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Allen Cardoza, President of West Shield Adolescent Services, a privatecompany that specializes in teen crisis intervention says "summer is anopportune time for teens to choose running away from home as a viable option.Things that may not have bothered the teenager throughout the year canescalate quickly with more free unstructured time on their hands."
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According to National Runaway Switchboard, between 1.6-2.8 million youthrunaway each year. West Shield Adolescent Services has successfully served theyouth in crisis industry for over the past twenty five years. West Shieldutilizes a unique systematic approach Allen Cardoza describes as the, locate,mediate, facilitate solution. This method is exclusive to West ShieldAdolescent Services because it draws upon experience in investigation,psychological assessment and intervention, and an international list ofexceptionally qualified educational consultants, therapists, and therapeuticschools and programs.
"Through our sister company, West Shield Investigations, we have solvedhundreds of runaway cases over the years. After returning some teens numeroustimes my goal is to help parents prevent or at least thwart the plans of theirteenagers who are at risk for running away". Cardoza speaks candidly. As hostof the much anticipated internet radio program, Answers 4 the Family onwww.LATalkradio.com Allen Cardoza offers these tips especially for theupcoming summer months:
1) Teenagers should have a place to be every day. School has a built inschedule for teenagers to follow. Most claim to hate it, yet they functionbest in a structured environment where there is some form of measure appliedto the day. A first job or volunteer organizations are excellent andproductive alternatives to "hanging out".
2) Have absolute times established for when you expect your teenager tocheck in. Summer is not the time to abandon the curfew set during the schoolyear, especially with a teen having behavior issues. Often times a teenagerwho has runaway gets a head start because the parents had no clear time whenthey were expected home.
3) Check your community college for "fun" inexpensive classes in new areasthey may not have thought of. Many non-credit courses are fun for teenagers ata community college summer program. Arts and crafts, team sports, computergraphics, and web design are a few examples. Many teens love the idea of beingon a college campus and there is a good chance they can discover a productivetalent they were not aware of.
While we caution against over simplification, the bottom line is a busyteenager is less likely to get bored and look for excitement somewhere else.In other words help them find reasons to stay rather than run.
About West Shield:
West Shield Adolescent Services, Inc. is a private corporation founded byAllen Cardoza. Mr. Cardoza is a licensed private investigator (PI 7824) and aninstructor of Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, Certified by the NationalCrisis Prevention Institute, Inc. He also serves as president of the company.West Shield Adolescent Services has been successfully transporting adolescentsto facilities and programs for over 25 years.
SOURCE West Shield Adolescent Services, Inc.
