Troubled Teens Resources

Teen crisis intervention is imperative when a teenager takes their life. In many instances teen suicide can reverberate across a small community of teens, sometimes triggering “copy cat” suicides. Because teen depression tends to be dismissed by many parents, the symptoms are not always recognized.

Teens at risk for suicide will start withdrawing from their family, perhaps start listening to music that has dark overtones and lyrics. Teens at risk for suicide sometimes also experiment with self-harm activities such as cutting themselves or burning themselves with cigarettes.

Seek professional counseling if you feel that your troubled teenagers are exhibiting worrisome behavior.

• The teen may threaten suicide, either directly or indirectly.
• The teen seems obsessed with death.
• Themes of death or depression permeate the teen’s conversation, writing, reading or artwork.
• The teen seems constantly bored or world-weary, has poor concentration, shows declining quality of schoolwork.
• There are dramatic changes in personality, appearance or behavior.
• The teen demonstrates aggressive, rebellious and/or disobedient behavior.
• The teen suffers an overwhelming sense of guilt, shame or rejection.
• The teen frequently complains about stomachaches, headaches, fatigue or other physical symptoms often linked to emotions.
• The teen changes eating or sleeping patterns.
• There are signs of excessive substance use.
• The teen has suffered a recent, significant loss such as the death of a parent or friend.
• The person is frequently absent from work or school.
• The teen shows an inability to carry out the normal tasks of daily life.
• The teen may become sexually promiscuous.

(Source)

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.