Michael Page has become a key partner for skill-building workshops for our older youth, high school students in our Leader In Training program, and graduates navigating independence after aging out of care. This year’s Communication Building workshop marked the 5th time we have come together, a partnership that continues to grow year after year. 

Held at their office in Kamiyacho, this year’s workshop theme centered on when and who to communicate with, and why. The day struck a good balance between lecture-style learning and role play, giving participants both the framework and the practice to make it stick. Each participant was paired one-on-one with a Michael Page employee, with everyone bringing a different professional background to the conversation.

In the morning session, participants worked on recognizing the kinds of situations that call for communication, a skill that sounds simple but often isn’t. Much of the discussion centered on the importance, and the difficulty, of taking that first step. Participants reflected on past moments when they should have spoken up but didn’t, and used those examples to think through how to initiate a conversation and, just as importantly, how to keep it going once it started. They also worked on something very practical: making a list of the people in their lives they can rely on and reach out to when they need to.

Lunch with the Michael Page employees brought friendly conversations that let participants connect with their partners outside the structure of the workshop itself.

For many in the room, the timing made the workshop especially powerful. With graduation and career changes on the horizon for several participants, the themes of when to reach out, who to turn to, and how to start a hard conversation felt like preparation for what’s coming next.

We would like to sincerely thank everyone at Michael Page for once again sharing their time and expertise, and for creating a space where our LITs and graduates could practice a skill that will serve them well beyond this workshop.