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The Turnaround Kid School
Based Social Work Programs May 2002 Guidance counselor Terry Griffin had just about had it with Julio’s attitude. “A couple of times the two of us came face to face. He was missing school and cutting classes and exhibiting behavior problems in and out of the classroom. I knew he had potential, but if I could figure out how to get the potential these kids have inside to the surface I could write a book and make a million dollars.”
After working with social worker Jess Moreno, Julio’s attitude completely changed and his grades went from a 1.7 average to a 3.3. What made the difference? What do social workers like Moreno offer that a guidance counselor can’t? “My questions are academic,” Griffin explains, “Are they living up to their academic potential? Julio was sullen, disinterested, not a happy camper. He was willing to share some things, but he had deeper problems he was not willing to share with me, and he could share those with Jess. That is fine with me. I’m not trained in family issues. Jess has M.S.W. training. He looks at kids in a different vein.” Griffin also acknowledges Moreno’s bilingual abilities and his cultural sensitivity as invaluable resources. Together they were able to work as a team, and they achieved wonderful results. As it turned out, Julio’s parents were in the middle of a very painful divorce, and Julio was having a hard time adjusting. “It hit me the hardest in the family,” Julio relates. “I was depressed. I couldn’t believe what was going on. I couldn’t believe it was happening to my family because we were so united. I didn’t care about my life or what I wanted to do any more. My dad saw I was falling apart and said, ‘Why don’t you speak to your counselor?’” Moreno also helped Julio communicate with his father. “I was worried about my dad and how he was feeling. It was hard at first since we were not used to communicating. Now it is an everyday thing. ‘How was your day? Mine was great. How was yours?’ We got a lot closer,” Julio states. “It was hard to talk about the separation and divorce,” Julio’s father recalls. (Moreno translated.) “I lost the woman of my life. I had been with her for 20 years. I was trying to move on, and I saw how it affected my two sons.” His father became particularly concerned when he caught Julio drinking. “I told him that was not the way to get out of problems, but the way to do that is to face them and continue your life.” Julio’s father’s greatest wish is for Julio to have a better life than his. “When he was young, I would take him to the restaurant where I worked. I wanted to show him how hard I work because I don’t want him to have to work so hard.” Griffin had been concerned that Julio was at risk of dropping out and getting into drugs, and could even end up as a street person. “Now he is easy to talk to. He is self-confident and willing to take risks,” Griffin states with pride. Julio will be the first person in his family to graduate from high school, and he plans to attend college. Griffin nominated Julio for the San Jose Kiwanis Club’s special “Turn Around Award,” given to a student who has overcome adversity. Julio received a $1,000 scholarship.
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Julio’s
father was attending support classes for Spanish-speaking parents, so
he encouraged Julio to see social worker Moreno. Part of Julio’s depression
was that he felt he had no one he could talk to or get support from. “Mr.
Moreno started talking to me and checking up on me,” Julio recalls. “He’d
tell me, ‘Don’t give up.’ I was at the point that it was going to be hard
for me to graduate, but he told me to climb the mountain and succeed.
And that helped a lot.”