Thriving: What Do Young People Need to Flourish?

Session 1: 9:55-10:50 (55 minute workshop)

Search Institute has been studying “thriving” since 1990—starting with developmental assets and more recently, studying the core marker of thriving called “sparks.” The term “thriving” is used to complement the litany of negative outcomes, such as “avoiding alcohol and other drug abuse” and “avoiding teen pregnancy,” that have dominated approaches to documenting the health of U.S. teenagers for decades.  Thriving is focused both on how an individual is “doing” at any given point in time as well as the path that he or she is taking into the future.  The Search Institute has identified 15 markers that assist in quantifying the level of a young person’s thriving. The development of these indicators can provide mentoring programs with an alternative set of metrics for evaluating program success.  This workshop will provide an overview of thriving research and give participants ideas for incorporating thriving concepts into the design, training and evaluation of your mentoring program.

Intended Workshop Audience: Program Staff

Presented by Search Institute