Monday, February 2, 2015

Teenage Transitions To Mature Adulthood

By Saleem Rana


Randy Russell, the co-founder and owner of InnerPathWorks, a transition program for 'stalled' college aged and older young people was interviewed by Lon Woodbury on The Woodbury Report, k4hd.com. He shared his 40 years of experience with mentoring young people and their families into "soulful adulthood",

Lon Woodbury, an Independent Educational Consultant, has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984. He is the founder of Struggling Teens, Inc. and the publisher of Woodbury Reports. In addition, he is a prolific author, with many published books on parenting themes.

A Brief Guest Bio

Randy Russell has been helping young people since 1974, when he started a mentoring program for college students. He earned his Master's degree from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in Recreation & Leisure. When he was growing up, he was trained and initiated into adulthood by wise parents, mentors and "Elders".He has spent a life-time exploring the benefits of Deep Nature Connection and his Native American roots.

The Difficult Journey to Transition to Adulthood

When a young adult had matured in moral and physical ways and could take care of himself or herself as well as raise a family, they had transitioned to adulthood, said Randy.

There is also a deeper transition level that adds a spiritual element to their lives. This is "soulful adulthood." It occurs when a person has enough deep self-knowledge to understand their own unique personality and choose a life purpose.

Parents can help young people transition to adulthood by creating a mentorship support system. These mentors can be uncles and aunts. An older person can train teenagers on problem solving and self care, as well as how to connect with nature.

All young people had to discover their own special gifts to life. They could find their own unique song through the help of elders and mentors.

At this point, parents have to step aside to let the elders mentor the children. A teenager will hear these mentors and not tune them out. They will listen to wise, mature adults. Teenagers habitually tune out their parents to hear better, and they have been tuning out parents since they started school so that they could listen to their teachers.

The purpose of a formal transition was to help young people find their own unique talents and to explore their own interests.

A Rite of Passage was a way for a young person to discover their unique abilities in life. This experience had to be orchestrated by parents and mentors working in collaboration.




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