In college, many of my friends worked at teen outreach programs. They helped kids who were on the street, suicidal, struggling with addiction, working as prostitutes, or engaging in self-harm. Often, they got money from the city or state to distribute condoms and clean needles, do prevention education and do outreach social work.
With sites like LiveJournal, Xanga and MySpace, many teens are expressing similar kinds of out-of-control behaviors. Are there any digital teen outreach programs? Are any social workers or therapists reaching out to teens who are clearly battling tough issues? I recognize that these websites are not the best place to do actual therapy, but neither is the street. A huge part of what teen outreach programs do is help direct teens to places where they can get help. Are there any such outreach programs on the web?
Unfortunately, it seems like the only people reaching out to these teens are friends who are scared by what their friends say (this is not a good way to do outreach). There are organizations who have set up help websites, but they rely on people to find them via search. Wouldn’t it be great if concerned social workers and outreach organizers could hop onto MySpace and reach out to some of the teens who clearly need help?
I’ve also seen religious organizations do outreach. Some is simply missionary work – reaching out to convert teens. Unfortunately, though, the bulk seems to be religious individuals approaching queer teens to threaten them with damnation. 🙁
hey danah
they’re not working in the MySpace space… yet! but I was wondering if you’d seen the work of the Inspire Foundation. They’re Australian based and have been using the internet space to reach out to young people and help them get through tough times and reach their potential for almost 10yrs now.
their flagship site, http://www.reachout.com.au has been developed collaboratively with young people and, I think, is a really amazing example of an outreach site for young people.
dana,
I do think you make a good point about needing to extend outreach services to the digital spaces that the kids inhabit – from what I see in the community center that I am working with kids are amazingly adept at taking their anxieties and concerns away from adult dominated spaces offline. And increasingly a lot of the non-adult dominated spaces are online.
So offline they may put up a perfectly behaved appearance in the community center in the face of increasingly more vigilant surveillance and rules trying to control their online and offline behaviours, but when you look at how they quickly screen shift and move onto either myspace or somewhere else when they think the adults around them do not have the literacy to understand their communication media or patterns…
so… yes digital outreach SUPPLEMENTED and coordinated with offline outreach is not a bad idea.
r
(btw – thanks for posting so much on the air list about my space – that’s how I found all your stuff :))
Most all of the online “social work” (I’m using that term loosely) I’ve seen has been run by Christians… Usually in some sort of message board format… Maybe I haven’t noticed any non-Christian based social outreach websites because when I was in that teenage age group I was a church goer and looking for Christian help…
I’m not a church-goer anymore (I still consider my beliefs to be Christian, but I’ve got severe issues with institutional church) but one of the areas that has particularly interested me is where the church and the Internet intersect… and one interesting thing to note is the fact that a LOT of the Christian outreach that goes on online is not supported by the church because Internet ministry in many circles is viewed as subpar and a waste of time because you’re not interacting with a person face to face.
But I digress, I think it would be lovely if there were more teen outreach programs online, both secular and religious.
In a past professional life, my wife helped develop this site (http://www.onyourmind.net/), which while attractional, served a great need.
Hi Danah –
Here’s what I know. First, most of the face-to-face outreach programs have lost their state and federal funds in the last 5 years. The CDC no longer considers “outreach” to be a fundable intervention, so there’s less of it going on.
Second, the digital outreach model is being used by some HIV prevention folks to access “high-risk” gay men/men who have sex with men, who use internet chat rooms and hook-up sites to set up live dates. They’ve been pretty successful in putting out sex-positive prevention messages, and getting people involved in conversation about things like asking your partner their HIV status, bringing condoms, etc.
Third, in my experience working with “high-risk” young folks, they’re not likely to buy into a message that starts with “What you’re doing now is bad.” Most of them either know it already and want help changing/stopping, don’t care, or don’t have a choice. What works better, it my experience, is validating that their life belongs to them, they have the power to make their own decisions, and helping them to have accurate information with which to make those decisions. Unfortunately, many programs that work with young people are reluctant to give them such self-directed messages. Additionally, the world of abstinance only federal funds preclude organizations receiving $$ from the Feds – and many state agencies – from using those sort of messages.
I think it’s a great idea and a vastly underused resource. It would be great to reach out to young folks in digital spaces and help them connect to caring, positive adults (I can’t believe I just wrote that – I’m clearly getting old!). It’s also a good way to open the door to face to face interaction (therapy or other) with people who get where they’re coming from. Let me know if you find more on this – I’d love to help.
