Today is the last day for the participants in our Cafe Connections project. They have spent 19 weeks with us learning a lot about life and employment and gaining work experience. We have seen many successes. (some of them I've talked about in earlier blogs) Over those weeks we have seen some of the tough exterior of these young men chipped away as we saw glimpses of the real person come out.
This morning most of them have reverted back to the tough exterior by exhibiting anger towards staff, a lack of thankfulness and general sour attitude. We understand that this is driven by concern over the future, a feeling that they are abandoned again and an anger that they need to leave a supportive environment and move on.
How should our staff respond? They deserve respect just as much as the youth deserve respect. As a parent I would try to validate my child's feelings and communicate that the response is not acceptable.
What do you think? Is there a way to minimize these feelings? Are these feeling natural for someone who has probably felt abandoned in the past?
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