Youth will explore the emotional, physical, and social changes that happen during puberty and learn how these changes can impact how they see themselves and who they are.
Youth will understand and explain how their sense of identity can impact their self-esteem and confidence. Youth will build skills to support their self-confidence.
Youth will explore how the complexities of individual identities build a collective community.
Unit 3: I Care for Others
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How to Use This Resource
Journeys: Paths to Adulthood is divided into three units.
Unit 1: I Know Myself – The sessions in this unit focus on exploring questions about identity and how youth understand the world around them. This unit promotes the skills of self-awareness and self-confidence. During these sessions, youth will consider how their identities include both invisible and visible characteristics, parts of their identities may change over time, some parts of their identities may feel more important or essential to them than others, and some people might identify them in ways that they don’t actually identify themselves.
Unit 2: I Care for Myself – The sessions in this unit focus on the skills that youth need to care for themselves during adolescence. Youth will explore the mental, physical and social changes that happen during puberty. They will consider how these changes impact their relationship with their bodies and identities. Youth will explore methods of self-care and emotional regulation while connecting the changes in themselves to their future goals and identity.
Unit 3: I Care for Others – Youth will explore the types of relationships they have with the people in their lives and how these relationships influence their identity. They’ll consider the value of seeing stories that reflect the diversity in their community and learn about systems of support while exploring how to have empathy and consider another’s perspective. Youth will define the idea of community and describe the communities they are part of and their roles within them.
Through interactive, engaging, small-group sessions, Boys & Girls Clubs of America has historically provided two targeted programs, SMART Girls and Passport to Manhood, to address the varying experiences that youth encounter during identity development through the context of their gender identity. Club and Youth Centers can facilitate Journeys with their SMART Girls and/or Passport to Manhood groups, or they can facilitate it as its own program. Here are some options:
Journeys on its own + supporting identity-based content (i.e., MyFuture activities)
Passport to Manhood – Journeys + Passport to Manhood supplemental materials
Journeys is an opportunity to start a conversation around identity, but it certainly is not the only resource available that addresses this topic. Additional resources highlighted in the Links to Resources section of each applicable session and can also be found here:
In Youth for Unity’s comprehensive, broad-based set of activities, Club facilitators help members appreciate themselves as unique and special individuals; understand our society’s diversity; and recognize bias and unfairness, laying the groundwork for young people to take personal leadership in confronting bias and combating prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.
These quick-start activities can be used at any time to help youth gain a basic understanding of leadership. They include a variety of experiences for different age groups and can be facilitated in 30 to 60 minutes with minimal leader preparation.
Part of the SMART Moves suite of programs, Emotional Wellness helps young people develop foundational social-emotional skills. Progressing through 10 sequential sessions in three age groups, participants build a personal toolbox for self-management and coping.
Promising Practices for Implementation
Include supporting resources/research whenever possible.
Exposure to diverse role models will help young people to imagine options for their future selves. Consider that not all young people have seen examples to help them imagine their future selves, or the portrayals may include stereotypes or unwritten rules and expectations.
Avoid positioning young people as the expert or spokesperson for any particular identity.
Parking Lot: At the beginning of each session, introduce a flipchart paper labeled, “Parking Lot” where you can capture topics or ideas related to the session that would be better discussed at a later date.
Question Box: Youth will undoubtedly have questions throughout the sessions, but they won’t always want to share them with the group. Allow young people a comfortable way to ask anything by creating a Journeys: Paths to Adulthood Question Box. Let participants know they can submit questions to the box anonymously. Check the Question Box before and after each session and give yourself enough time to research any questions you can’t answer immediately.
Session Adaptation
We encourage you to review each session thoroughly prior to facilitating. Adapt sessions according to the needs of your group by incorporating specific experiences and challenges that are relevant to your youth’s identities. Consider asking young people what they would like to call their group, as this will help build a sense of cohesion and reiterate the concept of defining their own identities. Throughout the sessions, you will find callouts that guide you in how to approach the content based on any shared identities within your group. (For example, “How might this feel for a military youth?”)
Prioritize Physical and Emotional Safety
Before facilitating these activities, review your Club or Youth Center’s safety policies. Be prepared to respond and report, should youth disclose past or current abuse, neglect, or mental health issues. For immediate safety and life-threatening mental health concerns, call 911. For concerns of past abuse or ongoing abuse, neglect, or endangerment, follow your state’s mandated reporting requirements. In addition, make sure to report safety-related incidents according to your organizational policies, and use BGCA’s Safety Helpline (866-607-SAFE) for additional support.
