Listen To Me

Do you remember your teen-age years? To some people, these were the best years of their lives. To others, these years gave them their worst nightmares. How do you remember your teen years? And how did those days affect the way you are now?

The world is a complicated place, and there will always be troubled youth. Fortunately for them, there are youth counselors who can help guide them on their complex paths.

Some of these teen counselors are formerly troubled youths themselves, so they have something no one else can offer - empathy.

In the short time we occupy this planet we are subjected to volatile external influences. Teen counselors are there to make sure our orbits remain intact.

Melinda Meyers, a volunteer at Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), sees herself as a positive role model for teens.

She is involved in community activities, a professor of psychology at HSU, a business owner and a single mother of two.

Aside from all these responsibilities, she manages to find time to act as a mentor to someone in need.

"I see what I'm doing for this child now as a payback for the good fortune I received, because this child has no positive examples of what parenting, commitment, tolerance or generosity are."

Her ability to identify with teen-age concerns comes naturally to her, because she too was once a teen going through similar stages.

"I turned out OK and I did a lot of the same things that the child I'm an advocate for does now; I have no idea what made me turn out the way I did because we're really no different."

In most cases Myers explained, the child might have between 15 to 20 social workers and 10 to 12 foster care families over the course of six to seven years. She realizes how very fortunate she is to have been the only one with her teen for a similar time frame.

"My goal with this teen is that if she can stay alive and not pregnant by the time that she reaches 18, I will have done my job." After the teen becomes an adult at the age of 18, Meyers plans to continue supporting the child she was once an advocate for.

Elizabeth Smith, a current HSU student, is in involved with youth in Humboldt County as a program assistant at the Eureka Boys and Girls Club Teen Center. She enjoys both the teaching and learning aspects of her involvement in the program.

"Working with youth has kept me grounded, it helps me understand where they're coming from, what they're going through and it lets me reflect on what I went through when I was their age." She continued in saying that youths feel at home at the club because "Humboldt County is really good about having a lot of different youth organizations available to teens."

Smith gave an example of how the Eureka Police Department helped her when she noticed a juvenile under the influence. "It's wonderful that they worked with us because the child's mother didn't see anything wrong with the child's behavior," Smith said.

"It's sad when I see kids here everyday and I've never met their parents," Smith said. "But in several ways the kids are easier to deal with than their parents.

She mentioned that it's very hard when there isn't any positive reinforcement at home. "All I can do is hope that we're planting seeds with potential for growth in the kids' minds, and not shooting bullets," Smith said.

She noted that it takes time to gain the teens' trust, but if you're there for them everyday, they recognize that.

Lisa Rodriguez is a Humboldt State University alumnus and a program director involved with the Eureka Boys and Girls Club Teen Center. She says she understands, accepts and realizes the important role that teen-center counselors provide for the youths of today.

Rodriguez said it's hard not to become too attached to the teens in her occupation, because the problems that they en-counter are just as real as any adults are. She said that some-times it's hard to separate her work from her personal life, because she loves her job so much.

Even though there are many problems to be solved, Rodriguez is hopeful.

"My views on the juvenile justice system have changed. It shows you how it doesn't work when you're directly involved, but it gives me hope knowing that there are teens that can find places like the Eureka Boys and Girls Club," Rodriguez said.

"Some things that teens do may seem shocking, but we need to take on the responsibility of supporting them because they're acting out what we put out there for them to use," Rodriguez said.

There are several ways to view youth. National crime statistics provide one portal.

According to the most recent FBI statistics (1997), youth were involved in 17 percent (about one out of six) of all violent crime in the United States, and 35 percent (more than one-third) of all property-crime arrests. Law enforcement agencies arrested more than 2.8 million persons under the age of 18.

But all the news isn't bad. For instance, the number of violent crimes committed by minors decreased by 4 percent from 1996 to 1997, and property crimes by rninors dropped by 6 percent. Juvenile arrests for murder declined by 39 percent from 1993 to 1997.

There are a number of reasons cited by experts for these mixed statistics. An improved economy has led to more jobs for youth, which in turn leads to less crime by youth, some say. Others would argue that the building of more prisons and the implementation of tougher crime laws have led to fewer crimes by youth. Some say that laws making it easier to try juveniles as adults have skewed the statistics. who is right?

There's probably some measure of legitimacy in all of these arguments. But social theorizing is not the job of youth counselors. Their job is to work directly with the misguided and set them on the right path.

That right path is worth a lot not only to the youth, but also to society at large. It may be worth as much $2 million.

That's how much America pays for one youth who drops out of school for a life of crime and drug abuse, according to a recent government analysis.

That is just one of the many reasons why the work of these counselors is so valuable.

There are so many issues facing youths, at such a critical point in their lives that even those politically empowered are making note of their concerns. In a press briefing following the New Findings on Juvenile Violent Crime and Victimization Report, Vice President Al Gore said, "With more and more working families struggling to raise their children in home' where both parents work, it is essential that we develop after-school programs that keep our young people safe and provide positive alternatives to crime and drugs."

The Arcata Community Forum, which was held Sept 25th at the Arcata Community Center,  addressed some concerns of local youth. Attending were seven adults and one teen-ager. Together they spoke of change and how the young people had been oppressed in different ways. Then they tried to find solutions and different ways to advocate youth issues Potential projects were identified and funding strategies were implemented.

In the end, the participants walked away with a better understanding of one another and the desire to keep striving to get recognized from the public.

The statistics on youth crimes at schools are also negative, but there is potential for positive change. According to the FBI statistical briefing book, even in relatively safe, supervised environments (such as schools), there were shocking numbers of crimes reported.

In 1993, nearly three-quarters of the students surveyed nationwide were aware of incidents involving physical attack, robbery or bullying. More than half witnessed such incidents. In schools with a population of 600 or more, approximately three out of four students were aware of these crimes,

Another concern is that 57 percent of all violent crime committed by juveniles occur on school days, and one out of every five violent crimes occur in the four hours following the end of the school day.

In U.S. school systems, a ratio that is endorsed by the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) is one counselor for every 513 students. Nancy Perry executive director of ASC said that more counselors are needed. She said, "It's impossible for students to receive the help they need when counselors are being paid to shuffle papers."

A model counseling program for high schools across America was started at T.C. Williams High School. They have one counselor for every 250 students. Features of the program are guidance services, peer mediation groups (which are student-run and which discuss issues through unbiased mediators) and a student hotline, which allows students voice their concerns while remaining anonymous.

Joanne McDaniel, research director for the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, N.C., agreed. "The counselors need to be given the opportunities by the school administration to perform the counseling they were trained to do."

Issues surrounding youth are everywhere. In Humboldt County, Eureka High School freshman Shanti Sattler, 14 years old, was chosen to participate in "Voices against Violence: A Congressional Teen Conference," held in October.

At the conference Sattler will be involved in developing youth-violence prevention strategies along with 400 teen-agers throughout the nation.

Rep. Mike Thompson, a California Democrat from St. Helena, said, "The tremendous interest generated by this conference demonstrates our teen-agers' thirst for preventing violence both in and out of school."

"The youth want to be empowered in creating solutions to this national crisis," Thompson said

It's easy to categorize, label and pass judgment on teens. It takes a strong person to make a living by working with them because everyone once bore the label of "teen."