What It Takes To Pull Me Through by David L. Marcus

In lieu of the recent events of my job, I thought that I'd post something on a more positive note about kids and therapy. I've been reading an incredible book by David Marcus called What it Takes to Pull me Through: Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out. The book actually chronicles the story of a group of about 13 kids at a therapeutic boarding home called Swift River in Massachusetts, but it's main focus is on four teens.

We follow the story of Mary Alice, a rich white girl struggling with an eating disorder, drug abuse and unprotected sex while putting on the perfect front; DJ, a young boy with ADD who is self destructive and has always had problems with the fact that he was adopted; Tyrone, a young black boy growing up in a poor neighborhood without a father figure who is disinterested in anything except for video games; and a young Spanish girl who is broken by the death of her mother and her dark past. This book is not fictional, it is real.

Swift river is a 14 month intensive therapy program where the kids are constantly examining themselves and their pasts. There are highs and lows as is expected. Not everyone makes it through the program. Some people slip up so bad that they're thrown out because they're too much of a risk to the other kids.

I can't tell you how many times I teared up reading this book. It reminded me so much of the clients that I've worked with over the past year. It's amazing what some of these kids have gone through and it's amazing what they are capable of getting through when given the chance. Some kids just need that extra nudge and the program in this book was that extra nudge for these kids. Their lives after the 14 month treatment were far from perfect but they were miles better than they were when they first stepped foot on the Swift River campus.

Adolescents have a lot to struggle through these days. It's not easy to be a teen in today's world. There's so much pressure put on them to be the perfect weight, to look a certain way, to talk and walk a certain way, to have a certain skin color, to come from a certain background, live in a certain neighborhood, wear certain clothes, listen to certain music, date certain people, follow a certain religion...this is just skimming the surface. Some things teens can control and some they can't. But some teens will go to any lengths they can to try to control it.

That's just one issue: trying to fit in....there are tens, hundreds of other issues that teens face that I could go on with: parenting, sexuality, identity, responsibility...It's a rough time for sure. I think that this book would be a great read for any parents out there, whether you have a child going through rough times or not. It's a raw and honest look at some of the real issues that teens face. It's a rare window into the minds of teens and their reactions to life's stressors. This book would also be perfect for teens going through some sort of crisis. It would be great to read the stories of others that they could relate to. And certainly, this is a great book for counselors. The counselors in this program were all amazing and had such a huge impact on these children.

Highly recommend this one to everyone.

Layoff What?

A responsible person would hear the word "layoff", look at their monthly budget and cut back costs wherever necessary. Me? Not so responsible. I decided last night that I needed one more monthly expenditure so I went and opened up a Netflix account. I've gotta tell you that I am all excited about this and have already put 48 movies in my queue! So I should have Transformers arriving at my door tomorrow followed by Hot Fuzz shortly after that. The one responsible thing that I did do was go for the $8.99/month plan which allows for 1 movie at a time. I could've gone for a more expensive plan, but figured I could only afford the cheaper one...at least I hope.

Luckily I still have my job as a personal care attendant. I never quit that job in case the family ever needed me for emergencies. That way I'd be on the payroll and could work. I made roughly the same hourly wage there, so there's that. The only problem is that I don't get nearly 40 hours/week worth of work and there's no benefits. But I've been applying for other jobs, so we'll see what happens. I've been applying for a bunch of counselor jobs within the school system. I've found that I like that setting since being at this job and you can't beat having summers off!

In other news, book news, I'm still reading but very slowly. I've started Carole McDonnell's Wind Follower and the 60 pages that I've read so far is phenomenal! I expected to enjoy this one, but it's really exceeded my expectations. So far it's the story of a young man named Loic, son of the head of a tribe who has fallen in love with a dark skinned girl named Satha who is from a tribe different than his, poor and beyond the typical age of marriage. It's gripping, literally from page one and already explores issues of culture, race, and tradition. And isn't that cover incredible? Timothy Lantz is the cover artist.

I've also been reading a book that's really surprised me. It's called What it Takes to Pull me Through and it's the story of a group of adolescents at a psychiatric boarding school. As a counselor, it's a wonderful book and it's made me smile many times because it reminds me of so many of the groups that I ran at the psychiatric hospital that I interned at. I miss those kids.
The kids in this book all have different backgrounds and different issues and we follow them from their problems before they go into the school all the way through their 14 month treatment. We see the highs and lows and everything in between. This is a great read for anyone who is raising a teen or for counselors or for teens who are going through problems.