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The Insights Training Course...

• ... has been developed as ahighly effective, ready-to-use course for leadership teams starting new Energize or Energize Plus groups.
• ... has also been designed as a very helpful 'refresher' course for teams in established Energize or Energize Plus groups.
• ... can be delivered by anyone with good communication skills and some experience of working with young people.
• ... is very easy to use, flexible, and contains all the materials needed to deliver top-quality training, including:

All resources may be downloaded from the appropriate page on this website. No special software is required other than Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 Viewer (for those who don't have PowerPoint), which are available free on the web.

Some of the file sizes are quite large and so where possible it is recommended that they are downloaded using a Broadband connection.

The training material...

• ... consists of three types of Unit, most designed to take about one and a half hours:
  
  Four 'Foundation' Units that teams launching new groups are strongly encouraged to work through - existing groups will also find Units 1 and 2 very useful refresher material.
  Unit 1 - Aims and Strategies - encourages the team to think about some of the elements that make up a successful youth/children's group, and helps them develop a corporate aim for their group.
  Unit 2 - Safety and Best Practice - covers some of the important aspects of safety and best practice teams need to know.
  Unit 3 - Starting a New Group (Initial Planning)- takes the team through all the practicalities of planning a new group and the various decisions that need to be made.
  Unit 4 - Starting a New Group (The Launch) - takes the team through planning the first term's programme and carrying out a ‘dry-run' at the venue.
  
  Four ‘Core' Units suitable for all teams, designed to help develop good youth and children's work practice in key areas.
  Unit 5 - Understanding Young People - looks at the needs of young people, explains the changing nature of youth and children's culture and discusses in practical ways how we can better understand young people and therefore work more effectively with them.
  Unit 6 - Managing Groups of Young People - gives lots of practical advice about setting up a discipline strategy that will enable leaders to manage their group's behaviour effectively.
  Unit 7 - Young People and Faith Development - looks at how faith can develop in young people, what we can do to help the process of faith development, and how young people learn in general.
  Unit 8 - Good Teamwork- helps leaders appreciate some of the ups and downs of working as a team, and covers various aspects of successful teamwork drawn from respected research.
  
  A range of ‘Extension' Units to help further develop the knowledge and skills of all teams - two new Units will be added each year.
  Unit 9 - Listening Skills - provides a simple six-step approach for applying basic ‘listening' skills in situations where young people wish to talk though issues, and gives leaders an opportunity to practice the six-step approach through role-play.
  Unit 10 – Giving a Short Talk - explains a simple four-step approach that will help leaders improve the effectiveness of short talks, and then the leaders are given an opportunity to present a short, prepared talk and receive feedback.
  Unit 11 – Generational Youth and Children's Work - gives an overview of the current ‘Mosaic' generation, shows how worldviews relate to generations and challenges us to have a biblical vision and practical tools for reaching a whole generation.
  Unit 12 – An Introduction to Effective Bible Teaching - reminds leaders that the ‘truths' in scripture are interwoven into a background narrative, and then we reflect on how a balanced, holistic approach to reading the Bible - and teaching it to young people - could be developed.
  
  
• ... can be used in a variety of ways, e.g groups could:
  
  - run weekly training sessions overa period of several months
  (recommended for new groups).
  
  - spread the training over several consecutive weekends
  (recommended for new groups).
  
  - run one or two Units during monthly sessions throughout the year
  (recommended for existing groups).