YOUTH IN NEED OFFERS FREE SUPPORT GROUPS AS SERVICE TO COMMUNITY

September 24, 2002 (St. Charles, Missouri) Youth In Need, a not-for-profit organization serving the youth and families of East-Central Missouri, is now offering Parent & Youth Support Groups.  The organization will host a Parent Support Group to meet each Monday from 6:45 to 8:00pm at the Burkemper Counseling Center, located at 516 Jefferson Street in midtown St. Charles.  This forum is intended to provide parents with an opportunity to share their stories and concerns about raising a teen with others in a similar situation.  Those adults attending the Parent Support Group are also encouraged to bring along their teens for a Youth Rap Session, offered at the same time and facility, but in a different room.  At the rap session, teenagers are encouraged to discuss a myriad of topics revolving around the challenges which face youth in our community.  At both the Parent Support Group and the Youth Rap Session, there will be counselors on hand to facilitate, but not dictate, the course of the discussion.  There is no need to pre-register for either group, only to arrive a few minutes early in order to sign in.  Youth In Need's goal is to present parents with a safe environment in which to discuss issues that they face in raising an adolescent.  These meetings are completely confidential and under absolutely no circumstances is anyone forced to share their thoughts.  

Ashley Loiterstein, a facilitator for the Parent Support Group stressed that the communal format helps to bring out creative solutions to difficult dilemmas.  One couple, faced with the issue of children who were constantly sneaking out of the house and taking the family car out for joyrides, decided to get creative with the situation.  At the suggestion of the support group, these parents decided to lock all of their children's shoes in the car while they slept with the keys under their pillow.  In the dead of winter and without transportation or footwear, these children were creatively compelled to obey the parents' rules.

Co-facilitator Becky Hamer commented, "The philosophy of this group is that it is the parent's job to teach responsibility to their children.    We encourage parents to set boundaries for their kids and to be consistent in how they enforce those limits.  Everything that we do, or don't do, teaches our children something, so we must be vigilant of what our actions are conveying.  If a parent has no specific rule set for a child or does not enforce that rule consistently, the children know that there is an opportunity to exploit that."

Loiterstein added, "The dynamics of a parent-child relationship are quite basic: a parent sets limits and the child tests those limits. This is why a seventeen-year-old doesn't still have the 6:00 bedtime he had when he was five.  The testing of these limits leads to conflict, which in turn creates change, and thus growth.  So, you see, a child can't really achieve growth without at least a little bit of conflict.  Our challenge as counselors is to ensure that this inevitable conflict is productive and not destructive."

Since its founding in 1974, Youth In Need's vision is to be the community leader and driving force in making children's healthy development and well-being the community's highest priority, particularly for youth who face adversity.  Believing in the strength and potential of every individual, Youth In Need strives to reach each child's personal goals.  Anyone interested in attending or in learning more about either group should contact Becky Hamer or Ashley Loiterstein at (636) 946-0101.