Hearts and Hugs,
jenn
On the other hand, this is what the media report…
Hi Danah,
Here in the UK there are some interesting things going on. The organisation I work for (YouthNet) runs what you could call an “outreach” site – http://www.thesite.org which has about half a million visitors a month. We provide factual content, peer-to-peer support and access to ‘experts’ through a confidential Q&A service called askTheSite.
It all adds up to a pretty amazing collection of ways young people can get the support and advice we need.
But your MySpace point is also worth picking up on. We’ve realised that no matter how big or popular we get, some of our potential audience will just not visit us. So we need to be where they are at already. Consequently, we white label our content and services to comemrcial sites such as clubbing site MinistryofSound.com. We’re also looking at creating a presence in MUDD games and on social networking sites. I know that UK charity Samaritans is thinking about similar things.
Early days I guess but crucial for the viability of organisations trying to connect with young people.
Hi, um…there is a lot going on right now in my life and I have been depressed a lot lately. Sometimes I feel great but the next moment i’m depressed. I dont know what to do, I feel weird talking to my family about it.
Another thing I have been going through is love, but w/ my best friend who is also a girl [i’m bi]and I have no clue how to tell her w/ out possibly creeping her out.
If u can help me, please do.
My name is Breonna and i’m 14.
P.S. about the URL thing, I just put my URL for vampirefreaks [I wasn’t for sure what it wanted]and I am not sure if this is what u wanted but here is my comment!
hey Dana
im a 19 yr old second yr nursing student that is probably going to spend most of my life reaching out to homeless, those on the street and teens in highschool and on the street. most of my work is going to be not paid i might just hav to be a nurse in the hospital as a source of income. i have a close friend that is a single mom and am very aware of the depressoin and drugs that destroys people’s lives. one of my best friends almost died from drug overdose this summer. ive personally been suicidal once when i was in gr 7 and another time in gr 10.. but i have found love and hope and acceptance and ful life in Jesus — like read the bible, esp Jesus’ teachings and try to follow them and you will never be the same! … if anyone wants to talk email me at bearerofhope@hotmail.com
i do know of medical (non christian) organization that has a website that i came across not to long ago (but then again they might be christian,… but why does that scare you?) http://www.sfccc.org/sos/index.htm
i have also realized myspace being a good way to reach out to people, but since my myspace was a year old and was becomoing a huge distraction with school, i deleted it and will get another on when school is done
http://WWW.TEENHOPELINE.COM may also be of some interest to you and i know that there is a dude from there that has a myspace too.. just put in teen hopeline and myspace in the google seach and you should find it although i dont know the people there personally.
i know that Manafest also has good inspirational music for teens: http://www.myspace.com/manafestca
im really sorry that youve only come across christians pushing their beliefs on other people, and im starting to get involved in street outreach ,.. i know of two groups from diff campuses that go in downtown toronto to give oout food and other necessities to homeless people
and have you ever heard of David Wilkerson? Read his book “the cross and the switchblade” where revival swept through the most dangerous New York Gangs, leaveing police, public and the world stunned. One of the most dangerous NY street kid (the most dangerous kinds are the kids cuz they are bored) gangsters (Nicky Cruz) is going around the world giving talks.
in nursing, the new idea out there all over the world is the idea about “holistic care”. that means to care for physical, mental, and spiritual, psychologicaland considering environemental factors. this is why i also want to let Jesus work through me on the streets, because if you go there yourself you will realize that they also have spiritual needs just like you and i.
extremeprophetic.com is a group that prays with people on the streets. all the christian outreach services that i know of in my neighboring city and elsewhere take care of the basic needs of the people primarily and but telling them truth about JEsus and God’s love for them is also there too. two outreach for teen centres in my neighbouring city work with teens and a low cost food restaurant and clothing store are all run by christian things. … im sorry to tell you but most of the stuff ive come across is people outreaching to teens in the name of Jesus. so good luck … cuz in the bible (not to preach at you or anyting) but JEsus spent most his time on the streets with people, meeting their needs (ie. healing, clothing, feeding physically and spiritually, bringing justice and teaching people to love God and each other, to repent from all their wrong doings and take on a new life where ever he went) so then he said ‘follow me’ so dont be surprised if lots of christians are reaching out to others, though still i think there needs to be lots of work done and more workers.
http://www.biblegateway.com (online bible in many languages and translations)
one of my profs who might not be a christian (i dont know) and brings free donated clothes from my campus (a secular non christian, though containing christians), accompanies the salvation army van (christians) in my neighboring city for giving out free breakfast and suppers once every two weeks to the homeless for free.
one outreach center in my neighbouring city i know has an RN who works there. i have a friend who worked with a christian group giving inspirational talks in highschools. so stuff is getting done, its just lots of things out there counteract the work and there arent a lot of workers.
