Building self-esteem and promoting the benefits of self-awareness is the philosophy of VOICE. Without promoting these characteristics in our learners, we deny them the courage needed to overcome their fears. It also addresses key employability skills such as effective communication, working with others, continuous learning, document use, computer use, problem solving skills, and personal management decisions.
VOICE challenges participants to analyse their world and their roles, vocalize their wants and needs, and become excited about a life with opportunities. In no way do the activities (or the facilitators) dictate or define what this could look like for participants. Instead, the activities have been carefully designed to encourage self-reflection, discussion, self-discovery, and in some cases challenge beliefs. But how participants decide to use their new understandings of themselves and their world is completely up to them. The activities may be the tools needed to gain new understandings and facilitators might provide the guidance in using this new knowledge, but ultimately it will be the participants who decide how this should be realized. The path that leads to a goal and the nature of the goal itself is always the choice of the participant who will be armed with knowledge of their values, barriers, strengths, and interests needed to make an informed choice. The participants will also be encouraged to understand change and how this might impact the ways they think of themselves and how others perceive them. One of the most important outcomes is that participants become enthusiastic about learning and their life goals.
This is not so much about reaching a goal; it’s about reaching for a goal. It’s about setting parameters and experiencing the journey when you make your life happen. It’s about empowering the participant.
This learning model is based on our intrinsic ability to recognize and strive towards a goal. In the model, goals can refer to new opportunities, changes in outlook, and new understandings. The first step is to guide participants’ observations of the environment to which they belong and value. Observations will promote the participants’ self-knowledge and a sense of belonging. They then move into the desire stage.
Finding the key to a desired outcome instills the motivation needed for goal attainment. When stating a desired goal, the participant goes through a process of questioning their abilities in relation to the changes they want to make. The assessment and review stage supports them in recognizing their inherent strengths and abilities. Participants increasingly gain knowledge about the intended goal and themselves before initiating the actions required. The action is then triggered by the knowledge of their abilities to self-motivate and self-manage toward a goal and/or employment opportunities.
Most of the activities in VOICE are not traditional pen and paper or workbook activities that many learners are most familiar with. The activities are often arts-based, require interaction, and are often more dynamic and creative than traditional literacy learning activities. This is the key strength of VOICE. When introducing the activities I would recommend informing participants that these types of activities are used by corporate executives, professional athletes, movie stars, etc. for the purpose of promoting health and wellness, relieving stress, stimulating creativity and accessing our less dominant brain power to generate ideas and find solutions. Some participants may not be comfortable with these types of activities because they are unfamiliar with them. Explaining the unfamiliar and providing an example most often alleviates the problem. Encourage participants who are familiar with arts-based and dynamic learning activities to demonstrate or talk about how they may have used them in their lives.