Calling all Marine Corps Youth and Teens, come check out our L.I.N.K.S program to connect with other military children around San Diego.

L.I.N.K.S is an acronym for Lifestyle, Insights, Networking, Knowledge, and Skills. Not only does L.I.N.K.S for Kids and Teens teach us the wonders of the military lifestyle, but it also provides an opportunity for teens to volunteer within the program. Teen mentors share their experiences and knowledge with other military youth and peers.

The program offers opportunities to understand navigating the unique LIFESTYLE of being a military child. Our teen volunteer mentors shed INSIGHTS into the culture of the military, NETWORKING opportunities with other peers, while gaining KNOWLEDGE and SKILLS during the workshop.

Readiness and Deployment Support (RDS) for Kids and Teens at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar provides a continuum of readiness education and deployment support for the unique challenges our youth and teens face. Offering classes, workshops and briefs during the entire deployment cycle, which include pre-deployment, during deployment, and homecoming, defines the role of this program.

• Kids and Deployment: This program is an interactive workshop for children and teens. This is provided simultaneously with a Unit’s Pre-Deployment Brief, Mid-Deployment Workshop, and Return and Reunion Workshop. This workshop is aimed at school-aged children (k-5) with Middles and High Schoolers invited to volunteer and share insight. These workshops provide them with age-appropriate activities designed to normalize a deployment.
• Deployment Support Groups: COMING THIS FALL!!!

MCFTB Life Skills offers a variety of different life skill workshops for youth and teens to develop techniques for managing their daily lives, and cultivate positive relationships with peers and family members.

Stress/Anger/Conflict Management: Is managing homework, sports, and disagreements with peers causing you to feel overwhelmed? No worries, it is completely normal to feel these things. Stress, anger, and conflict are a normal part of life, especially in our teen years. This workshop is designed to help learn about the effects that these feelings can have on us if not properly handled. You will gain a general overview, causes and effects, and the importance of recognizing individual responses to stress, anger and conflict. In addition, you will learn successful strategies for improving personal well-being and personal relationships with others.

Interpersonal Communication: This workshop is an educational experience to increase competence by using more effective communication skills to promote healthy relationships (of any kind). The focus is preventative in nature, enabling teens to function more effectively at home, at school, and throughout life’s daily challenges, thereby supporting personal self-sufficiency and operational readiness in the years and challenges to come.

The Happiness Advantage: Life can be stressful, and how we manage that stress, can impact our happiness and the outcomes. Science has proven, when our brains are stressed out, brain functions shut down to simply fight or flight responses. When we take the time to prime our brain to be positive, we will be able to have more intellectual and positive social, and physical interactions that we can rely on in the future. Biologically, being happy not only makes people feel good , it also dials up the learning center of the brain and aids in organizing new information, retaining it longer, and facilitating faster retrieval later on. Positivity makes and sustains new neural connections, which allows us to think more quickly and creatively, become more skilled and successful problem solvers, who see and invent new ways of doing things. 7 Habits of Happy Kids: This fun and interactive training is geared for children ages 5-12, and is based on Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids®. In this workshop youth will discover a variety of different habits to help them excel in life. From the importance of being yourself, planning ahead, staying organized, finding your strengths, listening, working together and power of friendship, this workshop will cover it all!

7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: Based on the best-selling book by Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens®, this workshops encourages teenagers to activity participate and engage with their peers to learn and apply practical personal leadership principles to their daily choices and challenges they face. This workshop is created to help teen survive and thrive through their teenage years, and beyond!

4-H Babysitting Course: Looking for some extra money, this workshop certifies teens in Babysitting (from 4-H) and, CPR and First Aid, though the American Heart Association. Teens will gain an understanding on child development, age appropriate activities, positive guidance/redirection, safety guidelines, health and nutrition, basic cooking, and more. We will even help you create your very own Babysitting Starter Kit!

4 Lenses: This workshop assesses various personalities, values, communication styles, and conflict styles. Each personality type is discussed, as well as strategies for establishing effective communication and building positive relationships through understanding our own personality first and then helps us understand with other in a more empathic way. This workshop strengthens all types of relationships, from teen to parents, teen to peer groups, etc. Lastly, it helps to reduce personal misunderstandings, and gives us the tools to better communicate with others and gain a sense of acceptance for all.

RADKIDS: This is an interactive workshop on personal empowerment and safety education. This program give emphasis to the importance of quick and meaningful decision-making skills, as well as physical resistance options to escape violence, with a family friendly approach.

How Not to Date a Jerk/Jerkette: This workshop teaches teens about the importance of picking a good companion, how to predict what they will be like in a long-term relationship, and how to pace a growing relationship to avoid becoming overly attached and overlooking problem areas in the relationship. Overall, this workshop aims to empower teens with tools to be more cautious in romantic relationships, and equip them with a plan to develop healthy relationships.

Five Love Languages for Teens: This workshop is based on the book series, The Five Love Languages®, by Dr. Gary Chapman. He explains the world in which teenagers live, and the developmental changes they go through, while providing tools to help them identify and communicate their wants and needs in various relationships.