I am Akosua Washington-Woods (she, her, hers), the Youth & Family Ministry (YFM) Director here at Unity of Gaithersburg.

I am a Licensed Unity Teacher (LUT) in both Youth & Family Ministry and in Adult Education. I have an extensive background in youth programming starting with many years as a Girl Scout Troup leader, running camp/youth programs, youth related train-the-trainer webinars/trainings and most recently the YFM Director at another Unity ministry. I continue to attend trainings and webinars offered by Unity Worldwide Ministries (UWM), Unity Worldwide Spiritual Institute (UWSI), Unity Urban Ministerial School (UUMS) and Non-Violent Communication intensives.

I have presented at regional leadership webinars. For the past year, I have been on a nation-wide team creating new curriculum for Youth & Family Ministry for UWM. In June 2022, I co-facilitated a four-hour workshop on Diversity/Inclusion: What’s Your Comfort Zone? at the annual Unity Peoples Convention. Lastly, I was a member of the two-year planning team and staff for the youth village at Celebrating Our Soul: People of African Descent in New Thought conference.

Our vision for UoGs Youth & Family Ministry is to be spirit-filled, remain culturally relevant, use weekly mindfulness exercises, along with kindness/empathy/gratefulness practices, to monitor sacred safety and create a full youth ministry module for all age groups. We will create fun and innovative ways for youth to learn while using Unity and Truth principles.

 

There will also be special services throughout the year, such as Family Sunday’s, a Kwanzaa celebration, pre-Halloween festivities, pajama Sunday, Holiday parties, White Stone and Burning Bowl, vision boards, multi- cultural/multi-religious explorations, Women’s Herstory Month, African American History Month, rainbow rock garden and butterfly bushes, Easter festivities, sacred service and fun food prep activities.

Please feel free to reach out to me with your visions, dreams and continued prayer.

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Peace and blessings!
Yfm2@unityofgaithersburg.org

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