Supportive Adult Series: Pro Dev with EK

I am a strong advocate for healthy, supportive and meaningful supportive adults being established in the lives of young people around the nation. Why you may ask. Well there are a variety of different reasons, many of which are backed up by data that indicates having a supportive adult in your life significantly directs a

young person's life in a positive direction. Most people would say well that is mentor-ship. I am here to challenge that a little bit. Also let me be clear. I am not here to argue against mentoring. I think it is a great tool to help match young people with adults who are willing and able to pour into the lives of kids around the world. What I am talking about is a natural progression of a relationship between a young person and an adult. Mentor-ships are oftentimes crafted very strategically by an organization to match a young person and is very structured. Structure is awesome. The availability of these services to adolescents and young adults are very limited. I believe there are variety of reason for this:

1. Teens are observed as uninterested and uncooperative and so therefore the efforts are heavily provided to young kids.

2. Teens, adolescents and young adults often paint a pretty picture they have it all together and don't need help

3. Many adults shy away from teens and young adults because of what I mentioned in both 1 and 2.

After working with teens and young adults for over 13 years, I am able to observe and note that this is an age in which a mentor and/or supportive adult is imperative in assisting a young person in navigating the difficulties of a teen and young adult life. There is value in having someone help you through what they have already been through. While we all know the value of parents and guardians in the lives of a younger person. There is also a fact that in adolescent years, a teen tends to draw away from their parents and lean more into a peer group. This is more in accordance to their brain development and level of perception about the world. In a teen's eyes, their peers can relate more because they are going through some of the same things. It is our job as supportive adults to help expose them to individuals who agree but disagree with their point of view, a luxury that parents do not often have in raising their children.

While parents are significant influences in the lives of young people, it is a rough time in a parental/child relationship during that time. Also this is a time where at risk youth are often forgotten and/or pushed aside as they spend time moving around into other areas to avoid being on an adult's radar. As a result we see increases in run away and homeless youth and due to abuse and neglect many youth and young adults are becoming involved more in the foster care system. And this is where my work has revealed to me a need for supportive adults in the lives of young people.

Something else I have observed that has lead me to believe this very thing. This generation of young people obviously are cut from a different cloth. I have noticed that frustration levels with their choices, what they say, what they do and how they do it are HIGH! I call them the Tik Tok generation. The truth is I don't often understand the things that they do, but that doesn't give me a right to stop pouring into them. As a child who grew up in the '90s, I am certain that the older generation was sick of our "As ifs" and Giga Pets, but hey, they got over it! :) And while it is a little different because the introduction of social media and reality television has changed the

perspective and life trajectory of an entire generation of young people, we still have a responsibility to help guide them, whether we think they are listening or not. Welcome to my Supportive Adult series, I hope you will learn something!