Youth Advocacy Center

"Having once been an educator within the private correctional system, I know how desperately many youth in our country need the information that Youth Advocacy Center's program offers."
~ Barb Terry
JIST Publishing

“On Your Own as a Young Adult provides a set of tools that every youth needs, especially those from challenged backgrounds. The book's "Socratic" method patiently teaches—in a "non-teachy" method—a disciplined but fun approach to engaging the world, for a job, for a career, for a successful life. Every youth agency should be using this approach. We do.”
~ David Johnston ,
Senior Program Associate for Life Skills, Casey Family Services, New Haven, CT


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For TeensOn Your Own as a Young Adult Self-Advocacy Case Studies, Facilitators' Guide and DVD

On Your Own as a Young Adult is the nationally published curriculum for Youth Advocacy Center’s renowned Getting Beyond the System® Self-Advocacy Seminar. Though designed to empower teens in foster care, the On Your Own curriculum has been tried and tested with many at-risk young adult populations.

Read a sample case study from On Your Own as a Young Adult Case Studies.

On Your Own as a Young Adult Case Studies $14.95
This book includes 23 case studies designed to relate closely to the lives of at-risk teens transitioning to independent adulthood. The issues addressed in the cases – finding an apartment, asking for a raise, keeping a job, etc. – serve as opportunities for students to learn self-advocacy skills. These include: depersonalizing issues, setting short and long-term goals, understanding others’ needs, gaining allies and mentors, presenting one’s strengths and more.

See the Table of Contents for On Your Own as a Young Adult Self-Advocacy Case Studies.

On Your Own as a Young Adult Facilitator’s Guide* $24.95
This manual provides Getting Beyond the System® facilitators with an overview of the Seminar and explanation of the teaching techniques – a future orientation, the Socratic Method, use of personal narratives, etc. – that separate GBS from other career readiness courses. The Guide also explains class policies on homework, attendance and participation so as to maintain only the highest standards for GBS students.

On Your Own as a Young Adult DVD/VHS $49.95
This fifteen-minute film compares the lives of two teens – one who, without self-advocacy skills, is aging out of foster care uneducated, unemployed and homeless and the other who practices self-advocacy, attends an informational interview and is going on to college.

*Though comprehensive, the Facilitator’s Guide is designed to be used in combination with Youth Advocacy Center’s Getting Beyond the System® training.

On Your Own as a Young Adult Order Form


For more information about the On Your Own books, please contact Susan Ross at 212.675.6181 or sross@youthadvocacycenter.org.