Working With Youth and Families

~ By Brooke

Family and home life both play an enormous role in a youth’s development. Every family is different with its own unique set of values and circumstances. As youth-serving professionals, when your appointment is over or the school day ends, what sort of experiences are your teens having?

At The Prevention Researcher, we have put together a collection of issues that we hope will help professionals feel better equipped to navigate the many different family situations their youth encounter. This set of issues touches on a wide variety of topics, including:

• Coping with grief
• How families can help a self-injurious youth
• Supporting youth as they transition to adulthood
• Living in poverty
• Adolescent substance abuse and parental alcohol abuse
• Fostering positive sexual identity and healthy sexual behaviors
• Assisting immigrant and refugee youth
….and more

 

This new collection of issues, titled Working With Families and Youth, comes with 15 print issues, a CD featuring digital versions of each issue and four related podcasts, the DVD “Troop 1500: Girl Scouts Beyond Bars,” — all contained in a TPR binder. This collection is available now for $325, which is a 25% discount from its value.

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“Human trafficking” aka modern day slavery

~ By Colette

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Personally, I find it surprising that people are trafficked in the United States. Human trafficking seems like something that should happen somewhere else, in some different time, certainly not in the United States in the 21st century.

I’ve looked around for statistics on how many people are victims of human trafficking; however because of its covert nature, this is difficult to determine. And, it is important to note that while forced prostitution is one form of human trafficking, people are also forced into labor, including as domestic servants, sweatshop workers, restaurant workers, migrant farm workers, hotel or tourist industry workers, and beggars.

Would you be able to recognize a victim of human trafficking? And, just as importantly, would you know who to call or how to access services for this individual? I found this video by the Administration for Children and Families helpful.

Below are a number of additional resources for familiarizing yourself on this important topic.

The Polaris Project is working to combat human trafficking and serves both citizens and foreign national victims. They run the National Human Trafficking Resource Center which provides a 24/7/365 hotline: 1-888-3737-888. Use this hotline to report suspicious behaviors, or access resources and referrals. They also have a number of resources, including information on “labor trafficking,” indicators/signs that someone is a victim, and a blog.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides information, brochures, and posters in the Look Beneath the Surface/Rescue and Restore campaign. Information here includes “tool kits” for health care providers, social service organizations, and law enforcement; including such resources as “Identifying and Interacting With Victims of Human Trafficking,” and “Common Health Issues Seen In Victims of Human Trafficking.” The PDF brochures are written in a variety of languages.

The Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools provides a Fact Sheet specifically for schools.

Finally, Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans (OATH) provides a nice list of additional resources, including reports and prevention resources.

After looking through these resources, I am still having a hard time wrapping my head around the notion of human trafficking, and the thought that people do this to each other. Hopefully, with the work of these dedicated organizations and awareness campaigns – like National Human Trafficking Awareness Day – we can make a difference.

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Colette Kimball is Associate Editor at The Prevention Researcher.

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Make it Better for LGBTQ Youth

~ By Colette

We have all seen the “It Gets Better” videos created by varous people, including President Obama, the San Francisco Giants, numerous rock stars, and everyday people. The goal of these videos is to show lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered adolescents that their lives as adults will be enjoyable and fulfilling. It can be a powerful message. Moreover, it is a message and movement that has done an excellent job of raising awareness about the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth.

I recently heard another powerful message from the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connection. They think that it is not enough that we tell youth to “tough it out” and it gets better as you get older. Instead we need to make it better for them now. The NRCPFC feels that “we need to change the environment in schools and communities so that LGBTQ youth have the chance to live in a world that is safe for them and affirming of who they are.” Having recently published our issue on creating supportive environments for LGBT youth, this is obviously a message we believe in.

Let’s Make it Better is a great video created by Jessie Gallogly and edited by Brendan Gallogly for the class “Social Work Practice with LGBTQ Persons” at Hunter College School of Social Work. The NRCPFC hosts the video on their web site or you can watch it below.

Let’s make it better, together.

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