Anita Garvey: “As a Guidance Counsellor in secondary schools for over 10 years, I have witnessed first hand the dwindling role that religion has in young people’s lives. Any suggestion of praying around worries or concerns or looking to their faith for support in their time of need, was usually met with a quizzical look. What was obvious to me, however, was the increasing need in our teenagers to have something to believe in outside of themselves, to have a sense of a deeper meaning, and a knowledge of the great support that God could and does offer them in their lives. How to help them to realise this was an ever-growing question in my profession.
When I came across the Shekinah course, I felt it captured everything I needed to not only connect youth with themselves in a positive and meaningful way, but hopefully to engage them with their faith also. The elements of adolescent psychology, theology and social and personal development were all delivered in a very practical way which I could easily apply to my work with young people. I immediately began to integrate what I learned into the classroom and in my one to one exchanges with students. It felt like I had acquired a new tool belt with effective results!
While there’s no doubt this course has helped me in my profession, it has also helped me personally. It has helped me in my own faith development and I so enjoyed the Saturdays spent learning more about God and Jesus and improving my personal relationship with them. A course like Shekinah is beneficial on so many levels but most of all in its aim to connect young people with their faith, an aim that cannot be undervalued.”