Foundation for Youth Support
For the Youth
Support Program to function maximally, it has to go out of the schools and
into the community. This takes funding and that’s where the Foundation
comes into use.
Shortly after
the inception of Youth Support, the need for extra-curricular activities for
the adolescents involved became apparent. The Foundation was formed, with
membership from concerned citizens with an interest in youth. The Foundation
needs to be set up as an incorporated not for profit charity governed by a
Board of Directors.
To be most
efficient, we’ve found that we need representation from the many facets of the
surrounding community. It’s practical to have representatives from the school
board, local policing forces, clergy, parents, merchants, mental health,
family-oriented organizations, and especially representation on the Board of
teens themselves. Without direct input from teens themselves, the Board cannot
offer programs with the most potential.
The
Foundation’s purpose is to:
- Raise funds for the activities of the Youth
Support Program
- Development of recreation and life skills
- Funding of recreation and life skills programs
- Provide transportation for program events
- Provide for the special needs of adolescents
involved
- Provide program volunteers
- Provide advocacy and funds for advocacy
- Support community-based drug awareness programs
Over the last few years we’ve
discovered that the direct involvement of Board members with the teens has its
own rewards and benefits. For the Board members, it puts a ‘face’ to whom we’re
helping. To the teens, they meet new role models and through this interaction,
a mentorship program evolved.
The Foundation also performs a
very vital role in offering services, activities and alternatives to youth
throughout the three summer months. School is out and one-on-one counseling is
not as readily available to the youth as it is when the schools have
counsellors on-site. It also extends the sense of family that most of the youth
have developed with the others throughout the year through the summertime
period.
Keeping
it Fun!
A high school
student created the logo above two years ago. The Foundation held a competition
to create a logo in the elementary, junior and senior high schools of our area.
There were more than 150 entries.
Youth
Support started 15
years ago when four teens were arrested for possession of drugs in the parking
lot of Parkview Education Centre in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. At the time,
there wasn’t anything for teens in this situation, outside of being criminally
charged and, from a legal point of view, dealing with the consequences of their
actions.
After fifteen
years and approximately 1400 teens, Youth Support in Nova Scotia has become a
role model to other parts of Canada.
Counselling by
itself doesn’t help fill the void of after school and weekend free time. Many
of the youth we work with feel they are not part of the mainstream school crowd
and the ones that attend group meetings make a ‘clique’ of their own. Youth
involved in special projects become an extended family.
Every year we
have recreational activities such as canoeing and kayaking, beach days and
beach ‘sweeps’ (contests to see who can collect the most garbage off a beach),
weekend retreats, whale watching, fishing, and other boating excursions. We’ve
had occasional forays into the nearest city (Halifax) to special events (i.e.:
Tallships2000 Parade of Sail and the Sportsplex for swimming).
There are two
annual events held for the youth. One is an annual picnic where all Youth
Supporters, their closest friends, family members, and Foundation Board of
Directors are invited. The second event is an awards ceremony. These awards are for Youth Supporters
who have shown progress in their recovery, participation in Foundation programs
and/or in how they got along in school the previous year. This is sponsored by
the Foundation, and awards are also given to organizations and members
of the community who have shown support to Youth Support. In years past it has been held at Province
House and the past three years we have held it at White Point Beach Resort in
Queens County so it is also a recreational outing.
We feel that
it’s important for the youth in recovery to also be involved in the community
at large. Volunteering is encouraged (i.e.:
animal shelters, church and school groups). This sets a pattern that hopefully
follows them into adult life. If the Youth Supporter wants to join a
sports team, have a tutor or participate in workshops outside of Youth
Support and cannot afford costs incurred, the Foundation pays.
During the summer of 2000, the Foundation sponsored four Youth
Supporters to attend a week at a leadership training camp.
After talking
in the group about Hurricane Mitch that hit Central America three years ago, Youth
Supporters agreed on adopting their own charity. Casa Alianza (Covenant
House) in Teguchigalpa, Honduras was picked. Their organization works with
street kids in urban areas of Central America, and Youth Supporters
thought it was a great idea to aid kids that were less fortunate than they.
Three tons of summer clothes and plush toys were collected, and with
participation of local elementary school children dressed as angels, went
Christmas caroling door to door. This event raised $1,300 dollars for direct aid
to street youth.
The Foundation,
being a not for profit charity, depends on fundraising to support these extra –
curricular activities, and the youth are encouraged to participate in
fundraisers and to organize and hold some on their own (with supervision).
The Farm
Three years ago, the Foundation
Board discussed the need for a large, self-sustaining, year- round project and
the Farm Project was born. With the generous donation of the use of a farm and
land in a centrally located rural area of Lunenburg County, the work started in
March of 1998. Since then it has become our most ambitious and high profile
action to date.
