The curtains in the living room of the youth shelter were drawn closed allowing just a dim glow of sunlight to filter in from the sidewalk and street outside. Three teenage boys lay on three sofas against three different walls and a fourth younger looking female resident sat in a corner on the floor near the window. These were the unwilling participants for my first experiential learning group.

As the newly appointed director for a drug abuse prevention program, my job was to facilitate groups with runaway and homeless youth residing at my agency’s youth shelter. The average age of the residents was 14. 

I had just returned from a week’s training in experiential, adventure-based programming and I was positively brimming with enthusiasm and new ideas to get these young people out of their depression and into a life of good decision-making and healthy risk-taking.

The agenda for my first group was based on the sequencing order I had just learned during training, and I was excited to put it into action. I would start with an explanation of challenge by choice, and then move into some fun, easy icebreaker activities, followed by a problem-solving activity that would bring the group together as a team. My debriefing would focus on what each person learned about themselves while working together as a team.

“Hi everyone,” I said as I walked into the middle of the living room. “Welcome to our first adventure group here at the shelter.” There was no movement other than a slight shift of position by the young lady in the corner. “I’d like to start off with our group rules. First, all our activities are challenge by choice, which means if you don’t feel comfortable doing something because of the level of trust or risk involved, it’s OK if you choose not to participate.”

One male, whose legs were draped over the arm of his sofa, groaned and turned away from me to face the back of the sofa. Another boy muttered a quiet expletive under his breath. The two other group members remained motionless, exuding varying degrees of disinterest. Regardless of what I said or what activity I proposed that afternoon, these young people did not move from their original positions or participate in any way. After 20 minutes of trying, I picked up my hula hoops and fleece balls and trudged back upstairs to my office to rethink my strategy.

That was 20 years ago, and during two decades of working with at-risk youth, I have learned from my mistakes. This article is written to help you and other facilitators get off to the right start working with this challenging population.

So what makes working with at-risk youth so different than facilitating other youth groups? First, these young people often come to group with feelings of negative self-perception, boredom, alienation, or low self-esteem (Druian and Butler 1987, Moore 2006). These youth, by definition, have already experienced personal and environmental risk factors that increase their chances of being victimized or developing behavioral problems. These risk factors include:

• Family violence, including verbal and emotional abuse and neglect 
• Childhood traumas, such as physical and sexual abuse 
• Poor or ineffective parental supervisory and discipline skills
• Parental alcoholism or drug addiction
• Failing in school truancy and other school problems
• Low socio-economic status, and/or living in poverty

Because their environment has put them unwillingly into unsafe situations, they have learned to not trust for very good reasons, the most pressing being survival. As such, establishing a trusting relationship with these young people takes more time, consideration, and effort than with other youth groups. 
Secondly, facilitators should not assume these youth will have any experience working successfully in a group. Most have never participated on a team of any sort, successful or otherwise. Combined with the low self-esteem symptomatic of this population, these young people are often unmotivated, suspicious, and initially reluctant to participate in any group activities.
So what can be done to motivate at-risk youth to engage in a group activity for the first time? The remainder of this article describes a method of preparation and introduction I have developed over the years that has proven effective in helping at-risk youth get started in their first experiential group activities.

Prepare or Fail
The axiom “Failure to prepare, prepare to fail” is particularly apt when working with this population. Before your group begins, you need to answer the following questions:

• How many youth will attend? How many staff? (I generally require a staff:student ratio of 1:5 or lower.)
• Is youth attendance mandatory or voluntary?
• How are the youth selected for participation? Are they chosen as a reward for positive behavior or because they are making poor behavioral choices?
• What are the goals of the group? Have these goals been decided upon and/or agreed to by the participants?
• How will staff handle youth who choose not to participate or become disruptive?

Where Depends on Who
Your answers to these questions will help you choose the appropriate space and introduction structure for your group. For instance, if youth are required to attend for poor behavioral choices, they could resent being selected for your program and try to disrupt the group actively by misbehavior or passively by nonparticipation. Such a group needs a more structured group space and introduction, so I would choose a more confined space instead of a wide open space like a gymnasium. This helps keep the group focused and allows them to become more comfortable with you and your style before being challenged by problem-solving activities.

Sequencing Is Everything
After choosing an appropriate location, the next most important step in getting your group off to the right start is introducing group safety rules and the concept of challenge by choice, in that order.

How many times, when introducing the concept of challenge by choice, have you immediately lost group participants who choose not to challenge themselves in any way? This is especially true working with at-risk youth who often come to group untrusting, unwilling, and low on self-esteem. To avoid this, I have developed the following method for covering this important topic.

After brief name introductions, I begin by stating the group safety rules for participation. “First and foremost,” I explain, “because these activities may involve moving around together at a high rate of speed, I need to get a commitment from everyone here to agree to both physical and emotional safety.”

Next, I ask if anyone in the group can give me a definition of either type of safety: “Who here can explain what physical safety means?” (My definition: No contusions, abrasions, bumps or bruises on you or anyone else.) Sometimes, a concrete example of pushing or shoving during a tag game works best.

Then we address the concept of emotional safety in a similar manner (“Who thinks they know what emotional safety means?”). The concept of emotional safety often needs more explanation. Put-downs, ranking, dissing, and other forms of negative comments are often the norm rather than the exception. So when I ask, “Who can explain what emotional safety means?”I sometimes get blank or puzzled expressions and no replies.

