4   In My Own Words/ Nicole Terenzi

8   Ghost Children: Uncovering Distress and Depression in a Typical Middle School/ Sylvia Rockwell

14 The Girl in the Hood (And How We Drew Her Out)/ Sister Mary Rose McGeady

16 The Many Faces of Depression/ Linda Bell

21 Depression in Adolescent Girls: Emerging Themes From the Research Literature/ Stephanie T. Snow, Catherine C. Hoffman, Kimberly T. Kendziora, & Mary M. Quinn

25 His Trail of Silence: A Case Study in Reaching a Child Who Refused to Speak/ Kathleen VanAntwerp

28 Quiet Times: The Place for Sadness in Growing Up/ Val J. Peter

31 When Inward Pain Turns Outward/ Scott J. Larson

37 Tara's Death: A Lesson in Love, Grief, and Resilience/ Thomas Reilly & Eleanor Guetzloe

43 How Can Parents Help a Depressed Child? /Jamie Raser

47 Medication for the Depressed Child: Hope or Harm?/ Mary W. Roberts and Norman Alessi

54 The Doorway to Freedom: A Four-Step Process for Healing Troubled Youth/ Dominic P Herbst

59 Meeting the Needs of Children and Youth With Challenging Behaviors: Module 12 / Lyndal M. Bullock and Ann Fitzsimons-Lovett

66 Countering Depression With the Five Building Blocks of Resilience/ Edith H. Grotberg

What can we do about those kids?! This is a common refrain I hear when speaking to educational or youth-serving audiences almost anywhere in North America or abroad. It usually applies to disruptive behaviors, but it is increasingly said in reference to children who are apathetic or opt out as well (often another manifestation of anger). After the shootings at Columbine High School last April, the sense of frustration and uncertainty implied has been joined by a sense of fear.

The relief felt among people in the audience is palpable when I share that 70-80% of all behavior problems that they see in the classroom has nothing to do with them ... initially (Mendler, 1992). This fact gives people both the opportunity and the responsibility for really listening to their students — even the quiet ones. It indicates that professionals are likely not responsible for, and therefore do not need to be defensive about, belligerent or apathetic behaviors. Yet these practitioners can influence the outcome of the exchanges they have with troubled youth.

Feeling either completely responsible for others' behaviors or completely helpless in influencing them tends to lead to defensiveness or paralysis, respectively. One key to begin listening, therefore, is to get enough personal distance from the situation so that we do not feel threatened or overwhelmed by the thought of listening to a child in trouble.

Can Anyone Hear Me?

The perceptions that we hold of young people drive our actions and reactions to them (Lifton, 1988). Perceptions come from a host of places, including what one teacher heard from another; a child's file; one's own predisposition; and classifications of a student as being ED, ADD, etc. While some perceptions aid us in better understanding and connecting with young people, others get in the way of it.

It is disturbing, for example, to hear media accounts of our youth as being "predators" or in some way demonic and beyond comprehension or repair. Such classifications play to people's fears and have given way to a host of punitive measures like the Senate Judiciary Committee bills S10 and S254, allowing children to be tried in court as adults. Casting young perpetrators of violence, for example, as irrational, amoral, or demented also serves another purpose: it exonerates us from having to take any responsibility for their behaviors or their rehabilitation: Those kids are just worthless and beyond repair! While there are some young people who are amoral and could legitimately be termed "psychopathic:' they are in fact very, very few in number (Garbarino, 1999). Most acts of violence are related to perceived injustice on the part of the perpetrator (Gilligan, 1996). Similarly, suicide is often seen as the only way to rectify an untenable situation, often stemming from a series of injustices endured by the victim. While in no way excusable, these acts are therefore, at least, comprehensible, and often preventable given intensive and appropriate interventions.

In a recent conversation with Britney, a 12-year-old who has a history of aggressive behavior, I was told: "I don't share my feelings with anyone! It just builds up, and builds up until I go off on the nearest person. Then, I feel better." This pattern appears to many of Britney's teachers as one of infrequent irrational acts by an otherwise quiet, moody girl. In fact, there is usually an understandable line of reasoning at work driving such ostensibly erratic behavior, as misguided as it may be.

The work of James Garbarino (1999) and James Gilligan (1996) with hundreds of children and young men in prison for lethal acts of violence, for example, has led to a new understanding of these murders as being perpetrated in reaction to their feelings of worthlessness and victimisation. Violence is seen by these young people as a viable way for them to reclaim their dignity and assert their existence. When this perception is combined with a lack of healthy support systems and underdeveloped social and emotional skills, violence or suicide appears to these young people to be the most viable option.

The perceptions that count most in reaching a young person are those that he or she holds. Being able to "hear" what they are really feeling and thinking requires a compassionate suspension of our own feelings, values, and perceptions. This, in turn, becomes the cornerstone for determining our best interventions.

Breaking Through the Sound Barrier

Listening and being supportive so that young people will confide in you is key. In this issue, articles by Terenzi, McGeady, Antwerp, and Rockwell provide brilliant and moving insights into how practitioners can effectively reach and help intensively withdrawn and troubled young people.

Getting beyond the façade of toughness or apathy is enlightening and instructive. Articles by Raser, Bell, and Reilly demonstrate approaches to interpreting and acting on the real issues going on behind the mask young people may wear.

Lessening students' sense of humiliation and anger allows for rehabilitation and rethinking. The articles by Snow et al., Herbst, and Larson provide research and methodologies for identifying and reconnecting alienated youth.

Building on strengths provides a link to the past and road to their future. Peter, Bullock, Roberts, and Grotberg share processes and strategies for helping young people reframe and redirect their lives.

Together, the articles in this issue of Reaching Today 's Youth can help you better interpret, understand, and act on the many faces of depression, silent hostility, and apathy that you may find in your students or the youth with whom you work. I hope you enjoy and benefit from this issue, and are even better able to reach the young people with whom you work.

Alan Meredith Blankstein is founder of the National Educational Service, president of the HOPE (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) Foundation, and one of two senior editors of Reaching Today's Youth, along with Lyndal M. Bullock. Having grown up in a variety of group home and foster care settings in New York City, he has been an ardent advocate for young people as a presenter, author, and developer of C-SPAN and PBS-ALSS programs involving leaders in education, business, and government.

Garbarino, J. (1999). Young murderers. American Educator, Summer 1999, pp. 4-48. Garbarino, J. (1999). Lost boys: Why our sons turn violent and how we can save them. New York, NY: Free Press.

Gilligan, J. (1996). Violence: Our deadly epidemic and its causes. New York: Putnam. Lifton, B. (1988). The king of children: A biography of Janusz Korczak. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Mendler, A. (1992). What do I do when...? How to achieve discipline with dignity in the classroom. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.