Alliance House fiding new ways to challenge youth
Published on January 8th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Standing nervously in front of a small gathering of media members and his peers, Steven quickly introduces himself and clicks a slide of Santa Claus onto the large projection screen. An animated picture of St. Nick holding a mixed drink while lounging on the beach pops up with the words, "Quantity and Frequency of Choices".
"As you can see, Santa’s at a large risk because he’s already drinking," says Steven to the laughter of the room as he continues his presentation on alcohol abuse and awareness.
Although the laughter might indicate that Steven isn’t taking the subject of his presentation seriously, his fellow peers know that such is not the case. For these adolescents, the dangers of alcohol and its negative behavioral effects are known to all, for it cost them their very independence.
Steven, like all fifteen adolescents living in Stoneham’s Alliance house, an intervention and rehabilitation program for adolescent males, can’t reveal his last name. Under the custody of the Department of Youth Services, all of those enrolled in the three-month treatment program have been arrested for various crimes, and most have abused drugs or alcohol.
Steven, with five other Alliance house members, just graduated a new computer literacy course last Friday, one of the last milestones they will reach before being released from their 90-day intervention program.
"We theorize this computer literacy program will have good effects on their self-esteem and their marketability in the future. This program also gives them an opportunity to integrate their knowledge on alcohol abuse," said Salem State College professor Dr. Eric Metchik, who first introduced the computer courses to the Alliance house.
According to Metchik, while the computer program has been utilized on two prior occasions, the third group has made the most amazing educational strides.
"This group has been very unique because this group picked up on the HTML language itself," said Metchik before the six graduates began to explain the impossibly confusing word and letter combinations they used to create their alcohol awareness web sites.
The computer literacy program constitutes only a part of the education the youths receive, an education consisting of traditional science, math, English, and history instruction as well as community service projects, optional bible and religious studies, and anger management therapies.
Because the house does not have any bars on any of its windows or locks on its doors, each resident must always remain under the supervision of an adult staff member. To keep track of their movements, each member must formally request permission to enter any of the house’s various rooms. In addition, each resident is rated daily on their social behavior, being rewarded with a point system for proper etiquette and studying habits.
"When I first got here, it was pretty rough," said James from Medford. "I had a different image of myself back then. I didn’t even care. But when you graduate you feel a lot better…You’re a new man," he added as he nervously showed his meticulous room to visitors.
Although the Alliance house only rehabilitates 1 out of every 15 adolescents on his first attempt, one only has to look at residents like James to realize that amazing progress has been made.
Signs of this progress can be seen after the meeting, as several residents prepare their afternoon meal consisting of chicken noodle soup, tuna salad, peanut butter and jelly and various breads.
Showing a remarkable sense of discipline for adolescents their age, the residents march from kitchen to dining room, requesting permission of the staff members to enter and exit the adjoining rooms every time they cross the door’s threshold. Equally as impressive, the remaining residents of the house all speak quietly in a nearby sitting room, their squared backs and shoulders revealing not even the slightest indication of a youthful slouch.
But perhaps the residents’ bedrooms offer the greatest indicators of a new disciplined lifestyle. Walking into one of the house’s two sleeping quarters, an uniformed visitor might think they had stumbled across an army barracks. The blue bed covers are tucked in so tight, a dropped cotton-ball could bounce off of them. The large rug is completely vacuumed, the dressers lacking even the smallest streak of dust.
"What’s the expectation on hampers?" fires a staff member accompanying James around the bedrooms.
"The expectation on hampers is that they are placed straight and neatly under the bed," James declares as his eyes scan the rows of hampers stacked under the various bunk beds. "This one needs to be pushed in a little more," he suggests while walking over to a bed and pushing in the bin an inch more.
"And why do we have expectations instead of rules?" the staff member asks.
"Because the things that we should normally be doing aren’t rules," James confidently answered.
Returning to the large sitting room with his peers, James and the rest of the adolescents file into a single line, all whispers and chatter silenced as they walk together into the dining room.
Accompanied by a staff member as always, they all sit in their places and bow their heads in silence before their afternoon meal. There they give thanks for the meal before them, and perhaps reflect on their brighter futures.
And although that future still remains uncertain, it is no longer as blurred and hopeless as it was before.
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