Contact: Thomas J. Turner
The TALKS Program is about twelve years old and was started in Champaign, Illinois by Dr. Harold Davis. Dr. Davis is former music teacher who wanted to address the negative behavior the school district was seeing with young men and developed the TALKS Program specifically to meet those needs.
E-mail: jack@click1.net
Website: http://jackyouthservices.weebly.com/
The program was originally designed to encourage men to mentor but was later expanded to include women. The TALKS Program has been scientifically evaluated with positive outcomes. You may view the research data at www.talksmentoring.org. Although the program started as a grass roots effort in one city, it has expanded to major cities and schools nationally.
The program uses a content-based curriculum in a structured, small group format. The curriculum is based on tried and proven success principles. Several Mental Health Agencies support the TALKS model in their city because they see the curriculum serving as preventative in nature. Volunteer mentors share concepts with the children in one hour weekly mentoring sessions. The structure calls for one mentor to be paired with three children. This creative grouping calls for one high, medium, and low performing student to be in each group.
Thomas J. Turner & Associates, Inc. has established the TALKS MENTORING Program in Jackson Madison County Tennessee and need your support.
