"Becoming…"

I dyed my hair hot pink and tried to get my head back to- gether – to refind my medical purpose. As part of that jour- ney, I turned to my first love and constant companion textile art, including knitting.

As I sat there, doing my 2×2 rib, designing poppies and butter- flies, I kept thinking about the kids in Youth Justice.

I anguished over how the current models of intervention fell short with this population. The kids in youth retraining facili- ties can’t talk. They can’t explain their deepest dilemmas to themselves let alone a therapist. When they do, they get over- whelmed at all the unprocessed feelings. The feelings are big distressing ones, like grief and rage and deep, deep sadness. I have watched these feelings surge up and swamp them, con- vincing them that nothing can help. These kids can’t handle face-to-face eye contact and they can’t tolerate a long inter- view.

Therapy becomes another experience of failure.