shtolde to talk to mfather. i'm scar. i don't know what to do. it isn'the role-playing that makes theoint, but the grouscussions before and after that help thteenagers internalize these leons. d she t the kif help she was looking for from her parents? she didn't, so what happened? r plan didn't work, what did she need to do? what did she have to do? yes, terry? went to a counser. she saw counlo what happened om there? the fit time, she said that she had no moy, but they gave her help. the social development project inlves the entire stf inhipron pross. th'ls a reg ofhe fe he sool,eam.

pls for helping adst to ghchoo d thath five dayrlr of an 11-year-olstudent named trenton who was killed in a hit-and-runccidt. where we stand now is, we had the wake yeerday, and a lot of students did go, particularlyis classmate the students asked to take books and maals and clude that as part of a memorial in thelassroom. i thk that had we not gone through the process of letting them grieve, we probably would have seen a lot suspensions we probably would have seen a high absence rate. we probably would have see children just stting do. but if you're going to educate children, teach children, you have to gi them an opportunity to lee the things that are bothering them. nd to have some kind of ongoing support r the classroom

tre's a forum for them to talk about hothey're feel and to talk about things long beyond l the attention they're getting right now. these students meet week to share feelings about peop have died- memerough illness anotr ti through violce kd of internt can he prevent such disorders as major depression, adjustment dde and aumaorders as mstss dorr.ssion, e membf e me heah kkroyament dde s e wanda, how did you feel when your stepfather died? i was sad anmad. were you close to him? heas the only person i could talk to when iad problems. what are some of the first feelings you have wh somebody dies in your mily? shock. what do you mean? what do you mean by shock? well, some pe fe shock.

my instance--when my mother died, i felt like i didn't have no circulation. i just was mad, upset, angry. devon, you remember when your mom died? it was just painful. mm-hmm. that's all i can say. it was just painful. how old were you? how old i was? i think i was 7. how did you find out that she died? i kn she was dead when they called and my aunt started crying othe phone, so then i knew she was dead. that all i can remember. do you remember her now? when there's a loss of a loved one, there's a loss of a sense of support, of the--being valued.

sometimes they feeabandonment and all kinds of feelings. those feelings can lead to depression, but if nothing else, they can lead to not being able to address the academic material, and their minds can be in oth place also, by having the adults who are imrtant to them address ose issu, th feel supported by those adults, and the adults become people, then, that they can take instruction, leadership, and guidancerom because th'rimportant in their lives. research has demonstrated that the social development project is hing a sitive impact on the students' behaviors. norm, each year nquent behr increases among young adolescents. we find that students who have been in our program have maintained an equal lel of involvement in delinquent behavior. in contrast, our ntrol groups have shown increases of almost 4o%. studies have also examined the number of times

is intervention must be introduced to maximize its effectivs. wharned life sllinher oups, both a sevth gdess did siifictler seval are. their solutionre more lely to iolve coromise and cooperation, rather than fighting. th had... ...and had more selfontrol. thsocial developmentroject can't elimine the riof adolescence, but the project is helping children to developowerful,fftive skills for negotiating life. if those skills continue to be develod and nurtur, they suld serve the children into high school and bon i've been laid off a little over two months. yoget to the stage-- you're out there. you're looking.

what am i doing wrong? why am i not getting the responses that i should be? you start feeling a little depreed. you go through a lot of different changes. adult life is full of crises and challenges. our need for hp in weathering those crises doesn't end after high school. we've really only just begun to realize at adus continue to develop. development isn't over when you're 18 years old, but continues throughout your whole life. develop diffent senses of ourselves. expience ansions in our famial life and our work life, and th'rtransition that have to be negotiated. those trons n be negotiated espeally effectively wh trere social supports in the environment to help us do it.

theynot always available, d ny times prevention programs simply provide that kind of soci support and affmation. ny unemployed people become depressed and anxious. severe ses, oyment cest stress-lated illns like hh bld pressure and behavior suchsutance use, falyiolence, or suici. whato you re l when you le job? u seore than incom you loseelionships you had with people at work. you lose self-esteem. you may lose the confidence that you can get back into the labor marke as well. dr. price and his colleagues at the unirsity of michigan developed the jobs project-- preventive intervention r recently unemployed workers. the goal--to hp strong people matain their strength through th stressful pio and to give those who need it spial skills. in this way, to get peop ck into good jobs

and to prevent depression, anxiety, and other psychological disords. i thk en you first get la off, you thrgh many . you're madt yourself themploye you feel depreed and emrrasse i tnk. the jobs project staff reuits people fr unempyment lines. the goal is to prevent disorders, so the staff recruit people who don't already have seris psychogicaprlems. each group meets for five consecutive mornings. duringhis time, participan and trainer develop a rapport that is key the success the wkshops. this timwe're going to do a ro-play ast relates to someonwhhas had too ny job ro-playi gives partint ry t opportunity to practice handling the tough situations

