Finding Empowerment Through Community
Healing and connection happen in small group studies! Across the globe, teens are digging into our Brave Interactive Journals and learning about healthy identity, relationships, and mental wellness. Start a Brave Circle in your community, and provide a safe place for vulnerable youth to learn the truth and be encouraged and supported along the way.
Brave: This Is Me
This is our first Brave Journal from amazing author Lisa Barnes and focuses on establishing our true identity. Each chapter addresses a different influence on our identities:
1. “Who You Are and Why it Matters”
2. “Who Says So? Battling the Messages from Others”
3. “The Power of Words (Self-Talk Matters)”
4. “You Get What You Aim For”
5. “Self Care and Why it Matters”
6. “The Hole in Your Heart and How to Fill it”
7. “Defying Normal”
8. “Who Can We Look Up To?”
Brave: This Is Us
Our second Brave Journal from powerhouse Cheryl Nembhard looks into how we can have healthy relationships. Each chapter focuses on important aspects of healthy relationships:
1. “Brave Friendships”
2. “Friendship Boundaries: When to Say No”
3. “Romantic Relationships”
4. “Sexual Wholeness”
5. “Victim No More”
6. “Our Relationship with Ourselves”
7. “Self Care is Not Stupid”
8. “Body Positivity”
9. “Family Relationships”
Brave: Through It All
Our third Brave Journal by Karen Brook and Alicia McIntyre focuses on mental wellness. Each chapter takes a close look at the things that affect our mental health:
1. “Mental Health: Let’s Call It What It Is!”
2. “My Mind, My Strength”
3. “Consider What We’ve Come Through: Understanding Trauma”
4. “My Mind: When I’m Feeling Anxious”
5. “At War with Our Bodies: Eating Disorders, Self-Harm and Suicide”
6. “When Something Else Is Running My Life: Addiction”
7. “When Mistreatment Affects Me: Bullying and Abuse”
8. “What I Can Do for Me: Supporting Ourselves”
9. “So It’s Not All About Me? How We Help and Support Others”
Brave Circles Testimonies
We are so proud of ALL of our Brave circle girls, the way they have grown individually and together as a group. One story that jumps out is of our friend we call Mary Ann. Mary Ann was linked with our Brave circle through a foster family. Mary Ann has moved to several homes and after losing contact because of the moves, Mary Ann advocated for herself to get back to the Brave circle and the stability that the circle held in her life.
Mary Ann not only attends Brave circle, but now attends youth group and Sunday morning services. Mary Ann now has a whole team of cheerleaders behind her from the church and community. She is the most resilient person I have met and she is going to tackle anything she puts her mind to. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to host a Brave circle and meet amazing girls like Mary Ann.