I approach the subject by explaining that most people will not feel comfortable taking a risk and trying their best if they think others will laugh at them or call them a loser for trying. Simply put, emotional safety means not having fun at someone else’s expense. I cannot overemphasize the importance of ensuring each participant understands this concept and commits to upholding it. Establishing a culture of emotional safety is one of the most important gifts a facilitator can bring to groups of at-risk youth. The concept is readily transferable to other aspects of the young person’s life as well, including school, home, and other social interactions.

I do not move on to the remaining group rules until I have a verbal or physical “thumbs-up” affirmation from each participant to abide by both physical and emotional safety requirements. If someone cannot commit to being safe, I usually allow them to remain with the group as long as they are not disruptive. Often, after a fun activity or two, the bystanders decide to agree to the safety requirements so that they can join the group.

By beginning with safety rules, I set the stage to introduce challenge by choice within the context of group safety. In this way, challenge by choice becomes part of an individual’s decision not to participate when the activity seems physically or emotionally unsafe because the challenge level seems too great at the time. This is very different than starting the group by stating that challenge by choice gives everyone the choice of sitting out if they feel the challenge level is too high.
 
When I do begin discussing challenge by choice, I tell the group that no one will be asked to try something if they feel physically or emotionally unsafe in the attempt. I might give an example of someone with a sore ankle choosing not to join in a fast game of tag. I stress that each individual has different physical and emotionally comfort levels around things like physical closeness and fear of heights, and the group needs to respect the individual’s decision.

The remaining group rules, communication, cooperation, and fun, are described as important qualities if the group is to succeed in the more challenging, problem-solving activities that may come later if the group is ready.
 
Throughout the early activities, facilitators must be vigilant and conscientious about pointing out physical or emotional safety issues. As the group develops, members are likely to begin calling each other out without your help. When this happens, silently congratulate yourself for helping to create a culture of safety awareness that may be of more value in the long run for at-risk youth than any activities on your agenda.

After the group has experienced some success and sense of unity, I will again remind them of challenge by choice when an activity requires an increased level of emotional and physical risk. Participants are more likely to stay involved at this point, since the group has demonstrated an understanding of safety. More importantly, an atmosphere has been established where your group participants can feel safe and have fun while challenging themselves in a supportive environment.

MANAGING THE UNSAFE OR DISRUPTIVE GROUP PARTICIPANT
How do you deal with an at-risk youth who understands and commits to follow group rules in your introduction but acts unsafely or disruptively when activities begin? Given this population’s general lack of positive team experience, it’s likely to happen.  My approach? Come prepared with a graduated series of steps to give the young person a fair chance to change his/her behavior and stay involved in the group process.

Before the youth participants arrive, meet with the adult staff to establish ground rules on how a young person will be removed if s/he persists in unsafe or disruptive behavior. Remember, as the facilitator, you are the final arbiter of who stays and who goes. This needs to be understood by everyone involved.

Once group begins, you must immediately address unsafe or disruptive behavior by first reminding the group of their agreement to keep safe and work together; next I speak directly to the youth responsible for the behavior.

I begin by asking the youth if s/he can tell me what negative consequences might result from his/her actions. If the response is appropriate and the young person seems contrite, I drop the matter and go back to my planned group activities. If the young person responds inappropriately or displays a nonchalant or “so-what” attitude, I ask the entire group the same question. If the group can identify possible negative consequences, I have enlisted peer pressure to help establish a positive group culture. If no one speaks up, I describe the possible negative impacts myself. I finish this step by asking the young person if s/he thinks s/he can follow group rules for the remainder of the group. If the youth agrees, I thank him/her and resume the group activities. If s/he doesn’t, I ask a staff to sit off to the side with the youth in the interest of group safety. Often, after a few fun activities, the young person will recommit to the rules and rejoin the group.

I am careful that my body language, tone and word choice do not embarrass or offend the young person I’m trying to correct. My position is one of a friendly advisor reminding him/her of the rules so the group can proceed; not a policeman, but a concerned adult calling out behavior that is detrimental to group safety and progress.

Three strikes, and you’re out.
Sometimes, despite my best efforts, a young person cannot comply and needs to leave the group. My rule of thumb, which I clearly communicate to the group, is three strikes and you’re out. If I need to address an individual’s behavior three times in a single group, s/he  will be asked to step out of the group. I may allow the individual to sit aside with a staff. Other times, I ask that the young person leave the group entirely. I am always clear to let the young person know that his/her behavior is the problem, not him/her. I am careful not to embarrass or offend the individual’s often fragile sense of self-worth, which could lead to an escalation in defensive behavior and a more confrontational situation.

References

Druian, G., Butler, J.A. (1987). Northwest Educational Laboratory, Effective Schooling Practices and At-Risk Youth: What the Research Shows. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/1/topsyn1.html

Moore, K.A. (2006). Child Trends, Defining the Term “At Risk.” Retrieved June 2, 2008 from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2006_10_01_RB_DefiningAtRisk.pdf

About the Author: Dominic Cataldo is the coordinator of the Challenge Course and Experiential Learning Program at La Salle School in Albany, New York, USA. His primary interest over the past two decades has been providing at-risk youth access to indoor and outdoor learning experiences.