Youth and adult values, interests, beliefs, lifestyle, and possible selves: FUTURESELVES Programs

"Where do I start? I don’t really know what I want to do or where I am going. Why bother? I’ll just go with the flow. All these people giving me advice, all these programs to chose from, but they don’t know who I am, or what I want."

Visit FutureSelves web site

FutureSelves is a proven, internet based tool, that graphically maps student thinking, helping busy practitioners improve student motivation, behavior, performance and decision making. Students (including those classed as at-risk) enjoy it because it is different and captures their uniqueness as individuals. Teachers and mentors find it engages the students better and leads to effective, realistic goal setting and planning. Administrators and funders can see the impact of program spending.

The FutureSelves program is a quick, effective way to engage young people and build a positive future. It is designed for busy practitioners who must cover a lot of ground quickly. At the core of our work is the concept of possible selves. These are the images, thoughts, feelings and senses a person has about themselves in the future. They link directly to a person's thinking - and decision-making, behavior, motivation and performance.

Benefits and Outcomes for Students:

Improved motivation

Increased self awareness - opportunities and barriers

Improved decision making

Benefits and Outcomes for Coaches and Teachers:

Richer information - holistic

Better targeted interventions

Faster understanding of intrinsic motivation

Better goal setting and planning

Supports the changing “self"

View the FutureSelves web site for more information

Pikes Peak Learning is an authorized distributor for FutureSelves, of Wellington, New Zealand. The FuturesSelves application provides a valuable complement to the Peak Mastery life skills, motivational, and real-world readiness programs. To help inspire, motivate, and empower your teens for successful lives, FutureSelves provides valuable and compelling insights into each young person's opportunities and barriers.

Future Selves: How It Works

FutureSelves is a practical application. It is a web-based questionnaire with a selection of item banks for different contexts, and for the different styles of practitioners. The online questionnaire provides feedback in the form of text and graphs, which provide material for discussion with students. Training, workbooks and manuals are also provided.

FutureSelves draws eclectically from a wide variety of psychological approaches, and four feature most prominently:

Modern self theory - possible selves are in the future, so they are directly tied to motivation because they represent personal goals to pursue and to avoid. Possible selves are all the things that we hope, fear and expect. FutureSelves manages this complexity.
Ergonomics - the graphs provide a tremendous amount of item level detail that is comprehensible and manageable.
Cognitive science - the program uses goal setting, and reflects the importance of self-regulation.
Social psychology - the program recognizes the importance of practitioner/client relationships in maintaining goal adherence in clients, and that group dynamics affect performance and goals.

How does futureselves work?
Administrator sets up the student
Student completes FutureSelves online
Administrator provides feedback to Coach (online or email)
Coach sets goals/strategies with student (face to face or phone)
Student works with additional Peak Mastery Courses

Why does FutureSelves work?
Captures the uniqueness of the individual
Taps into intrinsic motivation
Holistic
Identifies opportunities and barriers
Enhances existing approach
Engaging
Ideal for goal setting and decision making
Fast and easy to administer and use
Suitable for groups or individuals, local or remote