What Youth Lose When Services Fall Short – Our Kids. Our Community. (Episode 2)

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• Transcript

  In 1984, Big Brothers Big Sisters came here to La Plata County. And it’s wild to think about back in 1984 how much of a need mentorship was to date. And nothing’s changed. Mentorship has always provided so many skills and competencies for kids. And so to date, there’s still that same need.

  1500 kids a year would be out on the streets or going home to unsupervised situations. And all the statistics show that those out of school time hours are when kids decide to make decisions that aren’t the most positive. So as we meet some of the need, like I said, serving 150 to 200 kids a day, 1500 kids a year, there’s still 5,000 more kids out there in that age group that need someplace to go where they feel safe, someplace to go where they know they belong, someplace where they can go where they know they feel heard. So we still have a lot of work to do. And I think it’s just that accessibility, affordability, consistent daily activities. I mean, the workforce is getting tighter and tighter. I mean, that’s one of the biggest challenges we have. We want to ensure that the environment is safe, fun, and supportive. And if you have too many kids and too few staff, you lose all of those.

  I grew up in Durango. I grew up in an alternative scene in the 90s where we didn’t really have anywhere to go as youth. We hung out in the parks a lot. We hung out with older people that we shouldn’t have. I have had a lot of loss to suicide and drug and alcohol abuse. My sister I have lost, who is, I would say, the biggest reason that I started The Hive is to help youth find the right direction, to find their passion, to have caring adults. Because even if you have great parents, like I did, you still need trusted adults in your life outside of home and school. And I think that it’s important that the adults and the staff that work here at The Hive are that type of person, a little alternative kind of misfit style, but showing that we care for our community, we give back to our community. We’re not just a bunch of punks that are causing trouble. I think it’s important to nourish that.

  My skin in the game came from growing up skateboarding and playing hardcore and metal and having the cops called on me all the time and having angry neighbors show up and having people tell me that what I was into wasn’t going to take me anywhere. And I don’t think any of that’s true and any of that is valid or necessary. And so I wanted to create a space where I could enjoy these activities, that’s my self-expression, with it being welcomed and not told that it was like a bad or seedy or angry thing.

  Durango is a beautiful place, but if you lift the veil up and look underneath the belly, there is a beast and there’s a darkness. Our data in Southwest Colorado is alarming. We have rates of suicide, trauma, housing and food insecurity that are higher than state averages and times national averages. What we’re seeing post-pandemic is kind of this perfect storm of the younger elementary age students that were at home for a period of time during the pandemic are now lacking the social skills, lacking the ability to focus in the same way. So we’re seeing this younger generation of escalating behaviors, especially externalizing at the elementary school level, which is definitely alarming too.

  I Would also say mental health services for anybody, for youth and adults, I think there is a huge gap in the appropriate care for specific needs. There isn’t enough funding. There isn’t inpatient housing, rehab facilities. We’re lacking a lot of that in the four corners.

  We have no inpatient treatment for young people in La Plata County. There are no day treatment facilities. So what will happen if someone is in crisis and on an involuntary or voluntary hold, they need to be transported out of the community, which is a huge drain on resources. Finding an open bed in an inpatient treatment facility is nearly impossible.