The Need For Teen Programs

You can tell there’s a need for programs for troubled teens when a prospective program that hasn’t even opened up for registration has 50 names on a waiting list. “Yant said they expected to begin with about 25 teens. They have 50 signed up - and they haven’t even started yet, which Yant says shows the huge need for a program like this…” Professional brat camps, wilderness programs, teen boarding schools all play a part in keeping teens at risk from becoming troubled teen statistics. Teens are most vulnerable if they are without skills, support or hope. Programs that are designed to give them direction, inspire them and keep them off the streets have the best success rate.

Cont...

“The idea is this: Once teens get into trouble and enter the prison system, it becomes a revolving door. Most of the teens are in and out for the rest of their lives, costing taxpayers money, as well as fizzling any potential they might have had. Yant and Ransaw want to stop that cycle by working with teens who have made some mistakes but not yet heinous ones. They want to show these teens that someone cares about them and to give them self confidence and hope: the skills to go to college, to have a successful career and to be financially sound. They want to show them that drugs and fighting get them nowhere. They want to show them that being smart isn’t something to hide.” By Ann Walker