Troubled Teens Resources

Give a drug dealer training and a job. A novel approach and what could be a positive intervention against the flow of illegal drugs. Corner drug dealers are a common sight in almost any urban neighborhood. The tragic consequences of the constant drug trade usually become the daily headlines in local newspapers as shootings and gang war become regular reports. Providence, R.I. is employing a unique program to change that.

“The police start by going after the street-level drug dealers and their hierarchy in the worst drug-plagued area, or “beachhead.” The next step is unusual: The police select a few nonviolent offenders, the dealers who are young and have the potential to be rehabilitated. Instead of arresting them, the police give the dealers a second chance and turn them over to the community groups, such as the Urban League, which provide jobs, education and counseling.

The approach encourages the community to trust the police, Kennedy said, which leads residents to work with the police to prevent more drug dealers from returning. The dealers with a second chance serve as an example to the younger generation.
[…]
“We were open to it because we were tired of being a narcotics-arresting machine,” said Esserman, who knew Kennedy from when the professor was at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. “And there’s something compelling about a second chance.” The Urban League of Rhode Island was eager to try it. “It seemed like an opportunity to transform the neighborhood,” said Luis Aponte, an administrator at the Urban League and a Providence city councilman. “The conditions were also ripe. We had the presence of a police chief who demonstrated the willingness to work with the community, and the Urban League was often called in to be a conduit between the Police Department and the community.”
(Source)

Intervention in the current teenage drug crisis engulfing small towns and cities alike has to deal with this fundamental linchpin of drug culture; the money. The sheer economics of dealing are difficult to defeat. It is so very hard to lure a teenager with a fast food job when the big money and the ’street creds’ are found dealing dope. But train an enterprising mind in a field that they have an interest in, apprentice those willing to work, and you can start making street corner bling look shabby.

“Not all doctors agree on what addiction or dependency is, because traditionally, addiction has been defined as being possible only to a psychoactive substance (for example alcohol, tobacco, or drugs), which is ingested, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and alters the natural chemical behavior of the brain temporarily. Many people, both psychology professionals and laypersons, now feel that there should be accommodation made to include psychological dependency on such things as gambling, food, sex, pornography, computers, work, exercise, cutting, and shopping / spending. However, these are things or tasks which, when used or performed, cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and hence, do not fit into the traditional view of addiction.”
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A good friend was upset at the suggestion that her teenage son’s obsession with his computer,Ipod and cell phone were all tantamount to addiction. She was even more indignant that another friend thought that the problem was severe enough to require intervention of some sort.

“What, should I disconnect my whole family?”

No,just your at-risk teen and intervention is as simple as applied common sense.

If most of the teenager’s friends have become virtual, it’s time to intervene with human connections. A part time job comes to mind.

If the teen doesn’t exercise any more than their mouse hand, then an intervention of a barbell or an exercise CD might re-introduce the concept of natural energy to the teen.

If your teen has never strummed a real guitar or touched a keyboard, intervene by replacing the Ipod with an actual musical instrument.

Teaching a restless teen to direct passions, to channel energy effectively would seem a good way to harness the compulsiveness of a potentially addictive personality to productive ends. Perhaps a predilection towards addictive behavior can be redirected, thwarted, by teaching a teen the power of his own mind to alter reality constructively.

The definitions for addiction and it’s causes will keep changing and will range from new psycho-babble to sound, researched based therapies. Meanwhile, a parent could go far with conducting simple interventions of common sense.

You let the appearance of the first tattoo slide. You think it is probably the influence of your teenage daughter’s new boyfriend. You feel like you’re walking on eggs around her, so you haven’t mentioned that you thoroughly dislike this young man. He has the same tattoo on his forearm and you are sure that that is a bad sign. It reminds you of a brand of ownership. And that is what your daughter acts like - she acts like this new boy owns her. And then there is the rough treatment that you’ve witnessed. What is it all adding up to? Could your daughter possibly be involved in a gang and what is the best method of intervention if she is?

If your teenager is lonely or has always been unpopular in school, if your at-risk teen is angry and accusatory, blaming the world for their every ill, they are prime candidates for the seduction of belonging in a gang. Intervention is necessary early on to prevent the developing ties of loyalty and identity from becoming an unbreakable bond.

Here are some factors that contribute to a troubled teen’s attraction to gang life.

