Troubled Teens Resources

Teens at risk for teen age drug abuse can be diverted from that path if their vision for the future can inspire them. Often troubled teens have no way of visualizing another life or a future that they can believe in. Programs that can give the troubled teen a new paradigm, a new perspective, are worth their weight in gold.

A program that is bound to inspire some of the teenagers who are enrolled is Maryland’s National Guard Freestate Challenge Academy is The Silver Wings of Maryland- a program where troubled teens can soar without a single drug in their system.

“The way Bill Almquist tells it, pilots tend to sit around talking about who’s flown where and how many times. But the talk stops short at action.

About 10 years ago, Almquist, who at age 87 lives in Oak Crest Village, asked some of his fellow pilots to put their time where their mouths were, so to speak, and start helping youngsters who had lost their way.

His urgency came from hearing the dropout rates, and even more dire, the increasing statistics on teen suicide.

“Flying is more exciting than drugs and alcohol,” Almquist said in a 2006 video segment for Oak Crest Village’s television station.

“The turnaround of these kids is miraculous. When they first come, you have a very coarse person who speaks a language which you can’t understand,” he said. “And when they’re leaving they’re ‘yes sir, no sir’ and they shake your hand.”
(Source)

You don’t have to scratch the surface all that deeply to find the earnest and innocent teen that still lives behind the hardened facade that a troubled teen always erects as a defense. Check into flight lessons or a similar program in your area. Give your teen a new vision for their life.