Youth Opportunity Breakfasts are informational events hosted by Serendipity and designed to shape the conversation of therapeutic education in the state of Oregon. This complimentary event is our forum for engaging our peers in the educational field and interested community members in discussion intended to build understanding and support for all children challenged by disability and/or trauma.

The YO Breakfast follows a model developed by Dr. Donna Beegle and adapted for Serendipity in 2013. Funded by an investment by the United Way of the Columbia—Willamette, Serendipity participated in a year-long study with Dr. Beegle, culminating in the first YO Breakfast for our friends and the first Youth Opportunity Summit ever held in Oregon being offered to the Upper School students at Serendipity. It has become our practice to share our learning on various topics related to therapeutic education. In 2013 and 2014, the YO Breakfast shared insight into the impacts of poverty on learning. In 2018, the focus was trauma-informed approaches for school-based providers, and in 2020, we shared our knowledge on the gifts of therapeutic gardening. Regardless of the topic being explored, YO Breakfasts remain patterned after Dr. Beegle’s teachings.

The goals of Serendipity’s annual YO Breakfast are to build awareness and advocate for young people facing severe challenges in ways that:

  • Remove shame
  • Rebuild hope
  • Reduce isolation by connecting youth with an empathetic community