THE SILVER LINING PROJECT

The Silver Lining Project under the flagship of “promoting the holistic development of our youth”  aims to educate youth on 8 identified dimensions of life to ensure a holistic approach in their decision making process as well as discovering their full  potential. Youth are often negatively stigmatised and with the existence of various social ills they are often labelled and society fails to appreciate  what they are good at, what they care about and what their qualities are. There is a need to reinforce students’ life with different skills, values and mindset that will help them achieve their ion and belief that they can pursue and achieve their dreams by taking a more informed and strategic approach.

Holistic development and wellbeing encompasses eight mutually interdependent dimensions: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, financial, and environmental.  Attention must be given to all the dimensions, as neglect of any one over time will adversely affect the others, and ultimately one’s quality of life. The dimensions, however, do not have to be equally balanced.  Each person should aim, instead, to strive for a “personal harmony” that feels most authentic to him/her based on the person’s priorities, approaches, and aspirations. 
This project will guide youth to reflect and formulate an action plan to develop a lifestyle and a personalised approach to living life in a way that allows them to create the best version of themselves.

Project Components

​Project Objectives

• Stimulate students to reflect on the importance and impact the  different life dimensions have on their lives.
• To introduce students to the 8 Dimension of life and the importance of a holistic approach in decision making and balanced life.
• To stir discussions through reflective questions for students to evaluate their previous choices and think about how they will approach future ones.
• Engaging students to discover their full potential and appreciate lessons from overcoming challenges. 

At the end of successful implementation of the project, participants would be able to:

• Show understanding of how Emotional Intelligence is critical for coping effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships.
• Plan for financial security for the present and the future.
• Recognise their intellectual and creative abilities, and find ways to expand on skills & knowledge through a culture of life-long learning.
• Develop a sense of personal satisfaction and enrichment from one’s choice of occupation.
• Recognise the need for physical activity, healthy foods, and self-care.​​
• Strengthen ways of how to relate to and connect with others for healthy social well-being.
• Appreciate their sense of purpose and meaning in life.
• Appreciate their abilities to recognize their responsibility for a positive impact on the quality of our environment.

The 8 Dimensions 

• Understanding how your social, natural, and built environments affect your health and well-being
  
• Being aware of the unstable state of the earth and the effects of your daily habits on the physical environment
  
• Appreciating your responsibility of preserving the environment for future generations.​
  

• Caring for your body to promote health now and in the future. 
• Developing a culture of self-care.

• Developing a growth mind-set and growing intellectually, and valuing lifelong learning, and responding positively to intellectual challenges.
• Expanding the knowledge, skills and the right attitude while discovering the potential for sharing your gifts with others.

• ​Managing your emotions in a constructive way.
• Feeling positive and enthusiastic about your life.
• Understanding and respecting your feelings, values, and attitudes.​
• Appreciating the feelings and values of others. 

• Preparing for and participating in work that provides personal satisfaction and life enrichment that is consistent with your values, goals, and lifestyle.​
  
• ​Contributing your unique gifts, skills, and talents to work that is personally meaningful and rewarding.

• Maintaining healthy relationships, enjoying being with others, developing friendships and intimate relations, caring about others, and letting others care about you.
• ​Contributing to your community and to your country.

• ​Managing your resources to live within your means.
  
• Being aware that everyone’s financial values, needs, and circumstances are unique.​​
  
• Making informed financial decisions and investments, setting realistic goals, and preparing for short-term and long-term needs or emergencies.

• Finding purpose, value, and meaning in your life with or without being religious.
• ​Participating in activities that are consistent with your beliefs and values

'Sharpen your Silverlining' Workshops

Silverlining Formation Workshop

Need for the project

The youth of Seychelles on a daily basis face a plethora of challenging situations associated with personal growth and development  coupled with various social ills that threaten the successful assimilation into society as a well-equipped functioning member. The  currently available institutions involved in providing the necessary social tools have been heavily concentrated on delivering a specific  aspect of social life, for the most part in isolation of each other. That is, for example, an institution such as schools provide intellectual  and the foundation to occupational goals, whilst aspects of life such as emotional, physical, social, spiritual, environmental, and financial  are engaged at a superficial level.

There is a lack of holistic programmes to capture various social ills youth are facing or fall victim to  and to take an internal approach in empowering them to become more resilient. Whilst we as an organisation recognise various efforts  to empower youth through improving their skills and understanding within the various identified life dimensions, the outcomes of our  interactions with participants highlighted that the lack of synergy have resulted for the most part a disconnect between aspects of  life and they find it difficult to find a balance given the higher concentration on some aspect whilst others are largely unexplored.  

Youth are challenged by several social ills in the community such as substance abuse, risky sexual behaviours and other unsafe  behaviours that affect their well-being, as highlighted in the National Youth Policy 2018-2023.  They also sometimes fall victim of bullying, violence, sexual assault to name a few, and more than often experiencing several hurdles at once.  
Circumstances like these then lead to other issues such as absenteeism in school, unemployment, substance addiction, troubled  behaviour, depression and sometimes even suicide attempts. 
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The Silver Lining project is aimed at educating youth on the 8 identified dimensions of life, in turn it is expected that the participants  adopt an increasing holistic approach in their decision-making process as well as discovering their full potential. The project is geared  towards tackling various social ills through increased awareness on the 8 dimensions of Life/ Wellness to equip youth with the tools  and growth mindset to reflect, build resilience and be more self-aware of internal and external factors affecting their lives, and to be  more conscious about their decisions.

Outcome and Feedback from participants

Testimonies

​“Thank you for this very mind-opening workshop. It was a major help and I owe it to you guys for making us the good & strong people we will be in the future” – Z. Moncherry