The complete set of 198 Hints are available in paperback from the CYC-Net Press store.
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I was visiting a residential drug program in New Hampshire. There was a strong monitoring/confrontation/support element to the program with very clearly set out procedures and rules – and yet, as long as they were accompanied by another more advanced in the program, youth were allowed quite liberal leave in the town. And seated at the main entrance to the building, one of the "inmates" controlled and recorded all comings and goings.
In our programs we have considerable opportunity for assigning tasks and roles which keep the youth empowered and feeling significant. "Institutional" programs, by contrast, are those which expect the worst from the kids, keep them in restricted and dependent roles, very much under the thumb of the staff and administration. Such an existence does little to prepare youth for any responsible or contributing role when they are discharged.
There is a lack of courage in programs which seek no more than law and order, compliance and "no trouble". Effectively, staff undertake to do themselves all the "behaving" which they expect from the youth, and they leave no leeway for trial and error, for learning, for discovery and self-knowing. We misunderstand society’s expectations of us when we nail kids to the floor for six months or more and then return them unchallenged and unextended.
In our practice today we seek out in our children and youth any individual interests and skills they may have, however rudimentary, and encourage their capacity to amuse, to play, to fix, to manage, to care. Our aim is that, not in six months’ time but by tonight, they recognise some new value in themselves, that they are connected to some person, group or routine, that they made some difference to our day as much as to their own lives. Thanks for repairing that lock, I loved your story about ... , Patty appreciated your help with that reading, I didn’t know you followed football ...
