Justin's* Story at COMPASS
COMPASS Youth Collaborative interrupts violence in the City of Hartford by building transformative relationships with youth at the center of the violence. COMPASS Peacebuilders provide youth the tools to create sustained behavior change and transition successfully to adulthood.
When Justin joined COMPASS as a 14-year-old, he didn’t know what a social worker was. But now, four years later, he’s enrolling in college to pursue a career as one.
Growing up in Hartford, Justin witnessed family members navigate life in the streets. But after meeting his Peacebuilder, Brian, he started to see another path forward for himself. He says, “Everyday, Peacebuilders are trying to teach you right from wrong and be there for you. Give you a support system. So, you don’t think all the stuff you see day-to-day is the stuff you have to do.”
Justin started meeting with his Peacebuilder regularly, engaging in tutoring, receiving therapy, and learning cognitive behavioral skills, which COMPASS teaches to help young people manage their emotions and change their behavior. “Brian would pick me up and we talked about how I think, how I feel, what are my reactions, then how you can change. I learned how change can be a good thing. It might be hard to change, but it can positively impact you.”
Before, he says, “I would just do stuff for no reason, not thinking about the consequence at all. I got in fights or argued with people and stuff.” Now, cognitive behavioral skills are becoming second nature to Justin. He says, “I don’t realize that I’m using these skills sometimes, but then I use them, and I’ll be like, oh, I just did that!”
With help from COMPASS, Justin got his driver’s license and opened a bank account that he’s now using for direct deposits of the wages he’s earning in the organization’s Training for Employment program, working at a food pantry while developing the skills he needs to be successful in the workplace in the future. “It’s like training you for everything you need to become, to have a real job and so you don’t have those hiccups when you’re trying to start something good for yourself.”
As Justin begins his pursuit of a degree in social work, he reflects on the impact that COMPASS had on his life. “Having social workers that work in here, I can go and talk to them and ask them for the steps to know how they did it and have someone to talk me through it.” He pauses for a moment and then sums it up: “COMPASS prepared me.”
*This story uses a pseudonym.