For more information about creating physically and emotionally safe program environments, visit the Safety page on BGCA.net, where you’ll find the latest resources on:
Safety Policies and Actions
Mandated Reporting
Disclosures of Abuse
If you have questions about how to use this resource in your Club, or general safety questions, please reach out to the BGCA Safety Team atChildSafety@BGCA.org.
Make Referrals When Needed
The activities in this Guide provide an opportunity for youth to focus on identity. Some conversations about identity can be triggering for youth. Understanding your role and professional ability as a youth development professional is critical.
During an activity, youth may become emotional, share personal stories about past trauma, or open up about current negative or potentially harmful experiences. It is important to keep in mind that you are not expected to take on the role of therapist or counselor, nor would it be ethical for you to do so. You should, however, be able to recognize when youth are disclosing abuse or another traumatic event and report and refer as appropriate. If you have a social worker or therapist on staff, ask them to reach out via the Club’s engagement channels to support youth. If you do not have a therapist on staff, consider familiarizing yourself with the local agencies in your area. The following resources may be helpful.
Visit 211.org for more information on local resources.
For non-life-threatening mental health concerns, consider using the free Crisis Text Line by texting CLUB to 741741 to chat with a trained crisis counselor 24/7.
Whether you are using a virtual, in-person or hybrid program model, it is important that all youth feel safe and welcomed. You can create inviting spaces by taking the following steps.
Tell youth it is a safe program space: Before each session, try saying something like, “This is a safe space where you are safe to feel your feelings, talk about your experience and ask for help. All feelings are normal and healthy, and there is no wrong way to feel. You are always welcome to pass if you don’t feel comfortable sharing something in front of the group. I am here to help and support you if you want to talk about anything during or after program time. Does anyone have any questions before we start?”
Be an active listener throughout the activity: Follow up with any youth afterward who appear to need additional support. Step aside with them to discuss how they are feeling and determine how you can help.
If possible, use a co-facilitator: Having a second Club staff member present to respond to youth, clarify directions, and provide support during activities can be helpful and enhance safety.
Use all the elements of a high-quality session: You may need to adapt or shorten some components of a session or activity, but make sure to facilitate a Community Builder. Also give youth time to reflect on their experiences and recognize each other.
Establish and revisit your Group Agreements: Remind youth how they want to be treated as they interact with others.
Use Emotional Check-Ins as a way for youth to pause and reflect on how they are feeling.
Give youth opportunities to “pass”: Remind youth that they can always pass if they are feeling uncomfortable or unwilling to share during an activity.
Immediately address any and all bias or racist behavior: In the course of Journeys activities, participants examine and discuss their experiences around their identities. Remind youth that, while it’s not always easy to deal with such sensitive topics, you – and their peers – are counting on each of them to not make intentionally hurtful comments.
Focus on Youth Engagement
Regardless of the program model you are using, enhance your engagement with youth by trying these tips.
Listen actively throughout the activity and focus on relationship building. It’s OK if you spend as much time connecting as you do completing the activity.
Aim for groups of no more than 25 to allow for meaningful conversations. You may find that many members are interested in this program, but facilitating with small groups will allow young people to make connections with each other.
Encourage youth to respond in non-verbal ways. Participants can use emojis or reaction buttons on digital platforms, or give visual signals like a thumbs up to indicate they agree or that they are having fun.
Use various engagement methods such as polls, small-group conversations, open-ended questions, and inviting participants to act as youth leaders and co-facilitators.
Celebrate and Support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts
Programs and activities should always be culturally responsive, inclusive, adaptive and interesting. Sessions should reflect the youth who are participating. Activities should provide opportunities for youth to explore the various aspects of their identities. A young person’s daily and life experiences, and how they see themselves and others, may be heavily influenced by several factors, including their race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic circumstances, language or being LGBTQ+. Activities should also address and critique stereotypes and biases regarding identity and culture.
As you implement Journeys: Paths to Adulthood, look for ways to:
Elevate youth voice. Allowing young people to shape and influence programs makes them more relevant and helps youth better understand their own experiences.
Incorporate cultural traditions important to the groups of young people your Club or Youth Center serves.
Involve families, caregivers, and community members whose varied backgrounds and experiences can support the Club’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Use trauma-informed practices to avoid racial re-traumatization.
Promote awareness of inequities – racial or otherwise, at any level of the Club – as a first step toward addressing such issues.
