Building self-esteem at BUILD

D is 16, and had been struggling with low self-esteem and trust, hanging around the wrong group of guys. So early on in our relationship, the four of us took him and his mother grocery shopping: they were so amazed. ‘Nobody ever did this for us,’ D said, looking up with tears in his eyes. ‘Man, why do you guys want to do all of these things for me?’ Some of the youths are just not used to people being nice. Eventually we recommended that he get therapy, and he did. Of course there were bumps in the road—he still struggled, he really put his mom through the wringer. But we were persistent and consistent, and we started to see the change. Now, he now has a stipend job at BUILD, he has a community of support here. His mom says his behavior has improved. He comes to work every day like he’s supposed to. He’s not disruptive at home. He’s not disruptive at school. So, it takes time but BUILD works.

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