Positive Normative Culture Training
This week over a hundred select staff and students on the Atterbury Job Corps Campus came together for a Positive Normative Culture Workshop. Joining the group were staff and student representatives from the nearby IndyPendence Job Corps Center as well as staff from the Joliet and St. Louis Job Corps Centers.
All came together to learn and discuss a wide range of topics and philosophies related to improving the overall social well-being of their center cultures. Participants took time every day to “invest” in each other and particularly those they had not yet met or those with whom they hadn’t spoken with in some time. Staff and students alike were encouraged by Workshop Facilitator Melissa Tran, Deputy Center Director from St. Louis Job Corps, to break down barriers that separated one another and to establish an environment that supported and cared.
The prime focus of the training were Job Corps’ Three Norms, Assertive Communication versus Aggressive Communication, and Conflict Resolution or Problem Solving Techniques. These three topics were identified by various center staff from all centers as being core issues that were needed to improve the effectiveness of each center’s program.
During three and a half days staff and students broke into small groups to share experiences, thoughts, and motivations of their Job Corps journey and how they related to the topics. The small groups would then recombine for a discussion. Common themes shared by all participants, people of different
backgrounds, saw that they weren’t so different and began to open up to one another.
On Thursday more center staff and the new students in the CPP department were invited to participate in a “Round Robin” style workshop. There were eight different stations in which
student-led discussions took place on key lessons ranging from De-Escalation of Aggression to “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” Pyramid. For about 8 minutes each group of students would
facilitate a truncated workshop and teach through examples and round table discussions with emphasis on involving all participants. After 8 Minutes they would then shift to the next
station.
By the end a palpable sense of unity, equality, and
understanding was felt by the participants. Taking what they learned to heart and spreading the knowledge of it to each of the four Job Corps Centers became a common goal of all participants. Students and staff would leave with new practical skills and techniques to improve the overall communities they were going back to. Many found a new sense of purpose in the Job Corps Program whether it was as a student seeking a more
positive road to completion or a center staff member with a
passionate mission to invest themselves in the success of their respective program. Overall, a newly discovered comradery was felt by all involved and with it, came the potential to truly impact the lives.
-Seann Dempsey, Career Transitions Coordinator

Good evening, I just want to say that I was honored to be a part of the
Training held on last week. I must say that I was very impressed at how the Atterbury students we’re behaving during the week. When Ms. Joiner told the group about the training, I had my doubts about how the week would turn out for me. The activities and the skits really opened up my eyes and I’m sure that I can vouch for everyone else to see that we can really make a
difference here on center and I just want to say I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea how much of a better person I’m
becoming just because of the training. I’m beginning to have a more positive mindset by taking the right steps day by day! Have a bless day!
Student – Michelle Ashford