Services

Counseling and Case Management

We offer individual, family, and group counseling to all participants in need. In addition to the traditional modes of treatment, we also utilize creative expressive therapies (art, music, drama). Our group sessions address issues of bereavement, parental abandonment, sexual abuse, impulse control, violence, and parenting support.

Education Services

Our educational services include tutoring, homework support, computer/internet basic training, school placement assistance and advocacy, test preparation, and college preparation. Upon entering the Blossom program, participants are assessed academically and are referred for tutoring, if necessary.

Mentoring

Blossom participants get firsthand advice about what it’s like to enter the workplace and get a sense of the opportunities available by pairing up with real women who’ve achieved success in their chosen fields. All participants receive mentors within their first six months of involvement. These mentors are asked to make a minimum one-year commitment and to maintain weekly phone contact with their mentee. The mentors and mentees also meet face-to-face at least once per month.

Life Skills

Life skills workshops are tailored to meet each participant’s needs, to enhance basic social skills, and prepare participants for leadership roles within their communities. Our workshops teach girls how to deal with the following issues, among others:

effective communication
conflict resolution
anger/stress management
drug awareness
crime recidivism prevention
decision making skills
peer pressure

Recreation and Social Activities

We provide a safe haven for young girls—a supportive place for them to socialize and learn new things about themselves and their peers. Our girls take trips together, attend cultural events, cook, create art, and dance.

Writers Workshop

This workshop, facilitated by the NY Writers Coalition, Inc., is one of the many creative forums offered at YEM. Trained volunteers and staff guide Blossom’s young women through weekly exercises exploring various forms of creative written expressions, including fiction and poetry. The participants get to see their creative works published each quarter in the Blossom Writers Review.

Posture and Poise

In collaboration with the Brooklyn chapter of Jack & Jill of America, YEM offers etiquette training to teach girls how to conduct themselves in all of life’s situations.