FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• You should be linked (as a volunteer or formally) to a Pavement Project partner organisation and be endorsed by the same. You can find the partnership agreement here.
• You will also need a tablet or a physical Green Bag for training and later to counsel the children and adolescents on a regular basis – the minimum specifications of the tablet are listed below.
• You will need to make yourself available for full participation in the training meetings and for individual study between each meeting.
• Have experience and work with at-risk children and/or adolescents.
• Be emotionally mature enough to deal with the traumatic stories of the children.
• Be sensitive to the children’s developmental stage and spiritual education.
• Be available to develop capacity to counsel children individually, following best practices regarding the protection of the child and appropriate conduct – Lifewords’ code of conduct can be found here.
• Have sufficient opportunities and time to use the Green Bag app on a regular basis after becoming certified [a minimum of four children per month] [no mínimo quatro crianças por mês];
• Never have committed any abuse of children and/or adolescents.
• Be 18 years or older.

We created a therapeutic tool known as the Green Bag, which was developed by psychologists specialized in infant trauma. In an individual encounter, children, adolescents, and youth share their stories of trauma and pain. Through biblical stories, a message (and an experience), love and restoration occur, promoting spiritual formation and emotional restoration. In this way holistic care is provided, without proselytising.

The training content is composed of theory and practice. These are divided in eight modules and activities for individual study between the encounters, a total of 44 course hours. The online training is performed in real time with 10 meetings on the Zoom platform. If you prefer, you can participate in a presential training, depending on the availability in your region. Consult the training schedule for further information.

During the training, each participant will have the opportunity to have an encounter with a child from their own project and apply the methodology under the supervision of one of the trainers and under the observation of the remaining participants to foster collective learning.

Those participants that, during the training, demonstrate that they are secure and prepared to counsel children and adolescents without supervision will receive a certificate. Those who do not yet feel confident will have an opportunity to schedule another date, after further training is done, to receive their certification. A participation certificate detailing the hours spent in the course will be made available for anyone who may request it.

• • Make sure you have the necessary prerequisites to counsel at-risk children and adolescents. These are the Partnership Agreement from the organisation/church and the letter of recommendation from the same – You can download the Partnership Agreement here and the responsible party from the organisation should fill it out and sign it.
• Select your preferred group, from the training sessions available below.
• Fill out the pre-registration form for the group that you selected (the registration will be confirmed after an analysis and approval of the prerequisites).
• Send the voucher of the one-time payment of US $50.00 for the training – you will receive the payment information after preregistration.
• If you are going to use a tablet, certify that you have one available to use in the training session and after the certification – with the following minimum configuration: Android 6.0 system, 1 GB of RAM memory, with a 2.0 MP back camera.
• The availability of a computer to participate in an online training session for interactive meetings, and Internet access.
• A child or adolescent from your Project (organisation or church) who is available to participate in the playful activity with the Green Bag.

A physical Green Bag or a tablet with a minimum required configuration: Android 6.0 system, a 7-inch screen, 8 GB internal memory, 1 GB RAM memory, with a 2.0 MP back camera.