Troubled Teens Resources

What is teen crisis intervention? It can be whatever it takes that will make the difference in a troubled teenagers life. It could be a specialty school, or schools for troubled teens, it could be a mentor, or it could be any of the various programs for troubled teens that are made available through various sponsors, grants and non-profits.

Some of the most effective programs are ones that first engage the teens heart and teases his creativity. Thus, programs that give at-risk teens their first introduction to the arts - to writing, photography,painting,etc - can often serve as the pivotal deal breaker in a teen’s burgeoning criminal career. When a teenager is introduced to their own gifts and talents, they have a new choice that can turn them away from drugs and crime.

“Best known for his role as a troubled teen on television, Edmonton-based actor Dakota House is using the arts to reach out to at-risk aboriginal youth.

House… held a fundraiser for his non-profit organization, Going M.I.L.E.S., last night in downtown Edmonton.

The name stands for Motivating, Inspiring, Leading, Empowering and Succeeding.
[..]
“It sets (youth) up for the future” by teaching them skills and giving them confidence, said House.
[…]
House, 33, found himself in trouble on more than one occasion in his younger days…Now drug- and alcohol-free for almost three years, the actor said he has learned from his mistakes and like other Going M.I.L.E.S. participants, including ReddNation and Dallas Arcand, makes a good mentor.

“Everyone on board is a role model,” said House. “Youth can identify with us.”

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One of the most valuable gifts that schools for troubled teens can provide their willing students is the gift of themselves. Away from the battlefields of drugs and family hardships, in the growing strength of being drug free, a teen has time and peace enough to explore their skills, talents and abilities. Often they are amazed to discover that they are writers, or artists, or sculptors, or engineers.

When it isn’t possible for juveniles to enter troubled teen boarding schools, you hope to be able to find local teen programs that can teach the same lesson. One such program that brings art to troubled teenagers was started by a woman who made the same long journey as the troubled teens that she helps.

“Price Davis’ affinity for troubled teens stems from her own difficult childhood, she said. Alcoholism, abuse and poverty all played a role. She married two days after her graduation…

It wasn’t until eight years later, divorced and with two children to raise, that she entered college. This time she paid her own way through, working four or five part-time jobs to make ends meet.

“My ticket out (of poverty) was my brains,” she said. Her mission is to help young people find their own particular strengths.”

Her brains are responsible for the successful Arts Prevention Program for troubled youth, a program that can give a teen the gift of themselves.

“I know because of my psychology background that making art reduces resistance and changes behavior. It bypasses that counter-argument mechanism. When they’re in that zone or flow of the moment, they’re much more able to hear.”

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Karen’s daughter Erin has just begun her high school career, entering the new school year as a freshman. A time that ought to be celebrated as an important threshold in a child’s life is now viewed with a great deal of trepidation by parents struggling with troubled teenagers. Karen had been concerned over some of the friends her daughter has been hanging out with at the end of eighth grade. She blew it off as just harmless teens with tattoos and rock star dreams.

Picking up her daughter after the first day of school, Karen was alarmed to see her standing around with the same tattooed kids who, if anything, looked more radical than they had last year. Erin immediately became belligerent when Karen questioned her about who they were.

Parents of young teens who have not yet dealt seriously with the issue of teenage drug abuse need to understand that an essential aspect of teen crisis intervention is for both the teen and parent to be educated about all aspects of drugs and drug culture.

If Karen’s suspicions that her daughter’s new friends do drugs, what signs should she look for? Trouble Teen.us offers some basic guidance. Follow the link to view the entire list of questions.

Are your teen’s friends concerned about him or her?
Has your teen ever returned home drunk?
Does your teen use marijuana?
Are there signs of heavier drug use?
Is your teen huffing?
Has your teen ever run away?
Is your teen sexually active?

You do not usually see the discipline that is handed out in boot camps practiced in a public high school, but then Tahlequah Alternative School is designed more along the lines of schools for troubled teens than your standard high school.

“Ninth-grader Dylan Yanez must hold his hands behind his back each time he walks across the Tahlequah Alternative School campus.