Oxen plowed ground that had never
been used and the first season saw three tons of stones and rocks picked. Adult
volunteers were found to teach different aspects of organic farming. Soil
blocks for seeds were made in the shelter of a barn while it still snowed
outside. This was the first of many mentorships created. Over the next three
years, mentorship training has taught youth various skills from companion
planting and insect control, to twig and log furniture manufacturing. They’ve
learned to dry herbs, make pickles and preserves and how to retail their
flowers and produce.
Since we spend many hours at the
Farm, they learn how to cook nutritious meals and everyone takes turns at
kitchen duties and some have learned comparison-shopping skills.
The project
has had success in team building with the youth involved, and each year has
seen 40 plus youth working there. They successfully have built a 60-foot long
greenhouse from the ground up and installed an irrigation system, which
transports water to the fields and greenhouse. Another greenhouse was taken
apart and transported 60 kilometers to the farm.
This all may
sound like drudgery and manual labour, but it hasn’t been. Gardening and
working outdoors has a very therapeutic and healing quality. Working
side-by-side on your knees while weeding gives one a great opportunity to get
to know the person next to you! Any personality conflicts can usually be
resolved over a meal or relaxing at the beach, which is frequently done during
summer months. Delegating chores gives each one a responsibility that they
usually take great pride in.
Most Youth Supporters involved in this
project have agreed that it is like family to them and that they look forward
to going. Individual birthdays are celebrated, and each year we’ve celebrated
with a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner there. There are days in winter we go
tobogganing and have a bonfire.
Each year at the Awards Ceremony, Youth
Supporters participating at the Farm are presented with a certificate and
‘Golden Trowel’.
It’s evident among the adolescents we work with
that they relish challenges and enjoy being trusted with responsibilities. They
are eager to learn and to please.
We adults
need to remember that they are children, and that our work and
association with them should always be tempered with love, respect, support and
patience.
Youth Support – an Overview
The Youth
Support Program of Lunenburg and Queens Counties (Nova Scotia) is a
substance misuse treatment service for adolescents between the ages of 13 and
19.
It began in
1986 with four persons who were referrals to adult treatment services as a
result of being apprehended in a police action. Very quickly, it became
apparent that there was a need for services for the adolescent population and a
pilot program was begun at Parkview Education Centre in Bridgewater.
The primary
aim of the program is to provide treatment services at a location both natural
and assessable, hence a school - based service.
Early in the
history of Youth Support, it became clear that young persons involved in
substance misuse found it easier to discuss their situation with someone their
own age and a peer counselor training project was begun. It provides peer
support for those in early recovery and, combined with professional counseling,
the client is directed toward a pattern of living without mood – altering
substances.
At present, Youth
Support is available in thirteen junior and senior high schools in Lunenburg
and Queens Counties. The service has grown steadily and in the 1998/99 school
years, 230 persons were involved, supported by two full - time and one part –
time staff persons.
Youth
Support as it now
exists, provides the following services:
- Weekly counseling sessions in school, provided
by professional counselors who function as an extension of the guidance
service.
- Weekly support meetings – one held in a central
location in Bridgewater and in schools where the numbers warrant them.
- Peer counseling sessions take place generally on
an ad hoc basis and in locations most natural to the adolescent. Trained
peer counselors conduct these.
- The peer counselors present public education
programs to school and community groups. Since the presenters have
credibility for ‘having been there, this is not only a powerful
educational tool, it also serves as a powerful treatment tool for those
involved.
- Training for peer counsellors consist of one-day
programs in spring and fall, which deal with basic counseling skills,
boundaries for involvement and preparation for public speaking engagements
where peer counsellors present their personal stories.
- Recreation programs are provided to enable the
participants to have a good time without resorting to mood altering
substances. These activities range from supervised beach parties, to
running an organic farm.
- Treatment Orientation Programs provide the young
person with an opportunity to understand the treatment process and their
place in it.
- Constructive community involvement is encouraged
for all young persons in the Youth Support Program. This
participation ranges from raising funds for recreation, to an annual
awards ceremony. These activities serve to integrate the participants into
the community at large.
- Inpatient detoxification services are provided
at the Lunenburg Detox Unit at Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital. These
services provide the young person with a safe place to break the cycle of
use, since most adolescents do not require detoxification in the sense it
is provided for adults. Most young clients do not have a long history of
substance misuse and physical withdrawal is generally mild.
- A Parent Support Group provides parents
of adolescents misusing substances with an opportunity to share their
concerns and solutions. The group meets weekly in Lunenburg.
- A Children of Alcoholics (COA) group
meets once a week in Bridgewater.
- A ‘Kid’s Group’ (ages three through
twelve) meets once every two weeks in Lunenburg.
- The services provided are directed toward young
persons actively misusing mood-altering substances. However, those
affected by another person harmfully involved with mood-altering substances
are provided with a full range of services.