Youth
Intervention Project
counsels students to solve truancy
Kids are referred to the Youth
Intervention Project in Sherburne County because they are not attending
school, but Sarah Meisinger, program manager, will be the first to tell
you that the reasons those kids are in her program are "typically not
about truancy."
For many kids, truancy can
indicate at-risk behaviors and/or difficult family circumstances. The
Youth Intervention Project supports 12- to 17-year-old truant children and
their families in 12 schools in Sherburne County. The individual and group
activities build on strengths, and are developed around the specific needs
described by youth, parents, school personnel, and others, such as
probation officers. A support/education group is also offered to parents.
One example of the success of
the program is Arlynda, who is now a senior at a high school in Elk River,
and is also taking classes at North Hennepin Technical College. The
problems that led to her truancy were not uncommon among the kids that the
Youth Intervention Project helps every year. Arlynda started the program
in 1997 after nearly going to court over her chronic truancy. Because of
an unstable family life and older friends who were becoming bad
influences, Arlynda was skipping school, drinking, and taking drugs at the
age of 12.
"I wasn't communicating with
my mom and my step dad very well at that time," she said. The instability
at home was leading to unhealthy relationships with kids who were much
older, and when they drank alcohol and did drugs, she did too. In
addition, she was struggling to develop a relationship with her biological
father, who she barely knew. Just as she began to make contact with him
and get to know him, he died of a drug overdose. At the same time, her
mother was struggling with life-threatening health issues.
It was during this stressful
time that Arlynda began working with the student/family advocates in the
Youth Intervention Project. The program is voluntary: if Arlynda didn't
want to participate after the initial meeting, she didn't have to. Because
it is considered very early intervention, many kids do participate. "At
first, the program was a way to get out of classes, but then it became a
reason to come to school. It was fun," Arlynda said. Through the program,
she started to get to know people who had some of the same problems she
did. "After a while you can't help but say 'Hi' to people in the halls."
The personal contact between
Sarah Meisinger and the other student/family advocates has been very
important in Arlynda's progress. According to Arlynda, she and Sarah
"clicked" right away. "Arlynda is one of the most articulate,
compassionate and caring students I've met," Sarah said. "She is very
resilient. She's been a role model for other students as well."
One of the ways that Arlynda
has been a role model for others is by being a part of a group called Map
Stars. The group raised money for a student who needed a liver transplant,
organized clothing drives, and volunteered as bell ringers for the
Salvation Army. The group has been recognized statewide for charitable
work by high school students. She has also taken part in summer mentoring
programs. This summer, Arlynda observed a lawyer for six weeks to get a
sense of how the legal system works.
Arlynda is now thriving. She
goes to school, has a job and lives with her parents. She says her
relationship with her mother and stepfather is now "great." Through the
Project, she and her stepfather have learned how to communicate better,
and her relationship with her mother has become one of friends and equals.
With her parents' blessing, she is now considering moving out on her own,
increasing the amount of responsibility that she is handling so well.
"About 90% of the kids we deal
with want to be at school," said Sarah Meisinger. "Our counselors are
objective people who students see as non-threatening. We pride ourselves
on being a 'supportive adult' in their lives."