• Racism: When young people encounter both personal and institutional racism (i.e., systematic denial of privileges), the risks are increased. When groups of people are denied access to power, privileges, and resources, they will often form their own anti-establishment group.
• Poverty: A sense of hopelessness can result from being unable to purchase wanted goods and services. Young people living in poverty may find it difficult to meet basic physical and psychological needs which can lead to a lack of self-worth and pride. One way to earn cash is to join a gang involved in the drug trade.
• Lack of a support network: Gang members often come from homes where they feel alienated or neglected. They may turn to gangs when their needs for love are not being met at home. Risks increase when the community fails to provide sufficient youth programs or alternatives to violence.
• Media influences: Television, movies, radio, and music all have profound effects on youth development. Before youth have established their own value systems and are able to make moral judgments, the media promotes drugs, sex, and violence as an acceptable lifestyle.

from Why Do Young People Join Gangs?

A parent must seek intervention if they suspect that their at-risk teen is flirting with the idea of joining a gang. Without early intervention, the teen quickly assigns all of their loyalty to this destructive force and it becomes more difficult to break the bonds the longer the affiliation is continued. The link above will guide parents towards the appropriate steps towards intervention.

If drug abuse were the rarity in today’s society instead of the norm it has become, a parent could be excused for dismissing disturbing signs in their teen’s demeanor as displays of the normal angst or insecurities that beset most youngsters approaching adolescence.
Those innocent times are long past and a parent must remain constantly observant to all of the behavioral nuances that their at risk teen exhibits.

“You’ve started noticing the odd $20 bill missing from your wallet.

The teenager that once openly shared the details of his life, now takes to locking his bedroom door. He begins sleeping in late and goes about the house with a glazed look.

There are suddenly new friends on the scene but you don’t know their names or their numbers.

Individually, any one of these things could mean nothing. But collectively, they could point to the early signs of a big problem: drugs.

“You often hear parents say, ‘He or she isn’t the same kid I used to know’. If you can say that, something’s wrong,” says Constable Gord Fleming, Whitby youth officer for Durham Regional Police.
[…]
Education across the grades is still key to preventing teens from experimenting with drugs in the first place, says Ms. Lowery. She points to programs currently in place like Racing Against Drugs for Grade 5 classes and the Values Influences and Peers (VIP) program for Grade 6 students.

“Obviously we’re not going to talk to kindergarten classes about crystal meth,” she adds. “But maybe we talk to them about the dangers of cigarette smoking or the safe use of medications.

“The modelling we do as adults is also incredibly important.”
(Source)

Statistics indicate that drug abuse is starting as early as elementary school. Consequently, many schools have implemented pre-intervention drug awareness programs to make the young child aware of this danger, much as it is par for the course to teach young children to be cognizant of strangers and sexual predators. Sad as it is to introduce these elements into a young child’s innocent exploration of their world, it has become a necessity.

If you are a parent of young children, make yourself aware of which intervention program your schools offer so that you can supplement your child’s awareness at home.

Keisha’s back was pressed flat against the wall, her knees drawn up tight to her chest, almost as if she were trying to penetrate the grey concrete block with her entire body. Her face was tense and her eyes seemingly focused on something faraway, visible only to her. Occasionally a strangely self-satisfied grimace would flit across her otherwise blank expression.

During her regular rounds, the on duty officer stopped to observe the troubled teenager, standing back a bit from the cell’s small service window to study the young prisoner. In time, the girl uncoiled her tense body and standing up, shook herself as if coming out of a trance.  A small safety pen fell from her hand.

Just as the officer suspected, the girl was hurting herself. In lieu of a blade or sharp edge, she had resorted to digging the contraband safety pen into the back of her arms, forming an irregular, angry red circle of tiny pricks.

Keisha is one of millions of at-risk teenagers worldwide who have become obsessed with “self-injury”, also known as cutting. But even when a sharp object isn’t available, any instrument that promises pain will do.

Self-injury is described as a coping mechanism, an extremely unhealthy method of drowning out the troubled teenager’s mental anguish and emotional pain. It is an activity that requires parental intervention as soon as it is discovered. It portends of a crisis that is fast approaching the teenager, often indicative of sexual abuse, emphatically indicative of deep inner turmoil.

