genNOW Consulting provides training, workshops and consulting services that help bridge the generation gap between youth and adults.
Our services are valuable to schools, educators, youth workers, parents, community centers, and youth-serving organizations. We help adults to better understand, inspire, and engage youth in meaningful ways that lead to successful adulthood.
"We help adults to better understand, inspire, and engage youth in meaningful ways that lead to successful adulthood."
--Jennifer Watson
Our Approach
At genNOW Consulting we believe that the best way to bridge the generation gap between youth and adults is by fostering positive relationships and partnerships between them. We are unique in that we always include the youth voice in everything we do, whether it be by encouraging youth participation, utilizing young people as assistant trainers, or providing a youth perspective through available research.
Our trainings, workshops and consulting services are designed to be engaging and interactive. We incorporate best practices in instructional design, using hands-on exercises, simulations, role-play, and training of trainers to ensure participants retain and implement what they learn into their organizations and their practices.
Our Trainers
Trainings are conducted by experts in the field of Youth Development, led by Jennifer Watson, founder of genNOW Consulting, who has eleven years experience training and consulting with hundreds of schools and youth serving organizations throughout the US. To ensure we best serve the unique needs of our clients, we collaborate through a network of experienced and certified consultants who are specialists in their respective areas of youth development.
Jennifer Watson is passionate about helping young people achieve their full potential. She has over ten years experience working with schools, educators, youth-serving organizations, youth workers and youth, fostering more positive and safer learning environments and advancing the development of young people.
As an expert in Youth Development, School Safety and Training Development, Jennifer has trained, consulted and presented to hundreds of schools and youth serving organizations throughout the US, and has developed numerous trainings and workshops tailored to the organizations she serves. Incorporating best practices in instructional design, Jennifer provides an experiential element to her trainings, incorporating simulations, role play, plan development and training of trainers to ensure her clients and their staff retain what they learn and effectively implement plans of action in their organizations.
Jennifer’s experience includes being a lead trainer and consultant for Safe Schools America, Inc., serving as the Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator for the Kentucky Center for School Safety, and working as an independent consultant for four years. She most recently served as the Youth Development Training Manager for Kentucky Child Now!, where she developed and led a wide variety of trainings across the state on topics including youth development, cross cultural understanding, youth/adult partnerships and fostering safe learning environments.
Jennifer holds a master in Education and a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Kentucky. She has been certified as a professional trainer in a number of leading curricula in the field of youth development, including the National Training Institute’s Advancing Youth Development, Search Institute’s Building Developmental Assets in School Communities and Change of Heart, and AchieveGlobal’s Leadership training.
View Jennifer Watson's Bio
Areas of Expertise
Our offerings leverage years of experience in the field of Youth Development and focus in the following areas:
- Helping young people build developmental assets
- Empowering youth
- Building youth/adult partnerships
- Understanding teens
- Fostering safe and productive learning environments
- Developing intercultural understanding
- Implementing a youth development approach in your organization, activities or community
Our trainings and workshops are targeted to schools, educators, youth-serving organizations, youth workers, parents and youth themselves – all focused on helping young people achieve their full potential. Offerings range from established nationally recognized curricula to customized workshops designed for specific client needs.
Workshops & Options
CLICK HERE to learn about workshop pricing, formats and partnership opportunities.
- Parenting the Teenage Brain
- Bridging the Generation Gap
- Surviving Tweens and Teens
- Basic Principles of Positive Youth Development
- Creating Safe Places to Learn
- Fostering Intercultural Understanding
- Shipwreck Island: Building Youth-Adult Partnerships
- Appreciating Others
- Barriers to Student Success
- What Teens Need to Succeed
Use our form below to contact us.
Workshop Descriptions
Click on a training title below to jump to/read its description
Understanding the Teenage Brain
Research completed over the last few years on the teenage brain gives a new understanding about teenagers and why they behave the way they do. This 3-hour workshop will offer insights into the developing teenage brain and will address techniques to improve relationships and interactions between adults and teens.
