Category: Cause
Cause – Restorative Justice can be Fun!
The morning began standing in a circle with about 15 grimacing faces with heads hanging low to the ground. Interspersed among these glum beings were about five overly positive adult volunteers excited to get an early 8 am start in the garden. What a combination of folks; those who were forced to be here by [...]
Cause – Autism Speaks. We Listen.
Autism Spectrum Disorders are on the rise. According to a recent report from the CDC, one in 88 children in the United States has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This is partly related to an increased understanding of the symptoms of ASD and diagnosis at earlier ages. April is National Autism Awareness Month and we [...]
Cause – New Beginnings
This month I am writing in response to my dear friend, Dr. Narayan’s request for me to share my experience of guiding a young woman toward a new beginning. This woman had some previous involvement with the juvenile justice system, but this was the least of her problems considering her time behind bars was probably [...]
Cause – Why Juvenile Justice is a Matter of my Heart
An adolescent in jail develops a keen awareness of her life as her passage to success narrows with each day spent in her stagnant cell. Jail successfully opened her eyes to the severity of her actions and made her desperate for change, but jail was also simultaneously making the path to change treacherous. It was [...]
Cause – Resolving Adolescent Conflicts
Giving a consequence to someone who experiences herself as bad is a difficult task, because the consequence only provides further data supporting a negative self-assessment. Adolescents are particularly skillful at creating evidence to support their underlying beliefs about themselves. Adolescents in residential treatment facilities have provided ample evidence that their coping strategies are less than [...]
Cause – Celebrating Adolescents’ Strengths
I fell easily in the trap in which many privileged educators and healers often fall; I assumed that encouraging youths to go to school was the full-proof plan for their success. Even though I made sure to remain mindful of the differences between their culture and mine, I overlooked the bias that my road to [...]
Cause – Why Teenagers Can’t Say Thank You
Through my own adolescent experience and in my work with teenagers, I learned that if I were waiting for an adolescent to say “thank you,” I would have to wait a few years. After studying the important developmental milestones a teenager must successfully overcome, I realized that saying thank you pleased my mother so much [...]
Cause – When Survival is the Reason for Violent Behavior
The psychiatric hospital was my least favorite place to work. Maybe it was the locks on the doors or the kids pacing in hallways without access to fresh air or perhaps the young teenage girls with cuts on their arms. No, I think for sure the most difficult part of working in the hospital was [...]
Cause – Adolescents in Transition: The Magic Question
In my years of experience being an adolescent and then working with them, I have found transitions to be the most important moment when adolescents need to practice the survival skill of independence and the moment when they are most in need of guidance. This poses a bit of a dilemma, as the desire for [...]
Cause – To “Throw Blows” is to “Scrap”
Adolescent girls are sophisticated in their ability to create tension through voicing their opinions. Leading a process group of adolescent girls, where they are expected to communicate their feelings and examine issues, is often an open playing field for tension and conflict. I led such a group in a juvenile detention center, where the girls [...]
