I REMEMBER SITTING IN DISCO ROOM
IN A YOUTH CLUB.
PAINTED MATT BLACK.
I WAS SAT IN THE DARK
AMIDST LOADS OF YOUNG PEOPLE,
LOUD MUSIC AND
TALKING TO ONE PARTICULAR YOUNG MAN.
He was telling me about his burglaries.
He was telling me how you broke into peoples homes and stealing televisions etc to sell them to get money for Christmas.
I remember having all these issues on my mind.
What is the right thing to do - this was back in the day.
Deciding on the way has changed my life
and the lives of many young people.
I don't agree with crime I think it's horrible.
I have been burgled myself.
It is the most horrible crime to enter peoples homes
and robbing their personal possessions especially when children are asleep.
I have had worse crimes reported to me by young people
and I have had to work through the issue of how to handle confidentiality.
I've decided that I'm like a priest.
I will listen and support and be our professional friend,
a helping friend, to the people I work with.
That means that means being able to handle the confidentiality and
not to report crimes to the police but to do my job.
That is building positive supportive relationships with young people
who are involved in crime which includes, sometimes, seriously violent crime.
The objective is to be in a close relationship them to support person
so that they can develop as a person to a stage where they are able to decide a better more wholistic lifestyle.
All this comes out of believing that a developing young person will grow out of committing crimes.
I have seen it happen so often.
It all depends on a close confidential relationship.
This is sometimes called life coaching.
I feel it is just being committed and being authentic.
Another single word would be -
Love.