“Cutting is a powerful and extreme act, with a huge amount of gratification about it - the sheer, physical, tactile, even sensuous delight of it. It’s not a death-inducing act. There’s a kick to it, a thrill. It makes people feel alive.’ At this extreme end, he says, cutters have very often been sexually abused and are now abusing themselves. They always need help.”
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Teens Health offers a thorough piece to help the cutting teenager resist the compulsion to self-injure. An excerpt follows and you will find additional methods of intervention at the same site.

Here are some things you can try while waiting for a cutting urge to pass:

• call a friend and talk about something completely different
• take a shower (make sure you don’t have razors in the shower)
• go for a walk or run, take a bike ride, dance like crazy, or get some other form of exercise
• play with a pet
• watch TV (change the channel if the show gets upsetting or features cutting)
• drink a glass of water
• play with a pet
• take a shower (make sure you don’t have razors in the shower)
• take a bath (make sure you don’t have razors near the tub)
• listen to soothing music that will shift your mood
• try a breathing exercise
• try some relaxing yoga exercises
• draw or scribble designs on paper using a red pen or paint on white paper — if it helps, make the paint drip
• write out your hurt, anger, or pain using a pen and paper
• draw the pain
• compose songs or poetry to express what you’re feeling
• listen to music that talks about how you feel

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Britney Spears. As parents anguish over the decision to
employ some kind of crisis intervention for their troubled teen, this former teen star flagrantly throws away the opportunity for a drug and alcohol intervention program that most parents would give their right arm to be able to afford.But there is a lesson to be learned from this sad soap opera. The teen must actually be “in crisis”.

In real life, depending on what parents can endure and afford, most troubled teenagers only have one, maybe two chances at most,to turn their lives around. There are no body guards running interference for the normal struggling teen, no chauffeured car to prevent the drunken teen from driving and no exclusive intervention program with revolving doors. Out of control behavior does not reward the average teen ager. In fact, most often,it scars them for life - if it doesn’t kill them.

For everyday folks, there are consequences and for all the sad spectacle that Britney Spears creates for herself day in and out, there have yet to be any real consequences. Not yet. Not as long as she suffers no loss or enduring pain. There are no ugly arrests nor has family services taken her children away. There are just interludes of supposed intervention between parties. And perhaps that is saddest of all. Sometimes deep pain and catastrophic loss are the most extreme interventions life can devise. Hopefully, Britney wakes up before she reaches that point of no return.

If ordinary teens with  limited access to any type of intervention or drug therapy can find their way, surely Miss Spears can as well.

“Can you tell you have depression without diagnosis? I can’t even begin to explain things in my life. I’m so stessed, from everything. In the back of my mind, even though I’m not actually thinking of killing myself or anything, I really honestly always, even when I’m happy, believe that I would be better off dead. It’s not unhappiness as much as it’s a wish to rather not be living. I mean, idk. I can be having the best time of my life, and I still wish I wasn’t alive, and I’d wish I didn’t have to go through it, because I have it in my head that it’ll eventually get worse, because it ALWAYS does. It’s where you come to this realization that you’ve worked so hard to get through so many bad things that have already happened in your life, and you just want it to be over and you want there to be happiness and you don’t want to have to worry for the rest of your life, but I know this is only the beginning, because I’m a teenager. I don’t want to go on. I really just wanna die and get it over with and idk how to deal with it. What do I do?”
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This from a depressed teenager reaching out to other teens on a message board. If you take the time to read various teen boards, you will find that these type of inquiries, unfortunately, are not unusual.

Studies indicate there is typically a constellation of factors that will push a teen into a suicidal crisis. Interestingly enough, even though the internet has spawned such sites as Myspace and other virtual venues for communication, technology has been seen as an additional factor in a troubled teen’s sense of isolation and loneliness.

Combine that with the unrealistic images of the fabulous lives enjoyed by celebrity teens and movies celebrating out of control teenagers wrecking havoc with little consequences, the teens sense of unreality and marginalization increases.

Teenagers may commiserate with each other, assured of anonymity, on a teen board, but they are unlikely to approach an adult for comfort. It is the responsibility of the parent or teacher to recognize the signs of teen depression and devise an intervention.