He must wear the same black sweats and black shirt as other students. He must spend the whole school day without taking a break to chat with classmates. If he wants to speak, he must stand by his chair and ask, “Permission to speak.”

Referred to as a regimented program, it is an effort by the public school district in that county to keep troubled teenagers in school while simultaneously addressing their behavioral problems. The students, both girls and boys, must dress entirely in black sweat suits with boys sporting buzz cuts and girls with their hair bound back.

Unlike quasi-military educational “boot camps” like Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor, the Cherokee County academy does not board students overnight.

But Sams makes no bones about it. From the time they get to the school at 8:50 in the morning to the end of school at 3:30 p.m., those kids maintain strict, military discipline.

“They move from one room to another with their hands behind their back and do not stop and mess with anyone,” Sams said. “When they go to class, I make them sit in the front of the class. They need to be listening to the teacher, not back socializing.”

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Teen crisis intervention projects sometimes show up in the oddest places. The imagination behind some of these efforts to reach troubled teenagers are admirable. They are created by private citizens and non-profits in various communities nationwide. Citizens who put their money and action where their mouths are. No platitudes and yearning for an answer to drugs. Just very practical and effective programs that hit the ground running. The Blue Sky Project is going after teen depression.

Most everyone is familiar with craigsList, the ubiquitous cyber bulletin board where all and sundry can find something or someone. craigList’s most prodigious users are the teenagers and college students that Dr. Michael Bagby is looking to reach.

“…mental-health researchers are turning to the Internet to look for teen subjects. At Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, doctors posted on craigslist.org to recruit teenagers for a five-year study on first episodes of major, or clinical, depression called the Blue Sky Project.

The idea of navigating the grown-up world of psychologists and psychiatrists is terrifying to many teenagers, says Maria Luisa Contursi, mindyourmind.caproject manager.”Kids are afraid of bricks and mortar,” she says. “They’re not sure what’s behind that door.”
[…]
Hoping to attract students while they are searching for used bikes or second-hand furnishings for university dorm rooms, Dr. Bagby’s posting seeks people who are having trouble concentrating and getting out of bed in the morning.”

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Troubled teenagers who indulge in binge drinking or teen age drug abuse have given many communities incentive to implement teen crisis intervention measures in order to stop the carnage. Communities who are tired of waking up to headlines listing the latest teen fatalities from drunk driving or drug overdoses.

Being proactive in their community is an uncomfortable role for many parents. And while it is certainly not true that it takes a village to raise a child, it helps if each parent is responsible and vigilant for their own.

That’s why programs like the one in Hinsdale are becoming more prevalent. Parents are being provided a hot line to report drunken teens and adults who allow underage drinking in their home. They also can turn in their teen’s contraband drugs. It may be a small effort, but then, that is how the war is won - one battle at a time.

“On Tuesday, the [Hinsdale]chiefs talked about expanding…Operation STAAT… to get to the root of underage drinking early.
[…]
Neighbors who suspect a teen party can anonymously call a hot line and are encouraged to record license plates of vehicles parked in the vicinity. The program also calls for community service for offenders.
[…]
STAAT offers help for parents who suspect their teenagers have been drinking. Police officers will be dispatched to a home to administer a preliminary breath test. If the teenager fails, a juvenile officer will meet with the youth and set up community service hours. If parents say the teenager continues to drink, he or she can be charged with underage drinking.”

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If parents do not want their sons or daughters enrolled in schools for troubled teens, they’d best include a drug education “module” for their kids just as they made sure that their kids were educated about strangers and sexual predators.

High school presents a whole new battleground for parents and no matter how good your teen is, you can’t predict when a moment of weakness and some available drug will intersect, presenting an opportunity for troubled teenagers to indulge.

But they might think twice if they know that their parents are vigilant, willing to administer drug tests and fully intend to mete out severe consequences for any infractions.

Dr. Phil has a thorough list of suggestions on how to be a conscientious, drug fighting parent. Below is an excerpt, the article in it’s entirety can be found at the link below.

