Good kids gone bad - Part 7 (final)

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Windsor has two new pieces of urban art after local youth spray-painted murals - by invitation.

The works are mounted on the side of Dooley’s on Gerrish Street. Running the workshop was Halifax-based graffiti artist Theo Gardner. “This workshop gave youth something to do that is aesthetically pleasing, with a positive turn out for the rest of the community - something to do besides drugs, alcohol and crime.”

Windsor’s veteran recreation director Janet Landry says reaching troubled youth and adults is a real challenge. “The complexities are larger than one department. We need to pull people together from health, community services and education.”

She notes, short of sending a youth worker to hang out at the town’s gazebo or parking lots, recreation programming tends be hit or miss.

Landry is an advocate for prevention, such as the positive mentorship demonstrated by the YMCA/ YWCA and Boys and Girls Clubs. “Thirteen to 19 is a critical age, when sports and leadership programs are valuable. Friendship circles can also be useful for those feeling isolated. “I really believe in building mentorship opportunities. Kids can be saved - if there’s a significant adult or role model in their lives.”

Vince Forrestall, the innovative recreation director in New Minas, has built strong sports and leadership programs, but is also willing to try novel ideas: midnight laser tag. He believes the village’s skateboard park is an asset: local youth want to enlarge it. “We are trying as best we can to take our programming in the right direction - and hope that we’ll see a reduction in crime.”

Wolfville clown Michael Hirschbach is starting circus classes for youth at risk in Kentville. Circus Circle, inspired by Cirque du Soleil's social outreach program, uses juggling, unicycling and balance work to teach youth life skills. "When you end up on the street, it's extremely difficult to find your way back into a larger community," says Hirschbach. "This offers an entrance through the discipline you need to achieve to do circus arts."

Making amends connects youth, communities

Locking young people up puts kids in a scary place.

Marge DeBodt believes there’s another approach.

Valley Restorative Justice began in 1987; DeBodt has been on staff since 1996. As agency director, she has witnessed the impact of restorative justice when it brings a young perpetrator and a victim together. “When they meet face to face, reconciliation can be the result. It involves the community and is outside the court system. The community can have a huge impact.”

In 2006, the agency worked with 112 youth ages 12 to 17 in Annapolis, Kings and West Hants. “The youth can hear about how the person was hurt and be involved in determining an appropriate way to make amends. When they’ve done something wrong, they have an opportunity to make amends. “I have seen people turn around.”

DeBodt has seen how the process allows youth to stop and think. “That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. Things can always be fixed.”

Nine agencies, including the school board, contribute funding and support to restorative justice work here in the Valley; the First Nations have their own culturally-specific process.

DeBodt recalls one case: an older gentleman’s home was broken into by a youth he trusted: the boy used to come visit for cookies. After the break-in, the man felt terrible because he had been invaded, but the youth was able, through the restorative justice approach, to earn the man’s trust back.

Young offenders will often complete service work: mow the lawn at a community centre, or offer a direct service to the victim; contributing to a charity is another option.

DeBodt recalls a church elder looking each of three young offenders in the face, asking them for the appropriate way to make up for their crime. “There were tears running down the faces of the kids and their parents. As a facilitator,” she says, “your role is to allow for expression - even if it is a difficult.”

Dalhousie University social work professor Michael Ungar says, all too often, the criminal justice system does not allow for genuine accountability. Restorative justice is great “when it really works,” he says, “when kids replace the mailboxes they smashed.”

The restorative justice program is run by a volunteer board of directors. Some are community members; others have a professional interest. There is also a working advisory committee of police, corrections and justice staff. “We train new volunteers. We are constantly looking for new ones. The pool is shrinking,” says DeBodt.

Old crime hand speaks to, for youth

Francis Coldwell (not his real name) doesn’t believe property crimes lead youth down a path to serious crime. “It’s not that easy. I don’t know the math,” the former federal prisoner turned youth worker says, “but I think the reasons are varied. Each individual’s circumstances are different. “They are going to act out and, with any possibility, they could move into the unknown.”

For teens in trouble, parents don’t often count. Coldwell says they want to hang out with others of like minds. “They’re drawn like magnets to groups marked by the same emotions. They become like a family.”

If a young person views his peer group as family, then it comes first - even if the group is destructive. “That can be very dangerous.”

Coldwell understands why the public recoils at many acts perpetrated by youth. “They ask, why would a teen torture a cat? They don’t understand the self-hatred and acting out of rage. Pain turns to anger.”

Youth often find themselves with their world turned upside down, Coldwell points out. “They’re stuck in the middle of custody battles and there are fewer stable families today. There’s a whole break down in society and family structure.”

In Canada, the rich get richer and the poor get into trouble. According to the Canadian Council on Social Development, children living in persistent poverty are twice as likely to live in a dysfunctional home and live with violence and more than three times as likely to live with a depressed parent.

Literacy is another issue: 30 per cent of Nova Scotians do not have a high school diploma; nearly 40 per cent are functionally illiterate.

As a result, Coldwell says, there should be more opportunities for help and counseling. He adds it is tough work - real tough - to rebuild trust.

Youth need to know they matter to someone in order to have hope, Coldwell says.

He quotes his mentor, the late Dr. Charlie Taylor, who started prison marathons in the Maritimes: “we are more alike than we are different in God’s eyes.” “Young people need help to find their own set of values. They want to feel they have value as well - even if, one by one, they had their hearts stomped on. If you show them a way up out of darkness, they can prevail,” Coldwell suggests. “You need more heart than head working with youth.”