Rethink Resources

Which do you think is easier?

I was reminded of this question yesterday at a meeting here in Milwaukee that’s part of an effort to create a drop-in center for youth struggling with basic needs. A lot of plans have focused on connecting youth with adult run programs and agencies and that’s super common when adults plan efforts to address youth needs.

But one of the first ideas from an advisory group of local youth is to have peer counselors at the center and everyone seems excited about this idea. This made me happy as I’m a strong advocate of peer outreach and peer based programs.

Many times I’ve met youth in the sex trade who felt that talking with another young person is way easier than talking with an adult. My experience has been that teens are talking with each other about the sex trade (should they do it? what do you think of this offer - does it sound real?) Teens who are in or have been in the sex trade can be trained and supported to do outreach to other teens who are experiencing similar struggles.

This makes sense and is powerful in many ways. Teens can find other teens way easier than adults can sometimes, especially in reaching teens in the off-street sex trade. An adult outreach worker can’t easily be at that hotel party or someone’s basement where some youth hang out.

Often a teen can connect with another teen through shared language, experiences and styles that are super difficult, if not impossible, for an adult to do. Educating peers to be leaders in their own communities means supporting changes in the moment, not just at that specific group time or one to one meeting with an adult. If you prepare youth to have the information and resources necessary to support safer and healthier decisions, I believe you can reach way more youth.

More than being accessible, youth often talk with each other about really difficult experiences way before reaching out to an adult. Maybe you witnessed another young person’s helpfulness in other situations or feel like they’ll understand more.

Sometimes youth feel like adults are just untrustworthy or inaccessible. If you feel like adults aren’t listening, or aren’t around or are most likely going to tell other people about what you need to keep confidential - talking with another youth can seem a lot better.

But I’ve also talked with youth who feel like they would much rather talk with an adult because the youth they know can’t seem to keep a secret. So you confide in one youth and next thing you know the whole school or whole neighborhood knows. Or I’ve heard youth wonder why they would seek out assistance from another teen when what they want is someone with more life experience or knowledge or someone outside their social circle/peer group.

Sometimes youth who’ve had positive experiences with adults making things happen want to talk with an adult because it may mean more access to a program or resources. Or youth will seek out an adult if it’s about something really serious.

A few programs focused on teens in the sex trade have peer based projects like outreach or speaking to groups of youth and I’m excited about all the peer based work I was able to be a part of with YWEP. Unfortunately a lot of programs don’t make it a priority or believe strongly in adult leadership. I think we miss out on amazing opportunities that way.

It does seem like no matter if teens prefer to talk out dilemmas and solutions with other teens or with adults everyone wants to talk with someone nonjudgmental, supportive, with helpful resources and hopefully with similar life experiences.