Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center

Joseph Sun, Summer 2012

The Youth Crisis Center, commonly abbreviated as the YCC, is 24 hour a day, 365 days a year temporary emergency shelter for homeless youth ages 10-17. The center has 22 beds and provides basic clothing, food, and bedding for any child that cannot return home for any reason. Youth may come to the Crisis Center for numerous reasons, including but not limited to: domestic abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, runaways, and unsafe home/family conditions. With such a wide range of circumstances, it was hard to predict how one child would react to social conditions as compared to another child. By providing the youth a "home," the YCC allows the youth to regain a sense of control over their lives.

My duties as the Urban Health Project intern varied daily, depending on what help was needed. Every day I would be expected to help Ms. Carletta Cochran, the education specialist and volunteer coordinator, with waking up the youth, watching over them and redirecting as needed, and acting as an extra set of hands and eyes – useful during some of the outings (trips to the zoo, library, and bowling alleys). I also updated the log notes when needed (all youth had to be accounted for every 30 minutes) and answered telephones and took messages in the office. Sometimes I also helped with stocking donated food in the kitchen as well as preparing breakfast and lunch. As an intern, I felt that it was my job to decrease the workload of the staff at YCC. My role went beyond the usual office work and listed job duties however – I was someone the youth would feel comfortable talking to, whether it was venting about their family situations or debating the finer points of approaching the opposite gender.

My project this summer was to create a pamphlet that would be given out to each of the youth as needed or whenever the youth would be discharged. The pamphlet highlights areas of health that may not be readily apparent to the youth at the YCC, including eye health, dental health, nutrition, and sexual health. The contact information of local free/low cost clinics in the area is also included. Since each youth that enters gets a copy of this pamphlet, this information should make a difference in regards to how each client views his/her own health.

My summer working at the Lighthouse Youth Crisis Center has been a rewarding experience, one that I can directly relate and apply to my future medical profession. The ability to deal with stressful situations along with empathizing with people from all sorts of backgrounds will strengthen my skills as a physician. My work not only gave me a deeper insight into the lives of homeless youth but also increased my knowledge about dealing with people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds and circumstances.