So Others Ascend Righteously
So Others Ascend Righteously
Signature Workshops
Claim Your Space
SOAR will always try to facilitate workshops according to the vendors and their
participants needs as long as the vendors wishes do not jeopardize the integrity of
SOAR workshops.
Workshop Overview
These workshop series empowers individuals who grapple with long term issues which stem from domestic violence, gender identity, homelessness, terminal illness or teenage motherhood. It is SOAR’s purpose to create a surge of power within the workshop circle that benefits not only the individual, but also impacts their family members and their community.
The Come From Place
Who Am I
My Worth
My Beauty
What’s Important to me
Forgiveness letter
Love Letter
Affirmations
The workshop participants will learn:
how to create a safe space sharing circle
how to journal and its cleansing power
how to put clothes on their words
how writing records life’s journey
how to meditate
how to check- in on self through writing
how to write centering affirmations
how to claim their space through spoken words
SOAR’s My Daughter’s Power Circle Yearly Retreat the culminating activity of the six and eight-week workshops will take place yearly during the month of October for 20 disconnected, low income, African American women between the ages of 18 and 26 years old who are out of work, out of school, domestic violence survivors, returning citizens, teen moms or college bound who are without support and reside in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan areas. SOAR is committed to filling the gap left by schools, youth training and life skill training programs that provide a limited time of support for out of school and out of work 18 -26-year-old women. It is in our mission to act as an extension to existing job training, health and human service and returning citizen programs to help these young women to continue to create powerful life choices. Many hard to place out of school young women are making poor choices which impact their health, career choices and ability to retain employment and academic opportunities. They are unschooled about healthy relationships, financial and physical wellness. SOAR’s My Daughter’s Power Circle seeks to provide a continuum of care for young African American women by introducing them to a variety of healing modalities, life skill, financial, career training coaches and a village of Mother Mentors to support their possibilities.
The Mother Mentors are an essential intergenerational component provided by women who are over 40 years of age who volunteer to create a safe space of shared knowledge between the two generations. Each Mother Mentor is responsible for no more than two young women. The Mother Mentor conducts monthly support circles to continue the process of healing and transformation begun during the retreat for as long as the young women need. These circles are places where the young women consistently remember, recognize, and reclaim their individual power to find strength in the collective power of their sisters.
SOAR’s Writing for Healing Workshops for young women participating in alternative education programs
SOAR’s Writing for Healing Workshops for young women participating in alternative
education programs are given strategies to debunk myths around writing and reading that have
impacted their academic success. Introduced to SOAR’s writing training wheels, students learn
the value of language and begin to see how language operates as a layered text through its
construction i.e. the use of the poem or prose as a vehicle of expression. This series of workshops
is a unique way for students to “claim their space” and to take responsibility for their words and
to own their individual power. In this way, students learn how language releases personal blocks.
For students to feel safe, we call for collective responsibility for making the classroom circle a
“safe space.” Students create their own “sisterhood pledge” composed of 10 guidelines for them
to feel comfortable and supported in their sharing within their circle. A bond is formed because
the students are not in competition with one another; they are there to support and to protect one
another. Once the young women successfully complete the workshop series, their names are
entered in the database as candidates for the My Daughter’s Power Circle Yearly Retreat.
SOAR’s Writing for Healing Workshops for incarcerated and returning citizens. The increased rate of recidivism is directly linked to insufficient educational and mental health tools. Therefore, there are a significant number of the incarnated populations who will rejoin the mainstream society only to return because they have not been given the tools to access their root issues that go beyond living in poverty. The problems they encounter to become self-sufficient are significant. If youth offenders are not given the proper tools to assess the behavior responsible for their incarceration, they are doomed to repeat their mistakes. Using SOAR’s Writing for Healing workshop model to assist incarcerated youth will involve a two- prong approach that includes attacking literacy issues by using SOAR’s workbook along with its Writing for Healing curriculum. This is important because the current model for the justice system does not successfully rehabilitate the mass numbers of its clients.
SOAR’s Writing for Healing Workshops for those who have aged out of the foster care system For young women who are home insecure and undereducated, SOAR’s goal is to connect disconnected young women, who complete SOAR’s six-week workshop, to SOAR’s Mother Mentors during SOAR’s yearly retreat. During this retreat, the young women will continue their process of healing and self- discovery with an elder to guide their journey. The goal is to provide the necessary mothering and nurturing that will empower young women to become self- actualized and able to create positive changes in their home or external environment. SOAR’s Writing for Healing workshops create a safe space for them to develop strategies with the support of the wisdom shared within the circles.