Author: Jerry Higgins, Communications Officer
Juvenile court counselors from New Hanover County (District 5) helped organize and participated in a joint staff and youth day with the New Hanover County “Elements” team at the Coastal Horizons Center rope course.
Court counselors Brooke Kuehner and Don Jordan were instrumental in arranging the joint activity. Fellow court counselors Megan Gallimore, Rachel Saunders, Brian Adler, Stephanie Moore and Matt Hribar participated on the Challenge Course, as did justice-involved youths served on their caseloads. The court counselors joined the youth in climbing up the tall platforms and maneuvering the ropes course, a setting the youth are not used to seeing. Most times the youth deal with their court counselor while sitting in a courtroom. Rarely do all get to share smiles and this image broke the stereotype of a court counselor sitting within the court room.
“It is important for court counselors to engage with our youth outside of the office/court setting,” said District 5 Chief Court Counselor Robert Speight. “Events such as this fosters positive relationships and creates a bond between counselors and youth. The Elements program is a great resource for our county, and we are appreciative of the opportunity afforded to the court counseling staff to participate. We hope this will be one of many events court counselors will participate in with youth.”
“Elements” is an all-inclusive program within the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office designed to implement a combination of education, prevention, intervention and diversion strategies to address the many factors that cause and sustain youth violence. The program, coordinated by Kristy Williams, the youth violence intervention and prevention coordinator for the New Hanover Sheriff’s Office, provides one-on-one mentoring and case management to at-risk youth enrolled in the program. The program works directly with youth on goals developed from a collaboration between youth, parents, schools, and other community services.
According to Court Services Eastern Area Administrator Russell Price, the participation of court counselors in this and other programs with youth outside of the courtroom plays a vital role.
“This allows the youth to see the court counselors in a different light,” Price said. “During these exercises, court counselors continue to advocate, mentor and encourage the youth. Youth can see that court counselors are simply regular people that care.
“These events also give JCC's an opportunity to witness the individual strengths of the youth participating in the exercises, and hopefully they can build on those strengths to promote success in school and life. We understand the importance of showing support.”
According to Williams, one young man said several times that the event made a positive impact on him because his court counselor “showed up” for him. The youth felt no one in his life cared enough about him to “show up” to events like this.
“It was a great day to see our kids thrive outside of the home and courtroom,” Williams said. “The feedback I received from our team was how powerful it was for our kids to see that we are all one support team, on the same page, working together to help guide them in the right direction. The relationships that developed amongst staff and kids was amazing and will have long lasting effects.”