Three lives turned around

The West Island YMCA Impact program helps hundreds of young offenders turn their lives around every year. Here are three stories (names have been changed.)

When Peter was 17, he went to Fairview Pointe-Claire with friends and, on impulse, shoplifted a belt from a store.

He was caught and sentenced to 40 hours of community service. Because of a backup in the processing of paperwork, he was 18 when he first met with a youth worker at Impact.

At the time of the offence, Peter, who is from Pointe-Claire, had a job, played hockey regularly, was attending John Abbott College and came from a supportive family. Peter was very receptive to the Impact process and was assigned to volunteer with the YMCA maintenance staff.

He was a model volunteer and at the end of the 40 hours, his maintenance supervisor sent a glowing report to the Centre Jeunesse handling his file. The file was closed.

Sheila was 14 the first time she was referred to Impact to complete 20 hours of community service for doing drugs. The teen, from Pierrefonds, reoffended twice after that, the last time when she was 17 and charged with assault.

She was ordered to complete a series of anger-management workshops. It was during the course of the workshops that the youth worker was able to get to know Sheila better. He discovered there had been a tragic death in the family when she was young and that this might have played a role in shaping her behaviour over the years.

Sheila was outgoing and positive during the workshops and acknowledged that sometimes she hung out with the wrong crowd. She returned to talk with her former youth worker on her own initiative when she was 18 because she felt comfortable talking to him. She told him that she wasn’t doing well, was dabbling in drugs, having boy troubles and struggling to hold down a job. She also said she’d had thoughts of suicide.

Over the next six months, she met with the youth worker once every two weeks for support. During that time, she came up with a plan, returned to school and set herself attainable goals.

Alex, 13, was referred to Impact after he assaulted a teacher. He felt badly about what he had done. He was struggling with an attention-deficit disorder and had emotional issues, so assigning him volunteer duties in unfamiliar surroundings was deemed inappropriate.

His social worker, parents and the Impact youth worker met to discuss the best way to proceed. It was decided that Alex would attend 10 workshops that would focus on his coping and social skills.

He completed them with flying colours and, on his own initiative, still keeps in touch with the youth worker.