By Fr Keith J. Amodia
Provincial Delegate for Social Communications (FIS)

2023 August 10 - Zoom - The Salesian Communicators of the EAO Region once again held their online school of formation today with the topic "New Realities, New Behaviors: Understanding our Youth Situation Today". Ms. Genevieve Lavadia, a licensed and registered guidance counselor working in the Department of Education in the Philippines gave the talk.

She outlined the youth experience of the pandemic and the scientific reading of youth behavior by contemporary psychology. She shared her own experience of working firsthand with youth in crisis in public schools and gave tips for Salesian educators on how to deal with new behaviors. She stressed on the need for educators to deepen their knowledge of their learners in order to adequately understand their behavior.

Communicators from all over the EAO region attended the online session. Ms. Lavadia answered questions from participants regarding properly guiding formands, dealing with boundaries with youth, and managing teenage behavior. "We just have to listen. It might not work all the time and we may not always be the right people to help them and so we have to learn to ask for help from others," she shared.

The communicators afterward shared their own experiences of new youth behaviors in their own contexts and their struggles with establishing personal connections with them.

The online school of formation for Salesian communicators is now on its third cycle where different topics on youth and communications are tackled in monthly sessions. While organized primarily for the Social Communications delegates and their teams, it has been open to all those directly involved in Salesian education, Salesian family, Youth Ministry and others interested in the session. It aims to equip, update and upskill Salesian educators and others in their ministry of education and communication.

Here is the link to the video: New Realities - New Behaviours

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