Our care and education programme applies for teenagers ages 13 to 23, four days a week.
Short-term courses, workshops, special projects and events are organised all year round.
The programme includes:
- Day care – rhythmic (daily) activities: sports, games, conversational/inspirational gatherings, sustainable gardening, cooking and hospitality, housekeeping, animal care, performing arts, visual arts, crafts and more.
- Individual coaching: conversations, one-on-one (activity) mentoring, external care (in collaboration with our care group).
- Educational support: study guidance (in collaboration with our education group), individual tutoring, relaxation/concentration training, development and differentiation of learning abilities, carreer coaching, intervision, project education, research and deepening (refinement), (state) exam coaching, placement and work experience.
- Entrepeneurship: guidance with the independent development of an entrepeneurial initiative – in collaboration with organisations and businesses.
- Occasional activities: workshops, projects, parties, festivals, thematic gatherings, lectures, presentations, excursons, and trips.
Group activities versus individual programme
At the Ponderosa each youngster in principle enters and finishes an individual programme from the day they arrive until the day they leave. Participation in group activities reinforces their personal programme.
Coaching and mentorship
The Ponderosa mentors are trained in designing and conducting individual creation processes. Empathic observation, letting loose, organically allowing life to evolve and connecting, are all keys to awakening, inspiring, engaging and coming into action.
Each youngster chooses a mentor who supports his or her development in a sustainable way, on a basis of mutual trust. In dialogue with the coordinator, the mentor also takes care of the communication with the family and the outside world.