Giving troubled teens a 'Third Way' to live
They are teens who have had trouble at home, been shuffled around in the foster care system or suffered from physical and sexual abuse. Because of that, they're also the ones who are most likely to end up in prison or out on the streets.
George Ackerman, Jr. was one of those teens whose path was headed down that road, before the Third Way Center reached out to him. "Without them, I never would have ended up where I am today," Ackerman said. "I probably would have ended up in jail or dead."
When you get to know Ackerman, it's difficult to see how that could ever be the case. After receiving his GED, he is working a steady job and planning to attend community college. Ackerman credits everything to Third Way Center, a Denver non-profit providing residential mental health treatment, foster care services, education and life skills for at-risk youth and children.
"No one messes up life on purpose. Nobody. Not even the most horrible, gang-involved, drug-addicted teen messed up life on purpose." Dr. Hildegard Messenbaugh, founder of Third Way Center, said. "I think you can provide housing and structure, but in the end, I think it takes treatment. To become better, they must want to get better."
Third Way Center's newest facility, the Lowry Campus, provides residential treatment to teenagers who have no other place to turn. Whether as a result of physical or sexual abuse, misdiagnosis of a psychological disorder, drug addiction or crime, the Lowry campus provides a support group and community for teens who knew nothing of it before.
However, the campus is also about independence. Residents are expected to buy their own clothing and food (online), clean their own laundry and make their own meals. The community, now consisting of four buildings, also features a state approved school on campus to provide teenagers with a comfortable and familiar learning environment.
"Hope is really an important ingredient of what we do," said Messenbaugh. "We give hope that life doesn't have to be angry and horrible, but that it can actually be wonderful."
For Ackerman, a graduate of the Third Way Center, the hope is that other kids who are on the same path he was traveling will see that there is an alternative to disagreement, anger and chaos. "Keep pulling through," Ackerman suggested. "Listen to the support network in your life. You have to make your own decisions, but make the right ones. If I'm positive, everyone else will be positive, and then everything cycles forward."
To learn more about the Third Way Center, click onto their Web site at www.thirdwaycenter.org
Ben McKee
6 October 2009
http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=124529&catid=346
