Our Whole Lives (OWL) Teacher Training

 Combined Training for Grades 7-9 & 10-12

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is an excellent, comprehensive sexuality education program that offers our young people the opportunity to explore their values, gain accurate information about topics that are often not easily accessible.  The overall goal of the Our Whole Lives program is to help participants gain the knowledge, values, and skills they need to lead sexually healthy, responsible lives.  We are proud that our congregations recognize that in order for young people to grow into spiritually whole, mature individuals we need to address the topic of sexuality.  The materials on Sexuality and Our Faith connects our religious beliefs with sexuality, spirituality, and issues on justice.

The Our Whole Lives teacher training session will cover the respectable curriculum for the level being taught.  The goals of these workshops are to prepare the participants to implement either curriculum as well as the Sexuality and Our Faith component.  Through a varied program including practice and participation activities, the trainers will cover implementation techniques, information about adolescents, curricula details, and technical information.

Our Whole Lives leaders will have a commitment to values-based, comprehensive sexuality education, having willingness to affirm the Our Whole Lives program goals, values, and philosophy, have a demonstrated ability to appreciate and work with people of diverse races, cultures, ages, abilities, and sexual and gender orientations and have the ability to provide a safe, engaging learning environment.

This training is an opportunity not only to learn about the program and how to lead it, but also to see how comfortable you are as an Our Whole Lives leader.  At the end of the weekend, you and we, the trainers, may determine that teaching Our Whole Lives is not the best fit for you at this time.  And that is fine.  The most important thing is that each of us be open and honest about our comfort and abilities in facilitating sexuality education in the best possible way with our young people.

About The Trainers for the Combined Training for Grades 7-9 & 10-12

Joy Cobb is an OWL facilitator from so far back that she taught AYS (About Your Sexuality).  Since 1996, Joy has been teaching AYS/OWL and has been an active Youth Advisor in her faith community.  Her oldest son is a product of AYS and her youngest will take OWL in the Fall of 2013.  When she is not talking about sex or sexuality, she is a social scientist/analyst for the Social Security Administration (SSA) where her area of focus is the disabled youth population that receives the SSI benefit.  Joy and her wife have two sons, age 26 and 13; along with 21 chickens, two cats, one dog and one gecko lizard.

Thomas (Tom) Hartnett is a 56 year old father of two adult children (who seem well adjusted even though they have both had sexuality education in middle school; the oldest in AYS (About Your Sexuality), the youngest in OWL (Our Whole Lives).  Tom started teaching middle school comprehensive sexuality courses over 17 years ago, and found it to be so valuable that he became an OWL traininer for Grades 7-9 in 1999, following this with becoming a trainer for OWL Young Adult/Adult in 2008.  Although his vocation has been sales and marketing for over 30 years, Sexuality Education is his avocation.  

Registration and Cost

Registration is LIMITED to 24 participants, on a first-come, first-served basis.  Deadline to register is August 16, 2013. Please be aware that attendance is required at all parts of either training session for certification!

The cost is $250.00 per person.  The fee includes registration, materials, breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks on Saturday, breakfast/lunch/snacks on Sunday, leaders' fees, and administrative costs.  Lodging is not included in the registration fee.  If you require lodging, please contact the host congregation, UU Congregation of Arlington, for assistance at 703-892-2565.

Participants should bring their copies of the Our Whole Lives curriculum and Sexuality and Our Faith with them.  Please look the materials over and become familiar with them before you arrive.  (These materials can be borrowed from the JPD Lending Library)