nature of the psychology buisness

Thursday afternoon, I saw someone from my past. This girl, who will have to remain nameless (sorry, nature of the psychology business), was leaving Mini Mart as I was going in for chocolate and water. She recognized me, not me her. She was so different. However, when she spoke to me, I recognized her voice. In September through December of 2003, I worked at a place called the LINK. It was a transition center for youths who have had lots of trouble. They had a program there to help them get their GEDs. Actually, for most of these people, it was their last hope. If they could not make it there, most likely, they would not make it. I taught some classes and assisted them in anyway I could there. Most of the classes were life skills and one was an art class. We have even had some who wanted to form a rock band, so I bought some drums and other band stuff (instead of paying my numerous bills) and we would pratice songs. One guy had even wrote his own. I tried to incorporate some new ideas of thinking about life and spirituality with the art class. One day, I gave them some information about the Native American medicine wheel. This is a very complex concept and with the time restraints, I was only able to give them some basics. The class included painting their own wheel and choosing their own colors. After the class, this girl thanked me and said that she enjoyed learning from me. “You make us think,” she told me. She said she liked to hear about new things and new ideas. The part she mentioned that she liked the most was how some cultures view Spring time as the actually new year and not January 1st. She was a good student and she tried hard. She had a very difficult family situation with not only no support, but a lot of opposition. She had just gotten released from our State girl’s reform school. Nearly all of these people in that program where fresh from jail or county and we had 2 other girls from the girl’s school. At first, she was never disruptive and in fact, she was very good about making the others calm down. She had this assumed authority about her. Then, she made a mistake. She went to some party and had sex with some guy who turned out to be some gang member that ended up very shortly after going back to prison for armed robbery. This was not her boyfriend, just someone she knew from before. She got pregnant. She is Latina and if any of you know anything about their culture in America, they are strictly against abortions or birth control or, with some, even adoption. In fact, it is offensive to them to even suggest anything other than the woman keeping the child. Suddenly, this girl’s life just got a whole lot harder. As anyone might expect, she became angry. At first, when we all heard, she and I had a nice short talk. She was open to any advise and I tried to be neutral and supportive. She was in a good place to receive a lot of support and to have some chances to have assistance with all of the programs this small State has to offer. At first, she was very receptive. She told us that after the father found out, that he began to make all of these plans for his son. He was going to teach him all of the gang stuff he knew. She was angry and scared and told him that he would never see his child if he did any of that and told him her child would not grow up with that. Then, her frustration and anger and fears took over. She became oppositional in class and to all of us there. She even became conformational at times with not just us, but all of the other students. This pregnancy thing is not uncommon to this 10 week program. In fact, this program had a very low percentage of them that actually completed the program, let alone obtain their GEDs. Out of the 25 who stared when I was there, only 6 made it through. Only one got their GED. 3 went back to jail, 2 got pregnant during the program and one got his girlfriend pregnant. 2 others went back to jail after the program ended. The rest just dropped out. Anyway, she became angry with me several times in class. She told me and the counselor we had and the director to just leave her alone, not in those exact words and with lots of fowl language. None of us pushed her and we were all very concerned, but we left her alone as she requested. Yet, she did not drop out. On the last day, she told me that I was stupid and she hated me and that she thought the whole program was a waist of everyone’s time. So, imagine my surprise the other day when was very warm and friendly and told me about how well she was doing. She got her GED, her son was 2 now, and she had a full time job. The surprise was very pleasant and I have been thanking God since then. I am grateful that she is doing so well. She had that potential. I am grateful she was not on drugs or in jail or prision. I am grateful that I was able to make a difference, at least, I think I did for her. I am grateful that she no longer hates me, or at least, she was civil enough to speak to me. It is not very often that this happens. Most times, even in this small town, we never see them again. To hear they are doing well makes all of the effort, all of the verbal abuse and anger from them, worth it.