Empower Youth with YCC’s Healthy Relationships Summit This Saturday
Local teens have a valuable opportunity to learn essential life skills this weekend. The Your Community Connection (YCC) Family Crisis Center is hosting its biannual Healthy Relationships Youth Summit on Saturday, February 24. The free event welcomes youth aged 14-18 from across Weber County to gain important relationship knowledge.
Event Details: Everything You Need to Know
The summit runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Weber County Library’s Southwest Branch, located at 2039 W. 4000 South in Roy. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m., with the program starting promptly at 9 a.m. Parents should note that this is a youth-only event designed to create a safe space for open discussions.
While the event is free, pre-registration is highly encouraged to ensure adequate materials and lunch for all participants. Additionally, teens can earn up to six service hours for attending the full day. This provides a bonus incentive for high school students looking to fulfill community service requirements.
Interested participants can register through a convenient online form available on YCC’s website or by contacting the organization directly. Space is limited, so early registration is recommended for those who want to secure their spot.
Summit Highlights: What Teens Will Learn
This summit goes far beyond typical relationship advice. The curriculum covers vital topics that many teens may not learn elsewhere. Throughout the day, participants will engage in interactive workshops focused on several key areas:
- Recognizing healthy vs. unhealthy relationship patterns
- Developing effective communication skills
- Understanding consent and boundaries
- Building self-esteem and self-worth
- Managing conflict in healthy ways
- Identifying warning signs of dating violence
Each session is designed to be age-appropriate, engaging, and practical. Rather than lecture-style presentations, the workshops use interactive activities, group discussions, and role-playing scenarios to help teens internalize these important concepts.
Morning Workshops: Building Foundations
The morning sessions will focus on foundational aspects of healthy relationships. Teens will learn how to identify their personal values and boundaries. These workshops aim to help participants understand what they deserve in relationships and how to recognize red flags.
One particularly valuable morning session covers digital boundaries and online safety. In today’s connected world, teens face unique relationship challenges through social media and digital communication. This workshop addresses sexting pressure, online harassment, and maintaining privacy in the digital age.
Afternoon Workshops: Advanced Skills
After lunch, the summit shifts to more advanced relationship skills. These sessions focus on conflict resolution, effective communication, and standing up for oneself. Teens will practice these skills through guided exercises in a supportive environment.
The afternoon also includes a workshop on supporting friends who may be in unhealthy relationships. This session teaches teens how to recognize warning signs and provide appropriate support without putting themselves at risk.
Why This Summit Matters: The Impact on Teen Relationships
Adolescence is a critical time for developing relationship patterns that often carry into adulthood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 12 high school students experiences physical dating violence each year. Even more experience psychological abuse in their relationships.
Early education about healthy relationships can significantly reduce these statistics. By learning to recognize warning signs and develop healthy relationship skills early, teens are better equipped to form positive connections throughout their lives.
Margaret Braun, YCC’s prevention education coordinator, emphasizes this point: “The skills teens learn at our summit aren’t just for romantic relationships. These are life skills that will help them in friendships, family relationships, and eventually professional settings too.”
The Power of Peer Learning
The summit creates a unique environment where teens can learn from each other as well as from trained facilitators. This peer learning component is extremely valuable, especially for topics that youth might feel uncomfortable discussing with adults in their lives.
Previous attendees have reported feeling more confident in setting boundaries and communicating their needs after participating in the summit. Many have also shared that the event helped them recognize concerning patterns in their own relationships or those of their friends.
YCC’s Broader Mission: Supporting Healthy Communities
The Healthy Relationships Youth Summit represents just one facet of YCC Family Crisis Center’s comprehensive approach to preventing relationship violence and supporting community well-being. Throughout the year, YCC offers various programs and services designed to address the root causes of family violence.
Since 1945, YCC has served northern Utah as a beacon of support for those experiencing crisis. Their services have evolved over the decades to include domestic violence support, sexual assault recovery programs, homeless services, and extensive prevention education.
The organization operates with a dual focus: providing immediate crisis intervention while also working on long-term prevention through education. This balanced approach recognizes that creating lasting change requires both supporting survivors and preventing future violence.
Year-Round Prevention Education
Beyond the biannual summit, YCC offers ongoing prevention education in local schools. Their curriculum reaches thousands of students each year with age-appropriate lessons about healthy relationships, consent, and violence prevention.
These school programs build a foundation that the Healthy Relationships Summit then expands upon. The summit provides a more intensive, immersive experience that allows teens to dive deeper into these critical topics.
How Parents Can Support Healthy Relationship Education
While the summit itself is for teens only, parents play a crucial role in supporting healthy relationship development. YCC offers these suggestions for parents who want to reinforce the summit’s messages at home:
- Open ongoing conversations about relationships, starting early and continuing through adolescence
- Model healthy relationship behaviors in your own interactions
- Respect your teen’s growing independence while maintaining appropriate boundaries
- Listen without judgment when your teen shares relationship concerns
- Know the warning signs of dating abuse and how to respond appropriately
Parents can find additional resources on LoveIsRespect.org, a website dedicated to empowering youth to prevent and end dating abuse. The site offers specific guidance for parents who want to support healthy teen relationships.
The Impact of Previous Summits: Success Stories
YCC has hosted these summits for several years now, with consistently positive feedback from participants. Previous attendees have shared powerful stories about how the summit influenced their relationships and choices.
One former participant, now in college, credits the summit with helping her recognize and leave an emotionally abusive relationship during her senior year of high school. “The warning signs workshop was like a light bulb moment for me,” she explained. “I suddenly had words for behaviors I’d been experiencing but couldn’t quite name.”
Another success story comes from a young man who attended two years ago. He reports that the communication skills he learned have transformed his family relationships. “I used to shut down or blow up when conflicts happened at home,” he said. “Now I have tools to express myself calmly and actually resolve issues.”
Community Support Makes It Possible
Events like the Healthy Relationships Youth Summit rely on community support to succeed. YCC acknowledges the Weber County Library for providing the venue and local businesses that have donated food and materials for the event.
The summit also benefits from volunteer facilitators, many of whom work in counseling, education, or social services. These professionals donate their Saturday to support teen well-being in their community.
For community members who want to support YCC’s mission but cannot attend the summit, the organization welcomes donations through their website. These contributions help fund ongoing prevention education programs throughout Weber County.
Looking Ahead: Future Prevention Efforts
YCC plans to continue offering the Healthy Relationships Youth Summit twice yearly, with potential expansion to additional locations in the future. The organization is also developing follow-up programming for summit graduates who want to deepen their understanding of healthy relationships.
A peer education initiative is in development as well. This program would train interested teens to become healthy relationship advocates within their schools and social circles, creating a multiplier effect for the summit’s impact.
Register Today for This Valuable Opportunity
The Healthy Relationships Youth Summit represents a unique opportunity for local teens to gain essential life skills in a supportive, engaging environment. With limited spaces available, interested youth should register promptly to secure their spot.
Parents are encouraged to discuss the summit with their teens and support their participation. While the day focuses on serious topics, participants consistently report that the experience is also fun, engaging, and memorable.
By investing a single Saturday, teens can gain relationship skills and knowledge that will serve them throughout their lives. In a world where healthy relationship models aren’t always readily available, this summit provides valuable guidance during a formative period.
How to Register
Registration for the Healthy Relationships Youth Summit is available through YCC’s website or by calling their prevention education office at the number provided in the event details. Questions about the summit can be directed to Margaret Braun, prevention education coordinator.
Don’t miss this opportunity to empower the young people in your life with essential relationship skills that will benefit them for years to come. Register today and help build a future with healthier relationships in our community.