that may come up dung the j hunt. joanna will apply for a factory foreman's job? rit. ok. and some ofbstacles rit.that we'll addresss, you' be applying for a nontradional job, a male j. . knock, knock. he i am. i'm wondering if you may have any questions or concerns about taking this type of position because itoes seem to be a nontraditional job. do you have any fears that if you get on to be the foman, people reporting to you won't accept your authority? ll, i've heard that a lot, but i haveorked with men over the last five osix years. and i've got six brothe-- we've fought togethe and we've lked, and we've overcome a lot- and a real strong father figure in the home. some of the other jobs that ve had

have involved supervising men. one of the things research has shown us is that if you can identify pontial obstacles early on anbegin to become psychologically inoculated by planning alternative courses of action, you're much better ab tcope when you auall encountethobst. some might think you're not 1oo% qualifd for the job because you' a female in this envinment. i've heard those kin of statements befo, , but what i really believe is that i can brina lot to this job. i'm just as ifieas any m for factory foreman, and my experience wi hold up-- the resuhat you have. i'responsie. i carry myself in a professional way. i want people to respect me, so i'll respect whoever that is. i think track record stands for itself. very good. thank you.

it's not a psive thing you can learn from a book. it's social achievement. another thing is that this is a kind of learng thatequires support from your colleagues as you go along, so there's encouragement for people in the learning process to support each other. u really sounded nfident, and you didn't give in to the sexuality issue. you just handled that pfectly, and everything was really positive. thanks, keith. what did you all find useful about this? but yonevernk really confront them, but in ts group we bring everything out. in the past ek, we've brought out so much. just by listening to other people's fears, found out i had that fear, t. i've diffused it it'not a fear anymore. you feelonger. by the fifth morning,

mo participants feel optimistic. now the trainers prepare them for setbacks, such as losing motivation or feeli depressed. through group problem-solving, these people learn a preventive strategy for anticipating such setbacks. let's think about what we could do when one of these problems comes up. m t int's say 're g to he thoble depreed. that i mayavhad in theast feinthat way. should iet that way, i would plan to pull out my manual and review se of thosnotes. you alsoave to keep a positive perspective and force yourself to get up d do it and,ma a plan and stick to it. and yoveo alw yourself to get uto be depres for meo pretend i didn't feel awful to me is not right.

realizing that you're going to have those periods where you feel a lile down. what evidence is there that the jobs project actually prevents depression and anxiety? after the initial se semars 1985, follow-up studies were done at oneonth, four months, and 2 1/2 ars. the studies showed significant differences between thexrimental group ana control group who just received a brhure about johunting. peoprom e experintal oup shed lor levels ofiety d prsion were more lilyo re-empye in higying re satisfyg jo. were more lilyo re-empye evhose pticipants who reined unemploye and er lels leo ithe end,. the jobs project showed that by buding cing skills, cial support, and other protective ftors unemployment was reduced. so were emotional problems th psychologists know often occur with job loss.

an turns out that the financi benefits have been considerable, too. found several this that we were really fairly surprised by. one was that the peoe who'd been in the jobs project were earngore money and had higher-quality jobs. furthermore, since they were ening me money, they were also paying more taxes-- more state taxes and more feder taxes. if you looked at the increase in the amount of taxes that they paid even over that 2 1-yr period, the jobs proje paid for itself inbo seven months. for the participants, being with others in the same situio has had benefits imssible to mease. when you getere, you len other people are in your situation. it doesn't hap to ywhen i came here--i know you'i've got a lot going for me,

when iamhe i hathat lacof cnce. i didn't kw what was ing toappen in this group, t we've fiinone another, d i've lookeat just what i have complish, and now the tear are ars of j of t opportuni at ie had, ani'm excited out goint and inthese ings toractice. when he beca ill, i just had to take over. w like having otr chd who, iteadf grinup, gr lesanless abl to me decion rembdid ve haratig sometimes i just sat he batht and ced beuse of the fac- why did this happen mrs.llon's husba died. matters worsed because hechildren lived far awa

and she had suort system d age often relves aun such lses anproble,r awa though not aays. some old people are luckier. because you all are very nice children, and god bless you all. elderly people who lack a strong support syste like this are especiallyulnerable tossn and othe psychological disorders. ♪ happy birthday you ♪ happy birthday, dear mama ♪ happy birthday to you hi hip, oray! so one iortant goa prevention to provide a sens community where none exists. the final section ofhis docuntary okat prenting disords likeressioinlder people byif

okat prenting disords in an, likeresowoinlder people the creative oanization of those services caalsoave a powerful preven eect. bertruger smith, a gerontogist, saw that services for the elderly existed in austin, but how they operated needed to be changed. i saw many all agencies working on behalf of oldereople, but working alone, spending most of their time and thought worrying about how tmake the month's rent, not what kind of services they could provide. saw agencies that had a sense of turfism. it was their agency, and they weren't going to work with any others. this i found very worrisome because we all had in mind the goal of doing the best we could for old people. it occurred to several of us who stayed the course that if we could get these agencies working together, maybe if they lived together, in a sense,

if we could get offices that were adjoing, ey could begin to talk with one anoer, work with one another, the total woulbe much greater than any of them could achieve tmselves. [music playing] family eldercare information and ferral. i you enter a.g.e.-- austin groups for the elderly, more than agencies housed in one ilding, all with a different mission, yet codinate cer aide sptrum of activities and services for older people. in just its first two years, a. served over 24,ooo people. everything from the gray panthers of austi to the seniorsrespitservic is available in this buildin each organization

has specific goals, often preventive in nature. elderhavens day-care cter for about 35 adults. 'd go to church. i'd untie that sk and some chicken. did you ever get caught? your grandfather raised you? some clients are unable to care for themselves adequately. others have been abused and need shelter. this, combined with other services, is aalternativ to institutionalization. without the structure provided by austin groups for the elderly, older people often get lost in the social service system. this structure in itself is preventive. they may go to one agency and find o that agency can'help them, anthen they are remod from any kind of hel we can't docent prevention, but what really happens then is they go back to their home. they become increasingly impaired.

