I work w/ kids that get in trouble. Big trouble. Little trouble -- no matter what, there's a common factor:

Kids that get in trouble get blacklisted by their schools. They get tagged as the bad kids. Teachers treat them differently. They are the first to be singled out.

Being singled out and treated differently often makes kids not want to be in school (duh).

It's a feedback loop. The worse they are treated, the worse they perform. Bad performance = worse treatment.

School soon becomes a hostile place.

But I know an group that's breaking that cycle --- 8 Million Stories - @8MS_HTX.

It's a program that ENDS zero tolerance policies and directly serves disconnected youth who are in trouble.

They have been so successful, that our courts frequently order kids into their program.

Many of the kids I work with have between minor to serious mental health issues. Most are developmentally delayed if not straight up intellectually disabled. Most have behavioral issues stemming from abuse and trauma.

Most schools don't have the ability to deal with them.

To add to the parade of of horrible...

I have kids who are food insecure.
Kids who are homeless.
Kids who have been sexually abused.
Kids who are addicted.
Kids who have been shot.
Kids who have watched someone die.
Kids who have constant nightmares.

Unresolved Trauma.

The point is... when these kids lash out in normal schools, their behavior is marked as just being a bad kid.

What 8MS does is treat treat them as individuals with individual needs and traumas. Most importantly they don't treat bad behavior as a sign of being a bad person.

Every kid needs something different. But they all want to be loved and feel safe.

Part of why 8MS works is that there are no black sheep... everyone is in trouble, so we're all on the same footing.

Check out them out: https://www.eightmillionstories.org/about-8ms