Youth Probation

Wanted to give the youth perspective on this impending strike and the impact it will have on me, my clients and the community at large
Thanks
Jean

I am a probation officer with the Ministry of Children and Youth and have worked in this capacity for approximately 26 years. I thought it was due time to hear the perspective of the youth officer.
We are the smallest component of the corrections bargaining unit, but have our own perspective on this bargaining process and the impact it is having on our clients, ourselves and our communities.
I love my job and working with youth and always have. Sure I have had very difficult and stressful days and periods in my career where I have felt extremely challenged, vulnerable and overwhelmed.
However, those feelings have almost always been overshadowed by my feelings of hope, the ability of the human spirit to heal and to change and the amazing resiliency of the youth I work with they have often come from a trauma background.
I specialize in my role and often work specifically with youth that have offended sexually.
As difficult and heart wrenching as that may seem, I have always felt a great deal of hope and pride in my ability to affect change in these youths' perception of sexuality and relationships and they soon become effective and law abiding members of our community with similar aspirations of finishing school and having a family.
I have had the task of working with youth who have come from varied backgrounds.
Some of our youth have come to us from the world of family abuse, the world of alcoholism and drug addiction, the world of abandonment, the world of human trafficking, the world of trauma either here in Canada or in war torn countries and refugee camps and in my case, far too often from the world of physical and sexual abuse.
Does this excuse their criminal behaviors, absolutely not, but it gives us context and allows us to work towards peeling away at the onion and allowing the healing, the accountability and the change to occur.
I am fortunate that I do have a caseload that is manageable unlike my counterparts in the adult world or the overcrowded cells in our adult institutions.
I am told that I have a manageable caseload because our government and our ministry believe in the importance of building relationships with our youth, where trust is established so that we can address the root issues and affect change. This is a philosophy and belief I hold dear to my heart and believe most youth officers do as well.
Therefore, this bargaining process and the direction the government is taking with us leads me to believe that this has been nothing but hypocrisy.
I understand that a manager in each city or area will be charged with supervising, supporting and holding our youth accountable for their actions.
I mean no disrespect to these managers, as they are often good people with good intentions, but the reality is, they have no relationships with these kids. The kids don't know them or trust them and certainly will not open up to them or use them to address their issues. Trust is gained through a lengthy process of building a relationship.
It is also my understanding that only high risk youth will be seen by these managers as deemed through the risk needs assessment tool that we use.
Should this practice be utilized, it will be a naïve approach. Risk levels are fluid and can change depending on events, needs and circumstances.
Many of the youth I work with are deemed low to moderate in risk level because of the hard work they have accomplished, but also because of the supports, resources and accountability I provide.
I am often the only person that is a positive role model and sounding board in their lives. I am often the individual that helps them mediate conflict with their parents, the one that helps advocate for them when it comes to effective school programming or child welfare issues.
I am the one that is told about the voices they hear, the pressure they are getting from peers to be involved in drug use or drug trafficking or criminal behavior. I am the one who hears about the physical and sexual violence which occurs at home, in the community or with their partners.
I am the one they reach out to for help around changing their lives, finding a stable living situation, finding a job or getting back into school.
Many of my clients have felt abandonment in one form or another and  have often been marginalize because of how they look, how they act (which is often a defense mechanism related to mental health issues or learning disabilities) or because of their criminalized behavior.
The human brain is not fully developed until the mid-20s and therefore our youth are known to make impulsive and irrational decisions.
I do not want to be another person or system that has marginalize these youth. They are not "throw away kids".
Taking me out of the equation and not allowing me to continue to work closely with these youth through the relationships I have established will definitely put these youth at risk to falter and to make poor decisions, will validate their feelings of having no worth and will definitely put our communities at risk. Who will be their voice?
All youth, yes even our youth deserve a chance to be effective members of our society. If you believe in the work we do, then let us do it.
Parts of the system are broken, that is clear, let's fix it, but not on the backs of these kids and certainly not at the cost of community safety.

Jean Gauthier
Youth Probation Officer