Engaging Youth in Problem Gambling Prevention and Recovery Efforts Elizabeth Toomey, CPS Prevention Network Team Leader, Prevention Education and YOU(th) Decide Coordinator

Huddle and Muddle Groups of 4 to 6 people Why do you do what you do? Why do you work with youth? What do young people bring to the table? What do young want from adults and programs?

Things youth want from adults

Responsibility Respect Trust Responsibility: Give us a chance to prove to you that we can be responsible. Respect: Treat us like you’d like to be treated. Trust: Don’t judge us just because we are young . . . Not all of us are bad. Give Us a Chance: To make mistakes, learn from experience, and to explain our opinion or our side of the story. “requests” from teens to adults was written by a 16-year-old and published in the New Zealand Herald as well as in The Spirit of Mentoring: A Manuel for Adult Volunteers by Robin Cox:

Give us a Chance Care Support Give Us a Chance: To make mistakes, learn from experience, and to explain our opinion or our side of the story. Care: Let us know you care. Support: We need support; we need to be reassured we are doing the right thing.

Understanding Balance Give us praise Freedom Understanding: Listen to what we have to say and understand that we have stresses and problems too. Although they may seem insignificant to you, they are big to us. Being a teenager/young adult is not easy: understand this. Balance: Don’t leave us totally alone. We need you to catch us if we fall. Give us praise: When we are doing things that are good or make right decisions. Freedom: It may be hard, but let us go. We have to leave our footprints and make our own decisions and mistakes. Part of growing up is find out who we are, what we value and what we need as a person. Only we alone can make that journey.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT What is …… Positive youth development is a framework that guides communities and programs in the way they organize services, opportunities, and supports so that young people can develop to their full potential.

Youth involvement can benefit organizations and their programs as well as the youth themselves.

Meaningful youth engagement views youth as equal partners with adults in the decision-making process. Programs and activities are developed with youth, rather than for youth.

Getting over ourselves “ADULTISM”

Acknowledge and embrace the idea that youth are talented and capable of leading community change. Young people must lead positive change themselves in order for it to succeed. Programs must identify, nurture and support everyone not just the talented elite.

Help youth learn specific knowledge and skills related to leadership. Facilitate the development of individual strengths and leadership styles.

Embody high expectations of, confidence in, and respect for the teens served. Emphasize experiential learning and provide opportunities for genuine leadership. Involve young people in service to others to their community, their country and their world.

How do we engage young people to lead and be involved?

If youth are not already part of the program, they will need to be shown why they need to devote their efforts and time. The question of “What’s in it for me?” must be addressed in outreach. Long-term goals are always part of our work, but there are short-term benefits that are often taken for granted.

Youth Engagement Works What does the research say? Quality youth programs, those proven most effective and rated highly by young people themselves, make an intentional effort to engage youth at the highest level in planning, making choices, and reflecting on their learning (Zeldin, Larson, Camino, & O'Connor, 2005). A review of the youth development research shows that youth development programs that are rated highly by young people are intentional about engaging youth in planning, making choices, and reflecting on their learning. Examples of these in 4-H youth development may include 4-H youth selecting and planning their next service learning project or having 4-Hers plan and make choices about an educational trip your group takes. When the service learning project or trip is completed, being intentional about having youth discuss what they learned and how those things may apply to their lives and their future ensures the reflection process takes place. In addition to engagement and reflection, youth want the programs they are involved in to be fun and interesting. Are your 4-H club meetings, after-school program activities, or other group events both fun and educational? Does the youth development environment you volunteer in provide a welcoming and encouraging place for youth to participate? Experiencing all of these pieces ensures youth will continue to attend time after time.

Programs that engage youth and how: You(th) Decide Teen Insitute Reality Check Youth Club House Youth Club houses are a newer OASAS strategy to reach both at risk youth and youth in recovery. Programming is determined by the youth based on interests and goals, while implementing a learning component to them. Youth club houses serve youth up to the age of 17 and typically have a Youth Advisory Committee to help guide the adults. When serving young adults (18-30) similar tactics are used, we find out what is needed and/or wanted by the recovery community, and find a way to meet the need in an environment that is safe and sober. Most recently, we (pnet) have done a recovery book club, a bath bomb making class, and offer weekly Buddhist based recovery groups that are open to both the individuals in recovery and their family members.

What have you done to engage young people ? & What were some of the strengths as a result and what were some of the barriers?

Thank you Elizabeth Toomey Prevention Network 906 Spencer Street Syracuse, NY 13204 (315) 471-1359 Etoomey@PreventionNetworkCNY.org