Stichting Don Bosco Rijswijk

About Stichting Don Bosco Rijswijk

Don Bosco Rijswijk is a Multicultural Youth Centre with youth activities, after-school care, and hall rental, focused on Rijswijk and The Hague. With drop-in days during the school holidays, and the Holiday Forest during the big school holidays. The centre has many facilities inside and outside, making it very suitable for youth, groups, and family parties.

Method

Don Bosco's way of working with young people is known as the 'preventive pedagogical system'. It can be summarized by a few key concepts. Presence is the core of it. Not to 'control' young people but to 'be there' and thus build a relationship with them.

Love is the binding element in the system. Young people must feel that attention is paid to them 'from within'. Dialogue means that the method is not a one-way street. By entering into a dialogue, young people feel taken seriously and are more motivated to take responsibility - a fourth key concept - for themselves and for others. Stimulation means that young people discover and develop their own potential.

Don Bosco took trust for granted. Instead of treating young people as immature and dependent, he gave them his trust to develop. After all, growing people need space, literally and figuratively: to play, to experiment, but also to make mistakes and correct them.