Social Welfare Programs

School Violence Prevention

Unresolved conflict is at the heart of violence in our schools. Relationship Awareness tools such as the Personal Values Inventory (the easy-reading version of the SDI) give young people a way to understand where conflict comes from and how to see conflict as a potentially positive thing that can be used to solve problems. Young people who learn to see the value in others and in themselves are more likely to invest time and energy in resolving conflict for the benefit of all parties. It is our sincere hope and wish that all schools will help students to understand the importance of relationships and learn how to build their own self-worth while enhancing the self-worth of others. To read an example of how the PVI could be used to diffuse violence in the school please read the Counselling section.

Welfare to Work

Numerous welfare-to-work transition programs leverage the learning from the SDI or PVI to help participants build effective, sustainable working relationships. The Portrait of Personal Strengths is used to help them identify the strengths that would be valued by a potential employer and feature them in resumes and interviews. The Portrait of Overdone Strengths helps participants recognise how their behaviour may generate preventable conflict; then learn to manage their behaviour to prevent it. Conflict management skills form an essential part of these programs as many participants experience significant conflict in their personal lives which in turn impacts their job performance.

Job Training

Job training programs that serve “hard-to-serve” or “at-risk” populations benefit from the integration of the SDI or PVI when the participants learn to work more effectively with other people. These programs often start with self-acceptance, and then move toward building acceptance and appreciation of others as fundamental attitudes for being effective in relationships at work. Participants can be encouraged to examine their personal values and identify the relationships that are critical to their success – and those that might hinder their progress. They can also identify career paths that would be most rewarding. With this understanding, they can create a plan to reach their goals.