whatever has been the problem becomes worse, and finally they probably have too to some longerm-care cility-- maybe prematurely, maybe at great cost to the community or to other resources, because they haven't been able to bhelped at a primary point where they could have functioned for much longer. several mutual help oups meet at a.g.e. th offer a psychological safety net to people undergoing difficult life circutances. and i couldn't believe anody else would get caught in a mess like i was in. i love the baby, and he needed protecting. he needed caring, but i also knew that i wasn't gng to be able to get hnto sc and the doctor and everything unless i had custody, so i would have face my n son and the child's mother. isroup is called

grandpen raing grandchildre sotimes the dchildren were abud or abandoned. in other cases, occasional babysitting turned into full-time parenting. i had been through 2 1/2 years of pure, unadulterated hell, as far as i was concerned. then to walk into a room and everybody knew how i felt-- they understood why i wanted to cr one minute and laugh one nute, why i was mad, who i was mad at, why i felt guilty. t you think it's kind of instant acceptance? we're all standing in the same shoes. another service is a hot lin call information and referral for der adts-- part of family eldercare, incorporated. you need transportation to a doctor's appointment? austin gups for the elderly coornate their efforts and consolidate eir expenses, making it lessostly for everyone. it gives them money to use for programs.

here they have common areas. they have copying machines-- all the kinds of things that are available to them without any extra cost, so that should give them more money for their own programs. we have centrazed services so that ery one of them doesn't need a computer, typewriter, secretary, et cetera, and that's a saving. a theme that cuts across all the agencies is old people working with young people. for instance, older adults are hired to care for the children who attend this day-care center. ose ildren are bnging w life tthesr pele. about their own decline they aren't focung on morbid idea or their pending death the future or whatever is bothering them. many othe people benefiting from austin gups for the elderly are actually those work tre as lunteers.

like julia young, many xperiencedhe losses older a. well, at fst, i just knew i was going to enj it because i had be off once before th illness and i enjoyed being off, so when i retired, i figur this was really going to be . i'd seall tories, and i was just going do nothin but found at doing nothing wasn't what reallynjoy doing, because at times i'd think i was sick. i would haveains thateally weren't there. as youtart to sink into that sortf cycle, you begin to feel sorry for yourself, to think youe not wortmuch. you may t very tired, not sleep well. headaches inse. the are a riety of things that can happen that are beginning symptoms of depression

go to the store, i'd feel better. ju get on the telephone, i'd feel bette so i found out that stayingt me wasn't for me. i've worked all my life. i guess i'm a people person. i eny beinound people. when'm around them, i'verget myself.my life. you're putting youelf out r others, but you're gting a lot back. it means that yourself as aeing is worth sometng. it reinforces that in your own mi even though you may not be conscious of it. the vonteer who is successfully moving out anheing othe has more to gain from it than what they give in the way of self-esteem and good mentahealth. you'll get somhing here that's really tough. someone's parent sho thsigns oflzim's and theylonger cakeephem at hom

or else fit they ne day carfor them. well, yoknow, this could be me, and itould be my children, and yojust forget yourself, and getting into that book and telling them all e things that available, you just forget about yourself and become involved in other things. with tremendous effort and determination, the agencies of austin groups for thderly inhe service of older people, younger people, and the continued life of the ancies themselv. i'd like to get barefoot and take off my clothes. as people at a.g.e. say, sometimes just a conversation in the hallway can change a life. tens of millions of americans will be dysfunctional at some point in their lives. depressi, anxiety, substance abuse, violent behavior-- all cost great pain and discomfo.

families are torn apart. individual ffer for years. the financial cost of this is also high. billions of dollars are wasted in lost productivity, billions more spent in direct mental health care by corporations, the government, insurance companies, and individuals, which is why the money that is spent on prevention, no matter how high it may have to be, seems worth it to many experts. if you don't function well, it costs society more in the long run. it's much better for the society to pay to help people function than to pay to deal th the problems that grow out not functioning. the costf depression, the costf ting out-- acting-up kinds of behaviors is just enormous, and we underestimate it l thtime. evention can work. avance, e soci development projec the joject,

and austin groups for the elderl taken across the life span day by day, prevention strategies help guard against some of the terrible psychological disorders th can act us al and these sttegies prove psychologica isent at we kn ldso sounmealeasttegies captioning performed by the nation captioning institute, inc. captions copyright 1991 alvin h. perlmutte

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