
Respectful Alliances: RAP and PPC
Building positive peer cultures and inspired staff teams
This Circle of Courage course consists of two separate two-day trainings. Response Ability Pathways (RAP) is a basic certification course for all who work with youth. Positive Peer Culture (PPC) offers another level of training for clinicians, group leaders, supervisors, senior youth workers, and educators. These two evidence-based trainings transform trauma into resilience by strengthening Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity.
Response Ability Pathways (RAP) — Restoring Bonds of Respect (2-day training)
RAP training provides all who care about and work with young people the practical tools to respond to needs instead of reacting to problems. —Lesley du Toit, Pretoria, South Africa
RAP employs three natural, brain-based helping strategies: Connecting for support, Clarifying challenges, and Restoring respect. These relational tools for talking with persons in conflict replace coercion with communication. While there are many crisis-intervention models, RAP provides the simplest research-validated method to turn problems into opportunities for learning and growth. Piloted in South Africa to transform services to young people at risk, RAP has been used worldwide. Co-authors of RAP Larry Brendtro and Lesley du Toit have fully updated this 2-day training to provide essential skills for all who deal with challenging children and youth in any setting. This universal-design course translates research on resilience, trauma, culture, and neuroscience into terms readily understandable by lay person and professional alike. Training is enriched with video clips and experiential learning activities. RAP is relevant to parents, foster parents, educators, youth workers, and clinicians, and can also be taught to young people who help support their peers and family.
Positive Peer Culture (PPC) — Building Strengths in Youth (2-day training)
PPC is a peer-helping model designed to improve social competence and cultivate strengths in youth. Care and concern for others is the defining element of PPC. —California Evidence-Based Clearing House
PPC training provides advanced, evidence-based strategies for creating positive climates in schools, juvenile justice, residential treatment, and community settings. Youth disconnected from adults often gravitate to negative peer cultures and engage in high-risk behavior. Punishment only intensifies conflict with authority and builds a culture of bullying. Negative peer influence can be reversed by enlisting youth in prosocial helping roles and building respectful bonds with adults. Positive Peer Culture (PPC) has been refined over decades of research on building strengths in troubled youth. Grounded in Circle of Courage principles, this peer-helping model is now listed as a research-based practice.
Course Curriculum
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Resilience and Positive Youth Development
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The Primacy of Staff Teamwork
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Creating Climates for Growth
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Problems as Learning Opportunities
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Strategies for Positive Peer Influence
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Transforming Troubled Lives