its really good of you to have a heart for this and all the best! take care and hope this helps.
hey Dana
im a 19 yr old second year nursing student that is probably going to spend most of my life reaching out to homeless, those on the street and teens in highschool and on the street. most of my work is going to be not paid i might just have to be a nurse in the hospital as a source of income. i have a close friend that is a single mom and am very aware of the depression and drugs that destroys people’s lives. one of my best friends almost died from drug overdose this summer. ive personally been suicidal once when i was in grade 7 and another time in grade 10.. but i have found love and hope and acceptance and full life in Jesus — like read the bible, especially Jesus’ teachings and try to follow them and you will never be the same! … if anyone wants to talk email me at bearerofhope@hotmail.com
i do know of medical (non christian) organization that has a website that i came across not to long ago (but then again they might be christian,… but why does that scare you?) http://www.sfccc.org/sos/index.htm
i have also realized myspace being a good way to reach out to people, but since my myspace was a year old and was becomoing a huge distraction with school, i deleted it and will get another on when school is done
http://WWW.TEENHOPELINE.COM may also be of some interest to you and i know that there is a dude from there that has a myspace too.. just put in teen hopeline and myspace in the google seach and you should find it although i dont know the people there personally.
i know that Manafest also has good inspirational music for teens: http://www.myspace.com/manafestca
im really sorry that youve only come across christians pushing their beliefs on other people, and im starting to get involved in street outreach ,.. i know of two groups from different campuses that go in downtown toronto to give oout food and other necessities to homeless people
and have you ever heard of David Wilkerson? Read his book “the cross and the switchblade” where revival swept through the most dangerous New York Gangs, leaving police, public and the world stunned. One of the most dangerous NY street kid (the most dangerous kinds are the kids cuz they are bored) gangsters (Nicky Cruz) is going around the world giving talks.
in nursing, the new idea out there all over the world is the idea about “holistic care”. that means to care for physical, mental, and spiritual, psychological and considering environemental factors. this is why i also want to let Jesus work through me on the streets, because if you go there yourself you will realize that they also have spiritual needs just like you and i.
http://www.extremeprophetic.com is a group that prays with people on the streets. all the christian outreach services that i know of in my neighboring city and elsewhere take care of the basic needs of the people primarily and but telling them truth about JEsus and God’s love for them is also there too. two outreach for teen centres in my neighboring city work with teens and a low cost food restaurant and clothing store are all run by christian things. … im sorry to tell you but most of the stuff ive come across is people outreaching to teens in the name of Jesus. so good luck … cuz in the bible (not to preach at you or anyting) but JEsus spent most his time on the streets with people, meeting their needs (ie. healing, clothing, feeding physically and spiritually, bringing justice and teaching people to love God and each other, to repent from all their wrong doings and take on a new life where ever he went) so then he said ‘follow me’ so dont be surprised if lots of christians are reaching out to others, though still i think there needs to be lots of work done and more workers.
http://www.biblegateway.com (online bible in many languages and translations)
one of my profs who might not be a christian (i don’t know) and brings free donated clothes from my campus (a secular non christian, though containing christians), accompanies the salvation army van (christians) in my neighboring city for giving out free breakfast and suppers once every two weeks to the homeless for free.
one outreach center in my neighbouring city i know has an RN who works there. i have a friend who worked with a christian group giving inspirational talks in highschools. so stuff is getting done, its just lots of things out there counteract the work and there arent a lot of workers.
its really good of you to have a heart for this and all the best! take care and hope this helps.
Cheryl
Hi Danah,
I was just watching the youtube video of you, Finklehor and Ybarra and was jolted out of my chair when you got to “digital street outreach”. I founded the Safe OnLine Outreach Society in 2002 after a 15 year career as a youth worker. Originally I wanted to do exactly what you’re talking about except, at least in the early days of ICQ, saying ‘i’m a really safe person to talk to’ made you sound like a ‘sketchball’. I’ve been delivering interent safety presentation to youth, and parents since we started. But my real passion is in engaging youth serving professionals to begin to imagine how they are going to update their existing practices to include serving youth online. It’s a hard sell! Most are mid-30’s to mid-50’s and thing social networking is a foreign and dangerous practice.
They don’t have the time to learn about online setting and don’t see it as a priority when it comes to investing in new training material
I totally agree with you that the future of youth work must include engaging youth in their environments, at their request and to meet the needs they identify.
thanks for the inspiring words. It’s been a long time since I have felt someone else thinking the same meme.
(Here is British Columbia, there is a site called youthinbc.com where they offer online (IM) support for youth but as in the example above, they involve youth going to an identified service/site rather than having access to support where they already hang out.)
Excellent resources Cheryl