• Lock your liquor cabinet.
  Brandon started on his course with alcohol and drugs at about the age of 13 when his parents went out of town and he decided to raid their liquor cabinet. He chose the clear liquor because it was the easiest to replace with water.
• The most trusting parents are the ones who are the easiest to take advantage of.
  Brandon lied to his parents a lot. He’d tell them he was going out to eat, bowling, or to a movie, when instead he was headed to a party to get drunk. When he came home late, some of his excuses were: he ran out of gas, he had to take some girl home who lived on the other side of town, there was a huge accident so the road was blocked, etc.

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The most powerful form of teen crisis intervention is when a former addict uses their life as a testimony to the power of choice and the possibility for change. In terms of intervention in the lives of those troubled teenagers that are caught up in gangs, it is extremely effective for them to hear from one of their own who succeeded in escaping gang life. Leaving drugs and crime is one thing. Leaving a gang is another proposition.

“…eventually the life of a gang member wore on him. And on his family. He tried leaving the gang, but leaving a gang is like leaving a cult, Lilly said. The members are brainwashed. One night, men jumped him and beat him for trying to leave.

“I had a blood clot in my head from the beating,” said Lilly, now 31. “My eyes were so swollen I couldn’t see.”

Through the beating and other incidents, Lilly saw his mother Janet’s disappointment.

“She came to the hospital every day crying,” Lilly said. “And she left every day crying. I realized I had to make a change. It’s a terrible thing to shatter a mother’s dreams.”

Lilly returned to running, an early passion in life. He did it minus the use of one leg, an old gang shooting had deprived him of his other one. He has gone on to become a world class athlete.

“Lilly is now a professional wheelchair racer and motivational speaker. He speaks to kids about the importance of choices.

“I tell them life is about what kinds of choices you make, and how your choices will affect you for the rest of your life,” Lilly said before the race began in Fairbanks last Friday. “I’m a living example of that.”

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Schools for troubled teens are usually full of those teenagers who have not learned any self-control. They are geared towards instant gratification, have no concern for how their behavior hurts others, are self-absorbed and irresponsible.

Their lack of character and disrespect for the law eventually will land them in jail, get them expelled from school, and in worse case scenarios, struggling in the grip of addiction. These teens eventually pay dearly for every mistake they make.

However, their counterparts in the world of celebrity are equally lacking in character and discipline, but they rarely pay the price their poor and unremarkable fellow troubled teenagers pay.

“Sue Allchurch, director of The Linwood Group, said: “Celebrities pop in and out of treatment as if it were a trip to the shops. It is given extensive media coverage and can glamorise a serious, life-threatening addiction to alcohol or drugs.

“It also makes treatment seem like a short, sharp, shock - a wave of a magic wand, which you can walk away from with the problem gone.

“The truth is that for someone with a genuine addiction, rehab is only the beginning - to be successful, addicts need to make a lifelong commitment to working at the problem through self-help and support groups.

“The Linwood Group believes this gives the green light to young people to binge drink and behave badly just like their celebrity role models.

“It suggests that even if a celebrity has an addiction, a quick trip into rehab will sort it out so it really cannot be that bad.”

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It may very well be too late for any type of teenage crisis intervention for those juveniles who have committed crimes that put them in prison for most, if not all, of their lives.

There are those experts who maintain that an adolescent who murders or rapes is operating with a brain that has not reached full development, limiting their capacity for ethical reasoning. They feel these type of troubled teenagers are not adequately addressed by the current system of juvenile justice.

“In the first initiative of its kind nationally, Gov. Bill Ritter has created an executive clemency board exclusively for youth offenders, providing a possible way out of adult prison for teens currently serving life-without-parole sentences.

The former Denver district attorney signed the executive order Tuesday, establishing a seven-seat advisory board that will include members of his Cabinet, experts in juvenile-justice issues, two psychologists and a Denver judge, among others.”

Teens who have earned a life sentence rarely receive clemency. Some see this as a gross violation, arguing that teens, unlike adults, can be rehabilitated. There is no evidence offered to support that, but most see this measure as a step towards providing those teens a chance where now none exists.

“This is a more psychologically balance approach,” said Maureen Cain of the Colorado Defense Bar. “We’ve got to reach a balance in Colorado between retribution and forgiveness. To recognize that kids represent separate issues is very healthy.”

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