Diplomas (GEDS).

During the class students were attentive and plugged into what was being taught. They showed respect for Mrs. Stowe, who came across as a caring but no-nonsense teacher.

In her classroom she had posted a list of rules under the title, ‘Stowe Buns’.

1 Remain in your seat

2. Respect each other

3. No profanity

4. Keep arms to yourself

5. No name calling.

The lesson opened with a discussion about how a student in another class was being picked upon. Although no names were used, students immediately clued into who was being talked about.

“You need to try to lift each other up instead of holding each other down,” Mrs. Stowe told her students.

After talking about bullying, the topic moved on to employment.

“Say you just came out of the Co-Ed Correctional Facility, are you too good to pack groceries?” Mrs. Stowe asked the class. The class was divided. While one student wanted to hold out for something better, another student said they would take the grocery packing job, and maybe take a better job when it came along.

“I am asking you these things, because pretty soon you are going to be faced with these questions,” Mrs. Stowe said. “The real world is going to grab you and shake you.”

In the ARISE programme facilitators encourage dialogue and don’t pass judgement on what students tell them. Sometimes students’ comments warrant further discussion, and instructors will take them aside after class to talk through an issue privately.

“ARISE teaches you to say ‘I hear what you are saying, let’s talk after school about that,’” said Mrs. Stowe. “We are trying to empower these children all the time.”

Mrs. Stowe said many of ARISE’s lessons should have been taught around the dinner table.

“In this day and age children appear to be bringing up themselves,” she said.

Mrs. Stowe travelled to Florida to train for ARISE. The course was started in 1986 by a Miami, Florida couple, Edmund and Susan Benson. Mr. Benson was himself an at risk child. He became a social worker, and eventually, a very successful businessman. The Bensons have written over 100 books and pamphlets, included textbooks for the programme and an instructors’ manual.

Today, more than 4,000 instructors have been trained in ARISE, and it is estimated that half a million at risk young people have been helped.

“The ARISE Foundation is a non-profit organisation,” said Mrs. Stowe. “They are not even looking for money. They make up the books for you. If you had 20 people and could only afford to buy the books for 15, they will find a way to get you the extra five books.”

Mrs. Stowe said that students enjoy the ARISE programme, because at the end of the day, they always know there will be something positive said about them. For many of the students, this is no small thing.

“I go to meetings with some students’ teachers when a student has been asked to leave their regular secondary school,” Mrs. Stowe said. “Often the teachers have nothing good to say about these kids. Imagine how it is to never hear anything good said about you. Of course you are going to believe that you are bad and disruptive.

“During our class you could see the kids listening. This is a non-threatening environment. We tell them there is nothing they can’t do. They feel really comfortable.”

Mrs. Stowe said the goal wasn’t to save the students, but to get them to save themselves.

“You can’t save everybody,” she said, “but you can empower them.”

She said educators at the school often don’t know how well their students have done until at least two or three years after they leave.

But she said all of the students in the class stood a good chance of passing their GED exams.

ARISE is being taught at other places in Bermuda including The Sunshine League Children’s Home.

“You could teach this in an after-school programme, wherever there are children,” said Mrs. Stowe. “You tell me what child isn’t at risk. Your child is at risk just walking outside and mingling with other people’s children. Does peer pressure get in and change your child? You think, I know my child wouldn’t do that. The reality is something different.”

The Educational Centre is looking for more volunteers to undergo training and help with their programmes.

“We have to stop this madness and figure out what works,” said Mrs. Stowe.

ARISE programme: Students learn how to live