Events, travel, conferences…AND training?

Phones ringing, endless meetings, and evening events…it’s our busiest time of year at the BYTE office! Whitehorse Outreach Coordinator Allison Furniss and Community Outreach Coordinator Tanyss Knowles have been booking up fast with workshops, conferences, and tours that will keep them running for the next few months. That also means we’ll be calling on the help of our facilitation team more often, and when we do that, we want to make sure everyone’s feeling comfortable and confident delivering our workshop topics.

That’s why, amidst all of our Battle of the Bands wrap-up and Leaders In Training Conference planning, we’ve also been organizing training sessions for ourselves, for facilitators, and other Yukon youth workers.

Last Thursday, we offered a consent-training workshop to youth workers, teachers, and interested public at Rah Rah Gallery. Scott Carlson, former BYTE-er and current project coordinator for the Engaging Yukon Men and Boys In Ending Violence Against Women project, delivered a consent workshop that he’s been working on for years, then offered insights on how to facilitate the topic to youth. Participants got to experience the workshop as it’s delivered to young people, then discuss how to effectively deal with the responses and questions we often experience with youth. The workshop causes participants to challenge stereotypes and assumptions about sexual assault, and we’re excited that a new group of facilitators and youth workers are primed and ready to tackle this important topic.

Then on Monday we were back at it with a Digital Citizenship workshop training session for our facilitators and other youth workers. The Digital Citizenship workshop is our newest workshop, and has already been widely requested by communities and organizations. Courtney Quinn, BYTE’s Co-chair on the Board of Directors, put a huge amount of work into developing this workshop. As the in-house expert, she explained how to run activities that allow youth to discuss everything from legal consequences of online harassment to what constitutes a positive digital footprint and a healthy online presence.

Courtney explains the Digital Citizenship workshop outline to facilitators

Thanks to Scott Carlson and Courtney Quinn, the BYTE team and our facilitators are ready to go for the busy months ahead! Thank you to everyone who attended, and if you’re interested in attending future training sessions, email Tanyss at communitytours@www.yukonyouth.com or like us on Facebook.