Frequently Asked Questions
How does Life Skills work? Life Skills works by restarting the maturing process.
In closed, gender separate classes, each person has the ability to express him or herself in a safe, supportive environment where they learn to apply the skills that are taught in the "Learning to Live...Learning to Love" curriculum.
The group dynamic allows each person to safely share personal experiences with others who have similar backgrounds. For many, these classes are the first time they have been able to receive encouragement, instead of condemnation for certain areas of their lives.
What topics are covered? We teach how past wounds in our lives color our perceptions. Our perceptions, in turn, drive our thought. It is our thought patterns that drive our emotions. It is our emotions that lead to our reactive behaviors.
Life Skills teaches you:
The skills to get reality checks about your perceptions.
To change your thought processes to be based on truth, instead of the lies that you believe about yourself.
- To identify and appropriately express your emotions.
- To distinguish between healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
- To make choices in your life instead of having your decisions made by indecision, circumstances or other people.
The ability to make decisions empowers each person in every area of their life. Some of these areas include decisions in our careers, goals, finances, child rearing, relationships, the choice to love.
How do I get my husband/wife to understand? We can't get anyone to understand because we cannot control what another person thinks, feels or does. However, we can focus on dealing with our own feelings and ability to communicate those feelings, needs and desires.
What do I do when my husband/wife does XX? Many people call us with questions about what to do in specific situations: usually at a crisis point in their lives. If the crisis is domestic abuse, our first and foremost concern is that the individual and children are safe. Life Skills works by teaching individuals how to see options (at least 3 options for every situation) and to make decisions for themselves and for their own lives. In Life Skills, we call it moving from the age of directives to the age of decision.
Do you do couples counseling? No, we do not do couples counseling. First, if there is abuse, the woman will always be abused when she reveals how she is currently being abused during a counseling session. Secondly 90% of the issues are each individual's issues that began below 13 years old, before either member of the couple had a first date. That is why we teach gender separate classes.
Will Life Skills help my situation? How long have you been trying your solutions to resolve whatever is going on in your life and how is the progress? In many cases, a lack of progress is not because of a lack of effort - the effort has usually been extreme. The lack of progress is because of inadequate tools or skills - because most of us were never taught the skills or tools to deal with life's every day relationship issues.
How do I sign up for classes? Before beginning classes you must have an intake appointment with your facilitator. The intake appointment takes approximately 90 minutes where you will fill out an information packet and go over financial information with your facilitator. Just call the office for an intake appointment.