Overviewof Journeys: Paths to Adulthood
Growing up isn’t easy.Journeys: Paths to Adulthood is a targeted identity exploration program built to give young people the space, support and tools they need to navigate the journey of adolescence as they grow to emerge as strong, healthy young adults. Journeys: Paths to Adulthood is meant to help young people reflect on their own sense of self in relation to aspects of their identity. Clubs support identity development in all kinds of interactions and experiences, but because adolescence is a key milestone for identity formation, this targeted program is intended for young people ages 10-14. Providing young people with the support they need during these formative years helps them develop healthy attitudes and lifestyles that they will carry into adulthood.
This targeted program:
Allows for framing and exploration around all parts of a young person’s identity including race, ethnicity and gender.
Builds essential social-emotional skills that support identity development.
Incorporates reflection questions that connect session topics to larger themes.
Features youth-centered learning to encourage participation.
Facilitates intentional relationship building between youth via Community Builders and activities.
By participating in this program, young people will:
Consider how they define themselves and determine their personal values.
Reflect on how they express their various identities.
Compare the social norms and messages they receive about various identities and reflect on how these influence their self-perception and perceptions around other identities.
Understand puberty and how changes that occur during this process can influence their perception of their own identities.
Develop their self-esteem, emotional expression and coping strategies as tools to support them during adolescence.
Consider how their individual identities contribute to the larger complex community.
Identity Development
Identity is what makes a person who they are. This encompasses a person’s sense of self as it relates to all parts of their identity, including but not limited to culture, race, ethnicity, family role, sexuality, gender, religion/spirituality, ability and hobbies. Identity also includes how individuals perceive their goals and values. Identity development is a complex process during which a person begins to define their own sense of self and determine what makes them unique and different, as well as how they are connected to others through social groupings. Researchers assert that much of this process occurs during adolescence.
Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development proposes there are eight stages of development that occur during a person’s life from infancy to late adulthood. Each stage includes a different developmental task or conflict, and successfully completing each stage better prepares one for the next stage and the development of a healthy sense of self. The beginnings of identity formation occur in the sixth stage, “identity versus role confusion,” during the ages of 12-18[i].
During the identity versus role confusion stage, young people are exploring their unique, individual identities. They are considering thoughts around appearance, personality, interests, relationships, hopes/dreams, sexuality, and more with essential questions around “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?”
Identity development is dynamic and complex during adolescence[ii]. As youth enter adolescence, they gain a sense of their own abilities, a greater awareness of others, more mature reasoning and a growing awareness of their roles in life. Developing a positive self-identity is critical during this stage. Young people at this stage are self-conscious, concerned with fitting in and being liked, sensitive to criticism, and feeling a strong pull to conform to stereotypical images of who they think they should be. As a result, young people during this stage may compare themselves with others instead of discovering their own interests, passions and unique strengths. When young people are taught to value their uniqueness, they will begin to explore their own interests and characteristics.
Developmental Milestones of Early Adolescence/Tweens
Ages 10-12 and 13-15
Physical Development
There is wide variation at the onset of puberty, with some youth maturing early and others maturing late.
Physical changes of puberty become outwardly apparent, and children are more aware of their changing bodies.
Cognitive Development
Youth develop greater cognitive abilities for logic and reasoning. Youth gradually can think more abstractly, imagine future possibilities and consider more complexity.
Emotional Development
Parts of the brain responsible for emotional response develop quicker than those required for self-control, leading to strong emotional responses and moodiness.
Youth become more self-conscious and worried about what others think about them. This leads to thinking they are unique and people don’t understand their experiences.
Social Development
Peers’ attention and approval is very important. Young people feel intense peer pressure and may develop “best friends” or form cliques.
It becomes emotionally important for children to have and keep friends.
Self-Development
Self-esteem issues may develop.
Youth seek independence and test authority as they push for autonomy. However, they need guidance and structure as they navigate new boundaries.
Youth experiment with different identities, but identities are closely tied to peer groups.
In addition to understanding how the developmental stages of adolescence contribute to identity development, there are some key takeaways to also consider:
Identity expression is sensitive to external influences.
Aspects of one’s identity can be more important or more present to youth at different times and in different spaces.
Youth, and specifically adolescents, thrive when provided intentional opportunities to develop aspects of their identity.
Social-Emotional Skills
Self-Awareness
Recognizing one’s feelings, needs, thoughts and influence on behavior
Perspective-Taking
Taking the perspectives of others
Empathy
Ability to understand and share in the feelings of others
Respect for Others
How one feels about others and how they treat them
Inclusion
Cultivating a welcoming environment for everyone
Self-Confidence
Belief in one’s abilities
Identifying Emotions
Recognizing and expressing one’s feelings
Youth Connections
Peer relationships
Adult Connections
Adult relationships
The Youth Development Professional’s Role in Supporting Identity Development
Positive youth development is an intentional approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a manner that is productive and constructive. It recognizes, uses and enhances young people’s strengths and promotes positive outcomes by providing opportunities, fostering positive relationships and furnishing the support needed throughout adolescent identity development.