Here is a partial summary of risk factors inherent in a possible suicidal teenager:

• Previous suicide attempts - If a youth has attempted suicide in the past, he or she is much more likely than other youths to attempt suicide again in the future. If a male teen has attempted suicide in the past, he is more than thirty times more likely to complete suicide, while a female with a past attempt has about three times the risk. Approximately a third of teenage suicide victims have made a previous suicide attempt.18
• Mental disorders or co-occurring mental and alcohol or substance abuse disorders - Research shows that over 90% of young people who complete suicide have a diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder or both, and that the majority have depressive illness.19 In a 10- to 15-year followup study of 73 adolescents diagnosed with major depression, 7 percent of the adolescents had completed suicide sometime later. The depressed adolescents were five times more likely to have attempted suicide as well, compared with a control group of age peers without depression.20 Almost half of teenagers who complete suicide have had a previous contact with a mental health professional. In addition, aggressive, disruptive, and impulsive behavior is common in youth of both sexes who complete suicide.21
• Family history of suicide22 - A high proportion of suicides and attempters have had a close family member (sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent) who attempted or completed suicide. Familial suicide can be a function of imitation or genetics. Many of the mental illnesses which contribute to suicide risk appear to have a genetic component.
• Stressful life event or loss - Stressful life events often precede a suicide and/or suicide attempt. Such stressful life events include getting into trouble at school or with a law enforcement agency; fighting or breaking up with a boyfriend or a girlfriend; and fighting with friends. They are rarely a sufficient cause of suicide, but they often act as precipitating factors in young people.23, 24
• Easy access to lethal methods, especially guns - As mentioned above, firearms are the most common method of suicide by youth. The most common location for the occurrence of firearm suicides by youth is in their homes, and there is a positive association between the accessibility and availability of firearms in the home and the risk for youth suicide. The risk conferred by guns in the home is proportional to the accessibility (e.g., loaded and unsecured firearms) and the number of guns in the home.25, 26
• Exposure to the suicidal behavior of others, whether that of a peer or in the media 27 - Suicide can be facilitated in vulnerable teens by exposure to real or fictional accounts of suicide, including media coverage of suicide, such as intensive reporting of the suicide of a celebrity, or the fictional representation of a suicide in a popular movie or TV show. In addition, there is evidence of suicide clusters, that is, local epidemics of suicide that have a contagious influence. Suicide clusters nearly always involve previously disturbed young people who knew about each other’s death but rarely knew the other victims personally.
• Incarceration28 - Although there are insufficient national data regarding the incidence of youth suicide in custody, information suggests a high prevalence of suicidal behavior in juvenile correctional facilities. One study found that suicide in juvenile detention and correctional facilities was more than four times greater than youth suicide overall. According to another recent study, more than 11,000 juveniles engage in more than 17,000 incidents of suicidal behavior in juvenile facilities each year.

(Source)

Also see Mental Health Sanctuary’s list of suicide hot lines and online communication resources. Crisis intervention includes being prepared before the crisis, in hopes of ultimately preventing one.

The old adage of building a solid foundation to ensure the stability of the structure erected upon it applies equally well to the foundation of discipline and expectations you create for your teenager to stand upon. Having ground rules established for your teenager long before problems can erupt can assure the teen’s stability and resilience for the adolescent years ahead of them. In other words, prevention can eliminate the need for any future crisis intervention.

One suggestion is for the parents to create a “Home Rules Contract“.

“The primary purpose of a Home Rules Contract is for teens to be held accountable for their behavior while allowing parents to maintain a reasonable amount of control. A Home Rules Contract will teach teens that there are consequences to breaking rules, the knowledge of which hopefully will transfer in the teen’s mind to school rules as well as the legal system.

A Home Rules Contract will not resolve the issues of feelings and emotions involved within the relationships between parents and teens. It can only act as a basic agreement that may allow you to work toward a resolution for problem behaviors, minimizing the disruption and interference that can many times occur during the process of getting bad behavior under control and restructuring a family’s rules.”

A sample contract can be seen below.

A. Teen will not use any alcohol or drugs.

• Consequence: Teen will be grounded for one week. Grounding consists of: staying home, no friends as guests, no phone calls, etc. etc.) Punishment will increase one week for each subsequent offense (i.e., if teen is caught using substances a second time, punishment will be for two weeks, etc.)
• Note: It is VERY important to clearly state what being grounded consists of so that there are no avenues for manipulation by the teen to get out of the punishment).
• Privilege: Teen will be allowed to continue going out with friends and may have continued use of the car.

