This was submitted to me by one of the PEER TEAM MEMBERS: S. Soverns
Today’s teenagers are tomorrow’s generations, I know from experience that little guidance goes a long way. I also know from experience that when I was a kid -I didn’t want to listen to anyone- but I always paid attention when someone talked to me from their own experience. Even if I didn’t show it, I registered it. From then on, I knew I wanted to grow up to influence troubled teens into living a better more HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. Sometimes that is not an option in their own home. Teens need some kind of outside ear to vent to. Someone who understand them on a personal level, not from a psychological or medical or theological standpoint, but in a more down-to-earth way. Someone who can give them real world advice from someone who has endured struggles of their own. Take a kid from a troubled home of someone out of the foster (care?) system and the issues a teen may face get even more complex. Where do all of these troubled teens end up, you may ask? You may be able to guess the answer: jails, prisons and the morgue. As a community I think we can come together and transform some of these troubled teens in the counties surrounding prisons, even right here in Aliceville.
My proposal is to start a community outreach program here at Aliceville that caters to juveniles currently involved in the ” system ” on probation or in juvie , somewhere in the counties surrounding Aliceville. I believe we have the ability to help the juveniles with the most problems, the one or two that just can’t seem to get it together; the ones who are fighting their way through life or perhaps attempting suicide. There is a population here who can help them to find their way when they feel judged or outcast due to abuse or perhaps they are transgender or suffer from body dysmorphia and feel uncomfortable in their skin.
The goal becomes one of healthy influence. Showing them how to reach small attainable healthy goals so that they may one day reach higher, realize a big healthy life.
Where the is a will there is a way. No matter where you come from or what you have gone through our lives are salvageable.
People, especially teenagers, act out for a reason. Often times, they lack the voice, or can’t find the words to ask for help or express how they feel so they act out as a cry for help. Those of us here who have experienced our own troubles are able to see the signs and understand the language of despair that the teen is using. When they say experience is the best teacher, I believe that quite literally. With this being said, having a few “troubled teens” to come in for sessions with carefully selected, heavily screened, AIC’s may be quite powerful and could potentially lead to what Oprah Winfrey calls an
“AH HA moment” where the teens are effected in a life- changing way.
Building trust will solidify a bond and bod will allow them to open up. Without that bond the influence will not result in personal transformation.
My plan is to create a safe space within the group; not with emphasis on the negative but instead talking about solutions, goals, how true strength comes from within and sometimes that means not reacting to situations.
