I'm thrilled to be blogging here for youth. I've blogged before but nothing this big and nothing long-lasting. However, this particular blog site is related to a topic very close to me - youth development.

Okay, so I expect both adults, professionals (in both youth services and all other fields), as well as youth to read this so I'll be down to earth and easy to understand. After all, youth are not easy to understand, so why should I make it more difficult with over-bearing litany. Instead I'll write from the soul.

Josh Abner from National Safe Place services (NSP) did a nice job on this site by the way, and I'm happy to be working with him and NSP as I have for many years now. I love the program and its concept giving kids somewhere to go if they are in trouble no matter how bad things get or how bad they are doing. Business and public locations all over the country put up a sign, kids in trouble recognize or search it and go there, the local shelter picks them up and lets them stay while they work out their problems. Free, easy, and effective, right? Well it's a bit more complex in that it requires awareness, constant marketing and reminders, and oversight for willing businesses whose support and responsibilities sometimes fall by the way-side inadvertently. Moreover, I wouldn't support or blog about it if I didn't believe in it. Why the strong connection you ask? I'll give you the story...

At age 17, I lived in a dangerous, crime-ridden and gang-infested neighborhood in a single mother household with two older brothers with a knack for violence and drug use. It wasn't always this way - from the day I was born until the day I turned 10 years old, I lived with both parents, in a nice home, in a friendly neighborhood and my brothers and I spent time together sledding, helping grandma clean house, and learning to ride bikes. So what went wrong you ask? The answer: Infidelity, separation, and ultimately divorce. Times were hard and child support faded quickly, so my mother, battling emotional scars - took on financial hardships and sought refuge in a low-income, high crime town. My brothers fell into the trap and my mother's gauntlets built up and I soon became the target. I suffered from physical and verbal abuse, and my father's presence diminished at a steady rate. My expected teenage experiences and challenges were amplified, and alcohol and mild delinquent behavior became a viable option for me to survive.

After a hard beating one day, I left, out the bathroom window, and after the national runaway switchboard told me where to find a safe place site - I did. The public library's staff had limited knowledge about the program. They needed a refresher course maybe, but at that time this was irrelevant. I was scared, crying and embarrassed. The library staff figured out what to do and the program ultimately worked and my time at the local emergency shelter reshaped my last year of high school by giving me freedom from the dysfunctional and dangerous house I lived in, as well as a constant stream of support surrounded by a different and much more positive environment it's exactly what I needed and it came in the knick of time.

That local shelter, by the way is the Alternative House. This 52-bed short-term emergency shelter for boys and girls ages 6-17 is one of 7 programs at the Crisis Center of Northwest Indiana. Nearly 10 years after entering the program as a client, I returned to work as a residential counselor with a college degree. It was because of the this experience with Safe Place and the Crisis Center that I was able to finish high school and acquire that degree a B.A in political science from Indiana University Bloomington. The story spread and I was called a success story. I keynoted at the national Safe Place conference in 2002 and now serve as the program assist for safe place at the Crisis Center. The center, for which I am also the webmaster, is a beacon of support in the northwest Indiana area and even reaches a nationwide clientele with its toll-free crisis hotline. You'll have to give me your opinion of the website by the way. It's http://www.crisiscenterysb.org/. Yes, shameless plug, lol. The Crisis Center and my bosses in particular, have become a family-of-sorts.

I have no communication with my siblings or father, and my mother and I are in the throes of a fallout that began in 2005, however this is nothing new. It's never been "right" with her. It's a tough situation to be in, but I hold no hard feelings. My grandmother of 88 years is my closest relative, along with a sister who I discovered in 2002 turns out my father had three families No wonder he couldn't afford the financial or emotional support after leaving us when I was 10 years old.

Okay, so wrapping up my first post here, I have to note that one would not likely expect someone in my position to return to work in social services, nor was it the calling others may have thought it was. It was an interesting, yet risky experiment with the job market after college. I was lucky however, because it quickly became evident that I found my voice and my talent in this field. I'm a firm believer that social services ought to be plentiful, well-funded, and designed to address everyone's needs. I'm a liberal something instilled in me during freshman year of college and upon hearing of a movement to elect Governor Bill Clinton. I think social services and liberalism are a good mix, yet there are three additives that cannot be ignored if one were to study or work in this field - multi-tasking, empathy, oh yeah, and if applicable - the ability to relate personally to a clients story, which is what I do each day I go to work.