Youth Health Associates

So, on top of supervising JJ's visits, I got a new job. it is interesting to say the least. It is here in Provo. It is for the Youth Health Associates program. The first time I was there I just filled out papers which got interrupted the youngest girl having quite the temper tantrum. Apparently she was in with her therapist and got ticked off. She started throwing things and swearing. Some of the words she used I didn't even know what they meant! So that was quite the introduction to what I'd be doing. After all the papers, one of the lead supervisors gave me a tour and went over a lot of the rules the girls have to follow. I did get to interact with all 6 of the girls that night for about an hour which was fine. Then this past Monday I worked the afternoon from when they got home from school until 11 that night. I'm slowly learning to be surprised at nothing as well as growing a tough skin for people being mad at me. My co-workers are quite interesting themselves. For example, I worked with a lesbian all Monday night. She was a lot of fun to work with and I learned a lot from her. I guess I'm just used to the typical Provo.

As a bit of a background, all of these girls ages 13-17 are sex offenders along with having a lot of other problems. Most of them have been diagnosed with being bipolar as well as having anxiety disorders. All of them have severe anger problems! After talking with them, it's sad that none of them want to go to college or even finish high school. Their only goals in life are to get out of the program and get married and have babies. One girl was telling me the other night that she feels behind on life because she is 17 and doesn't have any kids. She was saying that her mom had her first kid when she was 12 and has had 9 others since then. Then her sister is 16 and is having her 2nd baby the same week as I am. It's sad the mentality they have.

Yesterday I went to school with them. The one girl that freaked out the first day I was there, is 13 and goes to a junior high. I went with the other 5 to the same high school. For the most part yesterday the girls were well behaved but the thing I struggled with is the structure of the school. Everyone that goes to the school is state owned. They are all either in programs like the girls that I work with, in the Juvenile Justice system, foster care, or proctor care. So everyone there is kind of scary looking and has quite the mouth. The schedule yesterday was supposidly a little different than it normally is since they were apparently testing some of the younger kids. This may be a factor as to why I thought it was so pointless, but the kid I worked with yesterday said that even with the weird schedule, that was pretty typical of a day at school. Yesterday the 4 classes we went to were each 90 minutes. Out of those classes, only one of the teachers gave a lesson for about 45 minutes. Which meant the rest of that class and in all of the other classes they just sat there and goofed off with other messed up kids. One teacher was on the computer the entire class, another teacher played catchphrase with 3 of the students, and the last period teacher sat back and watched a movie she put on about alcohol. During the movie, one of my girls decided she wanted to read a book called "The pregnancy book." I guess it's good she's reading something instead of some of the other things she could be doing. They are all failing most of their classes so I wanted to help them because we had PLENTY of time to get them caught up yesterday, they just wouldn't. Anytime I'd try to encourage them to get some of their missing homework done, they'd get mad at me which would prompt the teacher to remind me that my only job was to keep them there in the class and their job was to teach and help them get caught up. I was so frustrated!

It's hard because all 6 of them really do have a lot of potential. I just feel that the programs they are in are mostly just reinforcing their negative behaviors. Perhaps I just don't understand everything that is going on and what has been previously been tried to help them succeed. Maybe I get so frustrated since I just had years of classes that dealt with these exact issues and I'm full of different ideas and want to try them out but can't. It also made me a little nervous yesterday because Matt, the kid I was working with, was telling me different stories that have happened since he's worked there and I pray that none of that ever happens to me. He was telling me how he's been slapped, kicked, pushed into the walls, and punched. Not only would that hurt, but I'm pregnant! Kind of makes me nervous. I have a behavior management class tomorrow so hopefully I can get some of my concerns and ideas talked about.