Parenting the Teenage Brain
Adolescence is not just a difficult time for a young person but it also can be a very confusing time for parents. This workshop sheds light on the changing teenage brain and helps parents better understand teen behaviors, emotions, physical changes, social life, and use of technology. Parenting styles most effective and strategies to improve interactions between parents and teenagers are also covered.
Bridging the Generation Gap
The gap between youth and adults in our culture is widening. This workshop helps bridge the generation gap with a trip back in time to examine teen culture of past generations. Reflect on your own youth and explore the differences of other generations in order to better understand the teens of today. Strategies for better communication and working together are also discussed.
Surviving Tweens and Teens
Packed with practical tools and tips, this workshop helps parents and professionals navigate the trying years between childhood and adulthood. Tween and teen issues, trends and developmental milestones will be addressed as well as techniques to aid the growth of young people. Walk away with a survival kit and a top ten list for surviving the tween and teen years.
Basic Principles of Positive Youth Development
This 4-hour workshop is designed for frontline professionals who work across a wide range of community settings in helping young people in late childhood through adolescence. It is also appropriate for supervisors, directors, community volunteers, funders and others interested in understanding the basic principles of positive youth development and integrating it into practice.
Creating Safe Places to Learn
This workshop provides the foundations for creating a safe, supportive and productive place for young people. Information provided focuses on creating a place that meets developmental needs, fosters a sense of community and positive peer relationships, and empowers young people to succeed in life.
Fostering Intercultural Understanding
This workshop explores different cultures that exist within a youth setting. It shares tools and resources that promote proven strategies to create safe and mutually respectful social environments for all youth and staff. Learn why and how to prepare youth and staff to communicate and work effectively with people from different cultures.
Shipwreck Island: Building Youth and Adult Partnerships
Designed to foster adult-youth collaboration and partnership, this workshop gives youth and adults the task of starting up a new community on an uninhabited island. Faced with a number of issues and challenges, they will learn to work together to identify and break down barriers in an effort to establish effective partnerships. This workshop is perfect for community groups who are seeking ways to better engage youth as partners, leaders and decision-makers.
Appreciating Others
In this workshop, youth explore how mean behaviors strongly influence the world in which we live. Learn how quickly we put labels on others and how our actions show others how we feel about them. When we label others based on prejudices and stereotypes, it strongly affects the way we get along with others. This workshop promotes the importance of building positive relationships that help us set aside labels so we can work to appreciate each other.
What Teens Need to Succeed
Teens can overcome risk factors when we focus on strengthening positive assets in their lives. Participants will learn how to support teens by fostering resilency, building development assets, assessing their program for asset development.
Workshop Options
We offer many different ways to serve and partner with you on workshops. Select a training option right for you.
- Standard Workshop. Select from our menu of 3- and 4-hour workshops and request a date(s) that works best for your group. We will contact you to coordinate details and work with you to achieve the outcomes you desire.
- Host a Workshop. Partner with us to offer training at a selected site in your area. Help us promote a featured 3-hour workshop in your area in exchange for up to 5 free participant slots and discounts on additional workshops for your respective group. We handle registrations through our website.
- Sponsor a workshop. Partner with us to offer featured workshops for selected groups or professionals in your area. We will work with you to coordinate details and can handle registrations through our website if needed.
- Workshop Packages. Save 15% by combining any three of the 3-hour workshops into a package deal. Packages can be designed according to need and can be assembled upon request.
- Customized Workshops. Ask our experienced training team to design a workshop that addresses your unique goals. Workshops can be designed in a 3-hour or 6-hour format and can include topics that are not addressed in menu.
- Sampler Workshops. Want to learn more about our trainings? Select two of our workshops for a 3-hour session (1.5 hour preview of each) that provides an overview and introduction of key concepts. This approach is helpful to key decision makers who want to understand core content and fine-tune their approach before investing in broader training rollouts in their organizations or areas.
- Presentations/Speaking Engagements. We are available to provide conference plenary or keynote presentations, directed to local, regional or national audiences. Cost to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Understanding the Teenage Brain Workshop Registration
Understanding the Teenage Brain Workshop Registration
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Contact: Jennifer Watson
E-mail: Use our Contact form
Phone: (859) 492-7759
Understanding the Teenage Brain Workshop Registration
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Understanding the Teenage Brain
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