Program for at-risk teens has openings for mentors

Advertiser Staff

If it weren't for Breakthroughs for Youth at Risk, Salote Fifita might still be hanging with the wrong crowd, "getting into trouble left and right," says the 21-year-old.

But after graduating from the program in 1998, the caregiver/nursing assistant who now lives in Makaha supports her parents and is facing a life with a future rather than one without.

At 16, Fifita was among the first group of graduates to attend a one-week camp and hook up with mentors with whom she still is in contact. And if Fifita can swing the time off, she hopes to volunteer to serve as mentor to at-risk Windward teens who will be starting the 10-month program that helped her see past the bleak existence of her teen years and recognize her own potential.

Breakthroughs for Youth at Risk, a program aimed to help at-risk teens learn to manage fear and take responsibility for their actions, is seeking adult volunteers. About 70 adults are needed as mentors for the at-risk teens during a six-day camp (tentatively scheduled for the March spring break) for an expected 40 high-school participants.

"We've got about 10 mentors so far," said chairwoman Sharon Lester.

Besides helping at the camp, Breakthroughs' adult volunteers work as mentors to the teen participants, guiding them for 10 months after the camp, meeting regularly to discuss stress inoculation and anger management.

Money problems forced the closure of the program, which began here in the early '80s as Hawai'i Youth at Risk. Members of the original group have since resurrected it, running two fully funded programs, and helping another organization do a similar program for Hawaiian teenagers.

"It opened up my eyes," said Fifita. "I didn't think about other stuff, that there's more things to life than partying, having fun. I actually came out nicer."

Mentor training will be held this month and next, and the camp is scheduled for March 23-28 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

For information: Alvin Koo, 942-3977.