They're some of our brightest Year 13s in their last year of college and off to university and elsewhere next year.

Motivational speaker Yvonne Godfrey will talk at the Summerhill Youth Academy's Youth Leaders' Breakfasts next month.

Out of Mum and dad's hair, out of town, forging ahead, forging a future.

They are sharp and savvy but are they streetwise? Are they ready for everything the world might throw at them?

Summerhill Youth Academy life coach Garth Collings wants this talent armed with some crucial life skills that'll see them safely through their last year of school and into an independent and successful adult life.

So he's holding the second of the Academy's Youth Leaders' Breakfasts next month.

Head boys and head girls from the region's eight colleges will be invited to bring five or six of their peers to hear motivational speaker Yvonne Godfrey spell out 'Five important things you need 2 know b4 you leave school”.

And she'll be unpacking her MIOMO suitcase – an acronym for ‘Making It On My Own'.

It equips young people to succeed in today's world.

Yvonne believes financial pressure, time pressure and a distorted popular culture are damaging families.

And as a result we have teenagers and young adults – or ‘yadults' as she calls them – struggling to transition to adulthood.

The problems, Yvonne says, are ‘yadults' with a misplaced sense of entitlement – they know their rights but have forgotten that with rights come responsibilities.

They live dangerously – NZ has one of the highest suicide rates. And our ‘yadults' are afraid or ill-equipped to step into the real world – they're over-protected and prevented from taking reasonable considered risks.

There is also unprecedented numbers of school-leavers not in jobs or education and living at home, not contributing and idle.

Yvonne says students are being educated academically in the arts, sports and music but there appears to be a missing link in the overall preparation of ‘yadults' to become responsible, independent and ultimately successful adults in the real world.

So what will ‘yadults' gain from Yvonne Godfrey's MIOMO?

They'll gain Independence to live away from home – and they'll command respect when they think, speak and act like an adult.

They'll also have confidence to pursue and achieve dreams, build great relationships, and manage and grow their money.

Yvonne will present her view of the ‘yadult' to the Youth Leaders Breakfast at the Elim Youth Café on Saturday, June 13, from 8am-9.30am.