Social Change Project: Q1

Dear Ms. Koroshetz,

     The teenage population is in a re-occurring silent crisis in which adults are not aware of; I am here to inform you on their behalf. Teenagers in high school are not only confused about school, but they're confused about all the other social and personal aspects. We, as the "future", have to endure the burden today's society puts on us. An article that appeared in Psychology Today that stated "the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the ealy 1950's." We are expected to behave a certain way around our friends and a certain way around our parents and it becomes difficult to put on these "masks" and transition between them. We even try to masks our problems since it's hard to talk about them because we feel like no one can relate to us. Going to the school psychologists may help some of us, but not everyone is comfortable with opening up to an adult who we believe can't relate or will only make the situation worse.

     Seeing how involved you are with our school and how the students benefit from the assemblies we have, like the awareness of bullying, I believe that I can offer some ideas that may relive some stress from you. 

     Since teens go through this much stress and change during high school, I think creating a self help group for teens in high school will be a great start to helping us become more open about our problems and anxiety. This group will talk about anything that may come to mind that we may be needing help with in our new, profound, scary life. The group will consists of all teenagers seeing that we relate best with our peers who are likely to be going through the same thing. The ultimate goal would be to create a comfortable environment where people would not be forced to talk, but to make them comfortable with talking about what they're going through. I belive these meetings can be a success even if one person talks the entire time or a few people don't say a word at all because they'll all be getting something out of the conversation.

    I would love for you, as an involved principle, to help me not only create this group for this highschool but help start a change in the stress and anxiety that we endure on a daily basis. Thank You for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon as the crisis increases every day.

                                         Sincerely, 

             an advocate of the silent teenage crisis: Amahd Young

Logos (Teens Anonymous)

It is easier to solve most of the problems and complications that you are having in life if you would just talk about them with others.However, with teenagers it is more difficult to just open up to someone, specifically an adult, that may make them feel uncomfortable because they feel like they can't relate with them. 

To make things easier on teenagers, a group can be created that'll consists of teenagers facing similar problems to make these problems subside. A group that'll consists of teens who may be experiencing the same struggles as one another can help them solve their problems. The point of these meetings would not be to force the people to talk, but to make them comfortable with talking about what they're going through. I think these meetings can be a success even if one person talks the entire time or a few people don't say a word at all. 

If you find this hard to believe just think of other group meetings that were created to help people relate to one another to solve a common problem or reach a common goal. If you were to go to an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting, a nonprofessional and self-supporting group, today you would find that everyone in the room is essentially there because they want to solve the same problem or all have the same problem. Each individual may help each other grow and work at their goals by talking to people who they feel may understand them; there would be a wide range of people who attend these meetings. For some people, simply speaking out loud will help their cause while others have to have feedback and engage in  conversations more while others can simply sit there the entire time without saying a word. The fact that there is no set goal or pressure for and individual at each meeting makes it a lot easier on the participants to open up to talk about their problem or experience with alcohol.

Why not try to "recreate" a widely known organization with a different goal, name, and age group?