REPORT
Time's up for helping teens
For the most part, the news about B.C. youth in the
latest Adolescent Health Survey was good. Released last month by
Burnaby's McCreary Centre Society — a nonprofit educational organization
that focuses on young people's well-being — the report acknowledged that
although rates of marijuana use and binge drinking among boys were up
over the last decade, most teenagers are doing well. In fact, nine out
of 10 say they are in good or excellent physical health. Suicide-attempt
rates have remained constant, but at least they haven't gone up. Fewer
teens are smoking and abusing drugs. Most are waiting until they are
older to have sex. And obesity rates are lower than the national
average. Compare this to the reality of adolescents in England, where
things are so bleak — thanks to increased rates of smoking, substance
abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases — that a British Medical
Association report released in March called the situation “a public
health time bomb”. In the light of England's experience, B.C. parents
and health officials alike breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But not everybody exhaled. Nichola Hall most certainly
didn't. A mother of two from Kerrisdale, she's one of the founding
members of From Grief to Action, a support network for parents of kids
with addictions that has evolved into a committed advocacy group. Her
son, now 23 and undergoing methadone treatment, was hooked on cocaine,
then heroin, by the time he was 18. He and his mom, and others like
them, are the faces behind the not-so-good news in the McCreary report,
the high-risk kids and their parents from every demographic who say they
are left to overcome addiction on their own or hit the bottom in a
system that offers little or no help. In a phone interview with the
Georgia Straight from her office at UBC, where she works as
continuing-studies program director, Hall said resources for youth with
addictions are appalling. “Vancouver's drug problem is the worst in
Canada, yet Quebec and Ontario offer far more services,” she said.
”There's only two youth treatment centres in B.C. [Peak House in
Vancouver and Revision in Terrace]. That's 12 beds for the entire
province. And when a kid admits they're dependent and wants treatment,
you've got to pick it up right away, otherwise that opportunity is
missed.”
According to Viviana Zanocco, media-relations officer
at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which, under the Liberal
government, is responsible for addictions services for youth and adults,
such resources are being expanded. “We're looking to match client needs
with a broader range of programs, such as home-based detox or daytox, in
which clients go to a program during the day and go home at night,”
Zanocco said in a phone interview.
However, members of the FGTA group say they don't
believe such treatments are effective for teens. “Kids can just go to
counselling during the day and have their drugs at night,” Hall said.
“We need good residential centres with three-month stays, at least.” But
money and resources for such costly programs are already stretched thin,
Zanocco said. “We can't just add beds. We have to look at the preventive
side too and harm reduction.” And apparently, there's a more immediate
problem. “What we're really concentrating on right now is this whole
methamphetamine thing, where kids are ending up in the emergency wards.
We don't know anything about the short- and long-term effects, nor about
effective treatments. It's an acute problem, especially in downtown
south.” (The McCreary survey refutes claims of escalating crystal-meth
problems.)
Who are the teens making lousy choices? During an
interview at the McCreary Centre, Dr. Roger Tonkin, retired UBC
pediatrics professor and chair of the society's board, said there are
certain signs parents should watch for. “Kids with chronic conditions
such as asthma, diabetes, or attention-deficit disorder are at risk. So
are obese kids, or children who look older than they are or who run
away.” There's no shortage of the latter; according to the survey, one
in 10 teens ran away from home in the last decade. Common to them all,
according to Pat Mauch, a public-health nurse with the VCHA and part of
the McCreary report's project team, is low self-esteem. “These kids are
dealing with something that sets them apart, an especially tough thing
when you're a teenager. But all kids will be exposed to risky choices.
If they are resilient, if they feel good about themselves, believe they
can make good decisions, they'll make them.” Hall's son fit the profile.
As a child, he had severe ADD and didn't make friends easily. “Ritalin
never suited him,” recalled Hall, “but cocaine did the job nicely.”
The trouble, Tonkin said, is that people often don't
see the signs until it's too late. “Parents, schools, and communities
need to rethink their approach to high-risk behaviours in adolescents.
We wait until they're apprehended by the cops or addicted to drugs
before we intervene.” Owen Perry, a youth and family counsellor with
Family Services of the North Shore, has worked with hundreds of
high-risk young people and their families. He agrees with Tonkin,
explaining that many of his clients come to him too late. “I was in
youth court yesterday,” Perry said on the line from his office in North
Vancouver, “and the judge had to decide whether to punish this kid or
give him a chance to rehabilitate.” Perry believes if more money went
into programs that promote positive parenting or help single-parent
families, judges wouldn't have to make such agonizing decisions. He's
not the only one. Research linking positive conditions in early
childhood — such as a nurturing environment and a sense of community —
to well-being throughout life is well-documented. In fact, recent
studies by Dr. Clyde Hertzman, a leading epidemiologist at UBC, have
demonstrated that support and caring in early childhood are critical
factors for brain development, influencing a child's capacity to thrive
later in life. The McCreary survey also supports such findings. “By
fostering connections, competence, coping skills, and responsible
behaviours, parents and educators can prevent problems from developing
and enable youth to face challenges creatively,” the report reads.
In the meantime, adults shouldn't give up on troubled
teens, even in the bleakest of circumstances, insisted Perry, who works
with a couple of young boys, 12 and 16, whose mother was brutally
murdered when they were old enough to be acutely aware of the horror of
it. “They are now living with the grandparents, who aren't perfect, but
they are providing warmth and compassion and love. Yes, the kids are
struggling with school. And perhaps they'll struggle with addiction, but
I can tell you this: without those grandparents, they'd be in jail.”
His message to parents: “Hang in there. Say to your
kids, 'Look, you're going to screw up, but we'll be here for you when
you do.' And then constantly work at connecting with them. Every day. As
often as you can.” It's no guarantee, but it may just be the best option
out there.
By Helena Bryan
20 May 2004
http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=2706
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