We can help in the community.
You are involved in the community. Perhaps you are the one working directly with people, or maybe you’re the leader. Either way, you want to learn how to best help those who trust you. The 5 Needs have been used in a variety of settings as you will see throughout this site. The 5 Needs concepts and materials can help you have an orderly framework and format for your work.
The 5 Needs allows you to personalize your work. We all share the same basic needs. However, the ways we meet these needs change with time, situations, developmental stage, and abilities. When working with younger children, staying alive may include basics such as personal health and hygiene, while older children may need to focus on healthy eating and exercise, and teens need to look at suicide prevention while talking about staying alive. Moms may need to explore more self-care and self-compassion. Using The 5 Needs to build a sense of community can be interesting and a lot of fun.
Creative and expressive arts, music, dance, drama, and all sorts of skits can be implemented with The 5 Needs materials. You and your team, decide what your group will focus on in teaching people of all ages how to identify their needs and find healthy ways to meet them. The 5 Needs materials often can be incorporated with what you already are doing, or they can stand alone.
The 5 Needs materials can be helpful in a many settings including, but not limited to:
- After school programs
- Day camps
- Overnight summer camps
- Homeless shelters
- Transitional housing
- Vacation bible school
- Women’s church groups
- Moms’ clubs
- Preschool programs
Helping others learn to identify needs and differentiate “needs” from “wants” can easily be done in community settings. As you can imagine, this is important. Teaching these skills can be a life changer for some, reduce judgements of self and others, as well as provide opportunities to develop compassion and empathy.
Once we can identify the needs, conversations can change from:
“What is wrong with you?” to “What do you need?”
which can impact our attitudes and ways of dealing with people. We can also ask this of our selves:
“What do I need?” instead of always wondering, “What is wrong with me?”
Take time to explore this site. See what ideas you may find. Stay curious and open to ways using The 5 Needs could enhance your work or allow you to create something new. We can talk about your specific situations and see if The 5 Needs may be a good fit for your work. We can also help guide you and brainstorm with you about what you would like to see happen in your organization using The 5 Needs materials. Support and help are available.
Community organizations often make our communities better and safer. Thank you for the work you are doing. Let us know if we can help. Contact Wendy for more information: wendy@the5needs.com .
