Four days ago I arrived at Shelterwood, my home for the next year. Shelterwood is a residential treatment facility for hurting teenagers. This program is often a last resort for parents who are unable to control their 14 to 18 year olds. Teens in the program struggle with everything from drug and alcohol addiction to self esteem issues to depression.
Through this program, teenagers or "littles" are able to work through their struggles and ultimately learn to make healthier choices. They go to a fully accredited school on the property, take part in therapy sessions with licensed counselors and begin the healing process alone and with their families.
My job as a residential care worker or "big" will be to live life with the littles. I will help them with homework. I will make sure they are getting along with other littles and not fighting. I will make sure they follow house rules (boy there are quite a few! ) and discipline them when they do not. I will make Sonic runs with them and watch movies with them before bed. But most important of all, I will show these girls Christ's love and that He is able to help them even in the tough spot they are in.
This job is really a dream come true. It's as if all my passions have been combined to create this place.
The past few days I've been getting settled in. The other new bigs and I have to complete over 100 hours of training before we can really begin working closely with the littles. I know this will be a difficult year but I'm so excited to see what God will do! I'm so excited for the posts to come!!