B. Teen is expected to return home immediately after school except if prior arrangements are made with parents. Teen will inform parents where he/she is going and will be home by 8:00 p.m. on school nights and 11:00 p.m. on nonschool nights.

• Consequence: Teen will be expected to come home twice as early as he was late for one week. (e.g., if 30 minutes late, then curfew will be one hour earlier for the next week).
• Privilege: Teen will maintain current curfew and gain trust (some parents may want to allow their teen to work his/her way up to a later curfew by proving himself or herself, but parents should never set a curfew later than the legal curfew in their area).

C. Teen will perform all assigned chores in a satisfactory manner, according to the standards set by parents.
(It is helpful to provide a written list of daily chores so there is no misunderstanding - a dry-erase marker board hung in the kitchen or other family area works great for this purpose).

• Consequence: Teen will not be allowed any privileges until required chores are completed, including TV, radio, computer, having friends visit or going out with friends.
• Privilege: Teen will maintain access to all privileges of the house, including watching TV, using the computer, having friends visit, and going out with friends.

from Teens With Problems

• Life isn’t worth living.
• My family would be better off without me.
• Next time I’ll take enough pills to do the job right.
• Take my (prized collection, valuables) I don’t need this stuff anymore.
• I won’t be around to deal with that.
• You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.
• I won’t be around much longer.
• I just can’t deal with everything; life’s too hard.
• Nobody understands me nobody feels the way I do.
• There’s nothing I can do to make it better.
• I’d be better off dead.
• I feel like there is no way out.

(Source)

Drama queens come in all sizes and teenagers seem to especially excel in the role. However, statements such as those listed above, in conjunction with other signs of depression or disorder in your teenager’s life, are far from the rantings of a drama queen. They can be quite clear indicators that your troubled teen is approaching or is in a psychological crisis sufficiently severe enough to consider intervention.

InCrisis provides an online clinical screening report that can help a parent determine if their depressed teenager is approaching a critical stage.

“The Clinical Screening Report is a tool for parents, appropriate family members and caregivers who want to screen a child’s behavior and compare the screening results to other children. The Clinical Screening Report is designed to identify problems and help guide you in your next steps.”

The report takes about 45 minutes to complete and is to serve only as a guide to assist the parent in determining if crisis intervention is the necessary next step.

The runaway teenage boy lay on the indifferent city sidewalk, blood from his wounds seeping through the lettering on his school jacket. The cops said it was a drug deal gone bad, the kid just one of thousands of teenagers who have fled from home completely unprepared for street corner drug deals and armed dealers.

How can a parent intervene to prevent the crisis that propels a teenager from hearth and home? The signs of an impending crisis are not hard to discern. Intervention before the teenager reaches a point of no return is critical.

If you feel the situation in your home is becoming more and more beyond your ability to handle, seeking professional counseling or calling for a family intervention can spare the parent the horror of being at the receiving end of a call from the police asking that they identify a body.

Here are some some suggested steps to reduce the risk of your teenager taking flight.

• Develop a Crisis Intervention plan for your teenager if the situation involves a crisis or recurrent crises.
• Seek an evaluation and advice from a qualified mental health professional or crisis intervention specialist if your child may be self-harming, suicidal, destructive or violent.
• Review and familiarize yourself with the material on this web site that pertain to Crisis Intervention.
• Seek counseling or therapy for any emotional problems or difficulties associated with any angry, violent or suicidal behavior from a qualified mental health professional. Referral Information
• Evaluate any alcohol and other drug use and treat as recommended by a qualified professional. Alcohol and Other Drug Information
• Encourage a medical evaluation and treatment for any mental illness or other medical condition requiring medication or medical treatment.
• If appropriate, consider enrolling and participating in an educational or skills training group that will improve communication and interpersonal skills (e.g. parenting skills, communication, divorce adjustment, assertiveness training, conflict resolution, or strategies to diffuse angry, aggressive and violent behavior).
• Develop a plan that will minimize and limit all communication that usually leads to conflict, aggression or violence and take steps to resolve problems calmly. Establish a plan that supports communication.
• If there is abuse or neglect, seek advice and further investigation from a qualified mental health profession, law enforcement or an attorney who has experience dealing with abuse and neglect issues. An attorney can provide absolute confidentiality. Law enforcement and some mental health professionals cannot. Confidentiality Information.

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