Market Research...

[webcrone]

I help run personal development courses for teenagers that run for three days and cost around £350. There's a group of us do this and we don't make any money from it - we use a high-quality venue with all meals included, we fly in a workshop leader from the US, we bring in a couple of guys to run a dance and drumming workshop. I've been involved with 5 of these workshops over past few years and they have been a great success - the kids (ranging from 13 - 19) find it transformational and they, and their parents, report great things afterwards about how they feel more confident and self-assured but in a responsible way - they are also more aware that their behaviour impacts on others - and how they find it easier to make good decisions and hold out against peer pressure. We've had kids with eating and emotional disorders who have begun to recover, and others who have turned their academic performance around.

In marketing the course we find that we get parents who really want their kids to attend but their kids refuse, and teenagers who want to attend but whose parents don't see the value in it, and often (but not always) it's the parents who pay.

If you've stuck with me this far, thank you!

My question to you is what would be worth £350 of your money? My own experience isn't very useful as I only got involved after a huge crisis with my own teenage kids, and at the point of crisis I'd have paid anything at all for help because I was truly desperate and had run out of other options.

It would be too expensive for me, and i'd be slightly creeped out by the cult-like idea that there are only 15 people trained in this particular technique, and one has to be flown in from another continent.

that said, I'm sure you'll get plenty to go for it, if you compare the prices to extra tuition and so on

Wow! Thanks everyone for your contributions. There's a lot of information in here to respond to, but this is really useful. First off, the course isn't aimed at 'problem' teenagers but nonetheless we've had teens come along who are labelled as having problems and who have already been the health authority/counselling route and who have benefitted hugely from being in an environment which doesn't spend a lot of time (if any) going over and over the problems, focussing instead on what it's like when the problem isn't present, even if that's only a momentary experience.

Although there are only a few people currently trained in delivering the workshop training, there are many many people who have attended workshops or done one-to-one work without going on to become trained in the process. We have also done short trainings for people working with teens (teachers, camp counsellors and even parents) but most of this has been in the US, so far.

It's difficult to describe what we do with precision without using a lot of technical language - basically, whether aimed at teenagers or adults (we also run workshops for adults but the marketing issue isn't the same as they decide they want to do it and pay for themselves), the workshop is highly experiential and starts with what's working for each individual rather than what's not working, and is organised around what each participant most wants - it's highly individualised and it's absolutely not therapy!

Custardo - I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about parenting and normal twattyness in teens, but I also think that by the mid-teens there's a lot to be said for relationships with adults other than parents who are prepared to be mentors, if you will, and there was a time when these kinds of relationships would be quite naturally forged by grandparents, uncles and aunts, for example, but that's a whole other topic for discussion.

My sister is having huge difficulties with her nearly 12yo dd. Issues such as not wanting to go to school ending up in physical force and a lot of upset.

She has violent rages in which she'll attack her sister if she can't get her own way e.g. not having control of the TV remote.

She'll lash out at my sister, punch, kick and spit, kick and throw whatever she can get her hands on.
Only yesterday she kicked her sister in the mouth by lashing out in temper. She has punched my sister in the stomach on a couple of occasions when she's been angry and/ or frustrated.

My poor sister is a lone parent and her ex husband is as helpful and supportive as a chocolate teapot. All he say's is 'I can't deal with it, it does my head in' !!!! What a s**t !!!!

We've been down the school, GP & NHS child's mental health route but my niece has managed to convince all the 'experts' that she's not the one with the problem and these people have said that it' my sister who needs councelling.

These outburst are not an everyday occurance but they do happen to a lesser or greater degree at least once a week.

My niece is approaching puberty i.e. her boobs are growing and her body shape is changing and I do think she has huge body issues. She had a tiny, tiny red spot on her nose which you could barely see but this turned into a refusal to go to school and a terrible time for my sister in dealing with this.

I was on the phone to my sister for an hour last night and to hear her cry and be totally at her wits end as to what to do is very hard.

So, to all those people who have said that £350 could pay for a weeks holiday, yes I agree, but if you have a child that is so unhappy and obviously having difficulty in dealing with life, it's a small price to pay.

It's also pot luck with the support and help you receive if you go through the NHS route. I was included on the sessions with my niece and I have to say I was not impressed at all.

There are other factors which are probably having an impact on my niece i.e. her parents have been separated for 5 yrs but she sees her dad regularly. She would obviously like her mum and dad to still be together.

Also, her dad has just moved his new girlfriend in without any discussion, explanation or reassurance to his dd's that his house is still there home. She has moved all her family photo's into his house and this probably has upset my niece as she's pretty sensitive about things.

So, my questions to you webcrone are:

1. Where is the course held
2. Is there an information pack or website that we could look at and perhaps discuss with my niece
3. Is my niece too young at almost 12 (I can't imagine for a second that she'd be willing to stay away from home on her own for a weekend and likewise my sister would be very nervous about it)
4. Is what I have described above typical of the reasons why parents sign up

We just don't know where else to go for help. My niece is stubborn and likes to be controlling so getting her to do or try something new is impossible unless it's on her terms.

Apologies for the length of this posting .
My dh and I have often said that my niece needs a 'bootcamp' but she's not our child and if it was our child with problems we'd probably have a very different opinion.
My niece is generally so affectionate and easy going and is just fantastic with my 3yo dd. So to see her in these angry rages is like watching a different child