AIR DATE MARCH 2, 2023

Title: Support for Youth

Find out what community resources are available for adolescents in need of support and guidance.

Guests

Orlando Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., Director & BH Clinical Director – Seyny Dressler & Carmen Ziers

Embrace Families Legacy Mentor Program, Mentor & Mentee – Elise MacCarroll-Wright & Valdne L.

Local Youth Find Success with Advocates and Mentors By Their Side

Over three-quarters of young adults with a mentor aspire to enroll in and graduate from college one day. That’s significantly higher than the half of youth without a mentor with the same aspirations.

Even when there are opportunity gaps or other at-risk factors involved in a child’s environment, the presence of advocates and mentors helps today’s kids become tomorrow’s leaders in our community.

Youth Advocate Programs has helped communities across the country since 1975. The mission is to keep kids out of placements. I recently spoke with Seyny Dressler and Carmen Ziers, who serve as Orlando’s Program and Clinical Directors, respectively.

“[We want to] keep them in their communities where they will best thrive with their families,” said Dressler. “We don’t call it mentoring because again we do so much more than that. It is an intensive type of advocacy and wraparound service.”

Advocates and Mentors Meet Kids Where They Are

At Embrace Families, mentors inspire local youth to take charge of their lives. When I spoke with Elise and Valdne, a matched pair with the organization, it was clear that their relationship was helping both women blossom.

They talked to me about what the mentoring process is like. “It’s not always fun and games,” said Elise. “Grocery shopping, we go to the bank – we do everything you can imagine together. Sometimes, when I go get my hair done, she comes.”

The relationship helped Valdne to graduate from high school with her diploma.

When therapies happen in a child’s most natural environment, like home or school, they reap the most benefits from the advocacy and mentorship. “We always try to prevent the client from going to any kind of institution so that they can stay at home and in their community,” said Ziers.

Peer-to-Peer Connection Helps Local Youth Thrive

At Orlando Youth Advocate Programs, the Wrap Model leads to successful connections. “[The] advocacy model is very organic in the sense that we hire from within the community where our families live,” said Dressler. “It’s that peer-to-peer connection. They’re able to identify. Many times, even our advocates have lived through similar experiences.”

“We’re part of the wraparound services that includes that child and that whole family,” added Ziers.

The approach is much more organic by having everyone in the child’s life involved whenever possible, including foster parents, DCF, and therapists. In return, relationships can develop naturally so that individualized care and concern are part of the advocacy or mentorship process.

Today’s youth need trust, and many at-risk kids have learned that they can only rely on themselves. “I kept giving her that safe space,” said Elise. “I’m like, ‘You can be exactly who you are. I am going to still be here no matter what. No matter what you do, no matter what you go through, no matter, whatever happens, I am your person.'”

Valdne added, “It actually feels pretty good because knowing that you got somebody out there that really cares for you makes you feel some type of way.”

You can learn more about Orlando Youth Advocate Program by visiting yapinc.org. More information about becoming a mentor with Embrace Families is found at embracefamilies.org.