Sparks Flew, Connections Were Made

The Just in Time office was full of first-date energy last week. More than 15 young women in JIT’s My Life, My Story service arrived looking for meaningful connection, not with romantic partners, but with female mentors. They made casual conversation over butter chicken and turmeric rice. Participants hovered around a large whiteboard postered with coach bios and photographs searching for a match.

Focused on wellness, My Life, My Story falls under JIT’s Rise to Resilience umbrella, which is all about self-exploration, mental health strategies, relationship building and healthy practices.  

In My Life, My Story, youth join gender-focused eight-month cohorts where they are paired with coaches for the duration of the service. They attend workshops and outings together, many of them incorporating mind-body activities like hiking, yoga and engaging in meaningful discussions. In the female cohort those can include talks about femininity and navigating the professional world as a woman. 

For the Kickoff, youth and coaches formed two circles to facilitate speed dating rounds lasting 3 minutes each. They were given prompts like  “What’s something meaningful to you?” and encouraged to ask about each other’s hobbies and interests in hopes of making a match.  

After “Speed Dating” sessions were over, the whole group relaxed by watching the “Barbie” movie together. 

Local Poets Host  Workshop at Just in Time

Local poets Jane Muschenetz and McKenzie Davis visited the Just in Time office to host a spoken word workshop for Just in Time participants. Throughout the evening, youth were introduced to poetic forms that challenged their ideas about what a poem is and what it should look like. Youth learned techniques to craft their own spoken word forms and were invited to share them with the group.