Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center

Derek Bowden, Summer 2011

The Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center is a 20-bed facility, staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that seeks to serve youth from 10 to 17 years of age when their living situation has become dangerous. Providing temporary housing for up to three weeks for over 1000 youth every year, the YCC fills a vital need for young people in the Greater Cincinnati area that would otherwise either have to stay with relatives, friends or on the street. The YCC allows youth to maintain a sense of normalcy in their lives, as transportation to school and work is provided; it also serves as a platform for education, for exposure to a wide variety of experiences, and for socialization with peers that are in similar situations.

The YCC is an open-door facility, meaning that youth are free to leave at any time. That being said, most youth choose to stay due to the safe and tolerant atmosphere cultivated by the staff at the YCC and the possibility of conflict mediation by on-site social workers. Youth follow a prescribed schedule, with outings every day during the summer to engage the youth, and frequent group discussion sessions in which topics such as child abuse or relationships can be discussed. Sessions at a music studio, art classes and film screenings with a critic are provided every week to stimulate the creativity of the youth and to help them redirect their frustrations in a positive manner.

As a UHP intern, my role is to interact with and engage the youth that reside at the YCC. During the summer, most youth do not attend school, and my presence frees up the social workers and other staff to focus on their other duties while I can monitor and engage the youth. As such, most of my time has been spent talking with the youth, playing games or on the basketball court. I also accompany the youth on outings to museums, parks and other sites and help to facilitate group discussion sessions. One accomplishment in which I take particular pride over the summer is introducing fruit into the diets of the youth. Although the YCC would get produce from the free store, the staff would generally not take the time to sort through it and set it out for meals and snacks. Whenever fruit was delivered, I would sort it, wash it and set it out. With the application of relentless badgering and some clever bribery (fruit for Pop-Tarts during breakfast), as well as leading by example, I soon had most of the youth eating fruit voluntarily – an event unheard of by the YCC staff.

I found my experience over the summer, in a word, amazing. Although the youth and I typically had far different backgrounds, I had no problem relating to the youth and I was able to develop a strong rapport with many of them. This afforded me the ability to talk honestly with the youth about many subjects, such as school, careers, drug use, relationships and others. The opportunity to talk in an uncensored and honest fashion is something appreciated by the youth, and I believe that some of the advice I gave will stick with them. As an intern, I could function somewhere between the staff and youth - an authority figure, but one that is relatable and fun. Although my job was not medical in nature, the internship gave me valuable experience in dealing with people that are in stressful situations, and helped me to see the social aspects determining health more clearly. This experience will stick with me as I move forward into my medical career.