Develop Social-Emotional Skills That Build Character
All Boys & Girls Club and Youth Center programs offer opportunities for youth development professionals to model, recognize, reinforce and reflect on character development. Positive youth development provides direction for how you interact with, engage and model behavior for youth. You get to shape the lives of young people every day. As a result, you set the expectations and show youth what essential character traits (e.g., caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness) mean, and how they look. These character traits come to life when youth practice social-emotional skills like teamwork, conflict management and emotional regulation.
Youth can start to build character using “caught and taught” approaches. Youth “catch” social-emotional skills when they observe youth development professionals modeling them, and when they interact with peers. Youth can also be “taught” skills to build good character when the skills are explicitly introduced and practiced through program sessions and activities. Use this formula to understand how character develops over time:
Staff Model Good Character + Youth Practice Skills Regularly = Character Development
Youth development professionals facilitating Journeys can model good character in the way they support all youth, offer feedback rather than criticism, and encourage honesty and responsibility.
To build character traits, include many opportunities for youth to practice the social-emotional skills embedded in Journeys. These include skills related to:
How a young person feels about themselves
Their relationships with others
Their ability to regulate emotions
Their ability to solve problems
Positive Youth Development Is Mindful of the Complexities of Identity
It is important for young people to experience encouragement and a place where they can explore their identities to develop their own unique, independent identities.
Boys & Girls Clubs and Youth Centers are a place to become – including becoming who you are by developing essential social-emotional skills – and a place to belong – a place to be included for who you are, whoever you are. Identity formation is about developing a strong sense of self, personality, connection to others and individuality. Therefore, positive adolescent self-identity is vital because it shapes an individual’s perception of belonging beyond their adolescent years.
Creating a culture of inclusion and respect within Clubs means being aware of implicit bias and the limitations of our individual identity experiences. Positive youth development is mindful of the complexities of identity and acknowledges the following.
Identity is comprised of a variety of factors including gender, race, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, values, religion and more.
Identities change over time. While adolescence is a critical stage of identity development, this process is ongoing. For example, you can change the way you think about yourself when you experience changes in life, like getting a new job or changes to a family dynamic.
It is important to not limit youth identity development through the lens of your individual experiences.
Youth will have a wide variety of experiences around identity formation, and not all youth will have a trusted adult with whom they can discuss the subject of identity.
Feeling safe and comfortable in your identity expression in any given environment is a privilege.
Youth development professionals support all youth in identity development when they:
Promote a safe, respectful, and non-judgmental environment for learning and identity exploration. As youth begin their journey of self-discovery, it is incredibly important to promote a welcoming environment that is inclusive and respectful of all youths’ identities. This includes offering support and encouragement to youth, while also fostering positive peer relationships.
Support a young person’s positive sense of self. Adolescents are experiencing a lot of changes, and sometimes that can cause frustration are they are trying to reconcile their own perceptions of themselves and other social roles/expectations. So, encourage youth with positive affirmations and remind them that any anxiety or confusion they may be experiencing is normal.
Do not form presumptions about youths’ bodies, identities or expressions.
Use inclusive language to support the identities of all youth including youth with disabilities and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Use gender-neutral terms such as partner, friend, parent, etc.
Avoid imposing your own values on young people. During this period of identity development, it’s important to allow young people space to explore their own identities and define their own values and beliefs. Your role is to support them by being there for them as they grow and develop. Talking with youth about their values, goals and identities is a way to show your support.
Youth development practices that support teaching and learning are core to the quality of Health and Wellness programs. Effective Health and Wellness programs, when facilitated with high-quality youth development practices, will help youth develop the attitudes, behaviors, and skills needed to become effective and engaged learners who are on track to graduate with a plan for the future.
Youth development professionals can help all youth build resiliency skills when they:
Establish and maintain Group Agreements at the start of any routine programmatic experience to establish a safe environment for sharing and learning.
Provide frequent opportunities for youth to reflect on their experiences.
Respond to youths’ behaviors in ways that encourage them to communicate their feelings and self-regulate.
Provide the opportunity and space for youth to check in emotionally during the Club day, recognize trends in emotions and modify programming as necessary.
Allow programmatic and environmental adaptations to support the identities of all youth including youth with disabilities and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Integrate trauma-informed approaches throughout the Club day, and especially within identity-based programs and activities.
[i] Erikson, Erik H. (1968) Identity Youth and Crisis. W.W. Norton & Company
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