Over the course of the fourteen hour program, mentors and the youth will meet one or more times per week. A key component of the Taking ChargeTM program is the dialoguing process. This approach engages youth in dialogue emphasizing that there are no right or wrong answers, that that each response is a strategy for success, and that by working together, concerns can be addressed.

The Structure of the dialogue:

How to Get Started: Opening dialogue
All About Me: Identifying my learning strengths and weaknesses
My Concerns and Goals: Turns concerns into realistic goals
My Personal Style: How my style support/affect my goals
My Success Strategies: Building a network of support and making positive choices.
My Action Plan:Action contract and support agreements

The Almansor Center is a pioneer in the field of teaching personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is the willingness to see oneself as the source of one’s successes and failures in life. Personal responsibility is not blame, guilt, or placing fault on oneself or others. Rather, it is the willingness to work together with others to discover areas of concern in our lives, develop competencies and strategies to handle those concerns, and learn to follow through with effective action that is conducive to the well being of ourselves and others.