Gentler approach to reach youths tries to put big picture in focus

Chris Richards, The Arizona Daily Star Robert Schwebel says he tells kids his job ``is to help you think for yourself.''

They may wear tongue studs and purple hair. They may speak in expletives and snort dangerous substances up their nostrils.

Or they may look like the Beaver's older brother.

Appearance aside, kids on drugs are extremely fragile. Handle with care.

That's the word from clinical psychologist Robert Schwebel, who's come up with a kinder, gentler approach to counseling kids trying to kick drugs.

``Traditionally, kids come into treatment and they're pressured and hammered until they say they're going to quit,'' says Schwebel.

The pressure, he says, comes from the courts, the parents and the schools.

But what happens, says Schwebel, is one of two things: ``Either kids will fight back and the problems will escalate, or they'll say they'll quit and not mean it. That's the most predominant response.''

What does work, says Schwebel, is the Seven Challenges, a treatment program he developed in 1992 that's now in use at the Arizona Department of Corrections, and at several treatment centers around the country, including Tucson.

The program is also being put into place at a couple of high schools in the Tucson Unified School District.

``They buy the program from me,'' says Schwebel, who teaches others how to use the program with adolescents.

Using group counseling and a series of workbooks that the kids fill out, the program, says Schwebel, frees kids to talk about what they like - including drugs.

``Then we ask them to look at the downside.''

Other steps covered in the workbooks include:

* Looking at the relationship between drug use and problems in the kids' lives.

* Thinking about goals and accomplishments.

* Making thoughtful decisions about the use of drugs and alcohol.

* Following through on those decisions.

But it's a slow process. For unlike adults who go through a typical 12-step program, most kids, says Schwebel, aren't ready to quit.

``Ninety-five percent of the kids in treatment have been brought in by their parents, the courts or the schools. They HAVE to be there. And 95 percent are not in the action stage.''

While Schwebel says it is important to get kids to quit, ``part of the challenge is to slow the rush. The first thing I tell them is, `It's not my job to make you quit. My job is to help you think for yourself.' ''

The program, he says, can take anywhere from one day to months before a youth is willing to make a sincere change. When that time comes, relapse-prevention skills are taught.

Still, some kids resist ever making the change.

``But even with a highly resistant kid, you've planted the seeds,'' says Schwebel.

For kids who have decided to quit drugs, the program seems to dovetail the same themes of other treatment centers: getting new friends, learning new ways to handle emotions, teaching resilience.

Schwebel does say there is a role for the 12-step program - but only for those kids who are ready to take action, and accept that they're powerless against drugs.

As for how other treatment centers view the Seven Challenges program, T.K. Estes, resident coordinator at the drug-abuse group home La Cañada, agrees that ``kids need to come to realize their own problems.'' However, his program does use a 12-step program.

John Leggio, executive director of The Mark, Youth and Family Care Campus, says his program uses a variety of approaches, including - if need be - confrontation.

``We get a kid in here who's angry. His parents are crying. The kid is laughing. We have to get his attention.''

Every child is different, says Leggio. ``Some kids need to be taken to their knees. Some kids need to be loved up.''

But Schwebel says even programs that profess a softer approach still fail.

``There's a certain underlying, understood pressure and expectation that creates resistance. And kids wind up telling them what they want to hear.''