How to Talk to Porcupines: A Youth Worker's Communication Field Guide

Youth have unique stories to tell, and prickly personalities (also known as porcupines) share their stories to express a need. It's important to help unlock and hear the porcupine's story to address the need. But quills hurt--especially when they get under your skin. This guide is designed to give you environmental cues, tips, and tricks to respond appropriately when prickly personalities arise.

Discover new ways to connect and communicate with young people so you can feel more confident when working with prickly personalities and learn how to:

• Identify porcupines in the field

• Recognize when and how communication breaks down

• Improve your communication know-how to skillfully redirect prickly personalities

• Add effective and impactful communication strategies to your tool kit

• Acquire new tools and strategies to help youth name their big emotions

Bonus: Each section includes activities designed to help you apply your learnings and develop your own action plan for redirecting and de-escalating porcupines.