Promoting adolescent resiliency

Promoting adolescent resiliency Harvey Milkman, Gudberg K. Jonsson & Pall Biering

Living, is a word David never understood. To him living meant running for his life from gangs and the threat of being beat up. It meant coming home to an alcoholic mother who drank with men friends and discovering that the only way he could feel like he belonged in high school was to drink and smoke pot with kids who stayed stoned all the time. In his senior year he showed up only nine times, dropped out of school, gained about a hundred pounds and tried to commit suicide. He then suffered a massive heart attack and decided to quit drinking and doing drugs. After that summer, he enrolled into school. His guidance counselor told David about our program, Project Self-Discovery. PSD is a community based after-school program that provides artistic alternatives to teenagers who have problems with school, their family or the community. Participants use music, art and dance to reach their goals. Students also receive credit for attending. David signed up for the music program. Although his story is unique, his needs are similar to the majority of youth who participate in the project. Artistic activities have proven to be powerful antidotes to emotional distress, drug abuse, crime and violence. In fact, PSD has evolved into a model for treating a broad spectrum of teenage problems. At PSD, you will find youth with varied backgrounds and behaviors. Betty Jo, a 15-year-old African American, lives at a community corrections residential placement. She describes her mother as "a bitch" and "evil," and she has attempted suicide twice by taking Tylenol. Betty Jo's art teacher says she is interacting nicely with other students and "demonstrates an orderly, precise and methodical way of working on projects." Since the age of eight Peter bounced around foster homes, some of which were sexually abusive. Now in custody of the Department of Social Services, he is excited about learning to act at PSD so he will be "noticed" and begin his career in theater arts. His dance teacher reports that he is interacting well with his peers while benefiting from her coaching and advice. The usual outcome for these kids is enormous frustration and definite failure. These teenagers have different types of mental disorders and behavioral problems and come from radically diverse backgrounds. Why does participation in a community arts program engender hope and dramatic improvements? In the United States 10% to 20% of the 30 million youth between ages 10 and 17 experience emotional and, or, behavioral problems. Forty percent of their waking time is "discretionary." In fact, the majority of teenage crimes are committed between three in the afternoon and midnight. During these hours there is little structure or guidance from the community. For these teenagers a form of positive self-expression is vital. The inspiration for PSD came from viewing substance abuse as just one of many forms of dangerous pleasure-seeking behaviors. Any action that deposits a hearty dose of dopamine in the brain's reward center--be it drink, money, sex, calories, crime or cocaine--can trigger addiction. Yet rather than drugs, people can actually bring about self-induced changes in brain chemistry through natural highs. Drugs and alcohol are really just "chemical prostitutes," counterfeit molecules that compromise the clockwork of nature's most complex and delicate entity--the brain. PSD was designed to show that natural highs could serve as viable alternatives to drug abuse and associated high-risk lifestyles. Teenagers are targeted because of their extreme vulnerability to substance abuse, crime and emotional distress. While dance connects us to sensuality, music provides a safe vehicle for the expression of emotional unrest. Painting and drawing provide an opportunity to visualize topics initially too difficult for words. At-risk teens experience traditional talking therapies as invasive and persecutory. We have discovered that adventure-based counseling, using hands-on games and physical challenges--like using stilts to "feel ten feet tall"--are far more engaging than standard lecture presentations. A kid who has a strong drive for thrill seeking and novelty can avoid gang violence by satisfying his needs through the performance of poetry, hip-hop or rap. Almost magically, the conga, paintbrush or guitar can become formidable substitutes for pistols or joints.

It is no secret that people who are hopelessly dependent on drugs can still participate in the creative process. The necessary complement to artistic skill development is learning to restructure habitual patterns of thought and feelings that trigger destructive actions. We raise the question, "What else is possible?" To this end all PSD youth participate in Pathways to Self-Discovery and Change a 32session life-skills curriculum. Through modeling, role playing and interactive exercises teenagers discover improved means to cope with frustration, disappointment and anger. They learn about how to prevent sexually transmitted disease and how to say “no” to drugs and alcohol. David was making great progress. He had successfully embarked on the first stage of our three-tier program, each phase providing the foundation for the next level of growth and change. Level I, called the Intervention program, lasts 12 weeks with youth meeting after school for three hours two afternoons a week. Level II, the Graduate program, is on an ongoing schedule meeting one afternoon a week. And Level III, the Mentorship program, allows graduate students, who have demonstrated leadership skills, to serve as facilitators and mentors to youth in the initial, 12-week, Intervention program. RITES OF PASSAGE is another program component designed to transform. Here is David’s description: “We went up to the mountains and froze our butts off for the sake of getting to know each other and ourselves. There was a ropes course that scared me beyond belief. I had always thought that I was afraid of nothing. But we here hooked up to a rope that was connected to a wire between two large poles. I kept thinking, I am going to die.” Later that night, the kids and staff sat in the cabin and talked about the course, and all the students wrote in their journals about their day. The thing that David remembers most was “the acceptance between everyone.” After that, around the campfire, all participants shared their thoughts. David, for example, spoke about his drug abuse and his plans for the future. “When we returned from the mountains I felt a change in me.” David stayed with the program for two additional years. He learned the guitar and the drums, performed on stage, signed on to do a video, and became a mentor for others new to the program. He felt wanted and he helped others realize they were wanted too. The results of PSD have been impressive. In nine years the project received 1,255 referrals from Denver area youth advocates. We have shown that artistic endeavor and adventure-based counseling are effective antidotes to drugs and other high-risk behaviors. Not only do participants show test scores reflecting improved mental health and family functioning; they also reveal decreased reliance on negative peer influences and decreased drug and alcohol use. These positive outcomes are sustained long after graduation. As David puts it, because of PSD he has “become a better person.” He has learned how to care for others and himself. “Without this experience, I don't know what I would be doing. I would probably be living on the streets using drugs, and not having any direction,” he says. Today David shares a house with an old school friend, he has a full-time job, and visits his mother once a week. He has also started boxing to relieve stress and lose weight. And for the last four years, he has been completely drug-free. He plans to go on to college and major in business and computer science. “PSD showed me that the world is full of possibilities. The program also showed me that when a door is closed a window is open. What does living mean to me now? Living is knowing that you are not alone.” PSD IS NOW OPENING ANOTHER DOOR IN ICELAND. Plans are in motion to inaugurate the PSD program for Reykjavik area youth. Author’s Note: Elements of this article were first published in “Better Than Dope,” by Harvey B. Milkman, PhD, Psychology Today, April 2001 -------------------------------Read More About It Delinquency, Crime and Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents: Cognitive-Behavioral Restructuring and Social Responsibility; and Pathways to Self-Discovery and Change (PSD-C): Promoting Resiliency for At-Risk Youth: The Participant’s Workbook, Milkman, H. & Wanberg, K., Sage Publications Inc., 2004. Better Than Dope, Harvey B. Milkman, Psychology Today, April 2001 Journal of Community Psychology: A Monograph in the Advances in Community Psychology Series, Project Self-Discovery: Artistic Alternatives for High Risk Youth; Harvey B. Milkman, Kenneth W. Wanberg & Cleo Parker Robinson, John Wiley & Sons, 1996