WHAT ARE JUVENILE PROGRAMS?
Three programs are offered: for details see WHO IS IT DESIGNED FOR?
Advantages of Juveniles Program: Connecting with Youth
Youth are quite comfortable with Internet interaction and some actually prefer it. For adolescents who are socially risk-aversive, online and telephone interaction feels more conducive to personal conversation. Many adolescents are resistant to traditional therapy, which in their perspective can be embarrassing and carries the stigmatization of being for “crazy people”. This system offers the safety of a “not-in-my-face” confrontation.
The Net’s community values system can contribute to the “normalcy” of inappropriate sexual behavior. “It’s okay because everybody’s doing it”. This program offers two powerful antidotes. The first is that, compared to online disinformation and distortion, we offer grounded sexual education. Adolescents get helpful answers to questions that are hard or impossible to ask to parents or peers. For juveniles struggling with new and diverse sexual impulses, our trained therapists are often the first expert source of private information. Here they can deal with their own particular forms of sexual arousal, gender identity, and relationship issues.
The second counter-force is that session Seven on Internet Boundaries is specially designed for the proper use- and respect for- the Net. When it comes to burgeoning online sexual activities, teenagers need to be appropriately warned about some of its dangers that they may not have considered. The Net holds great potential for good and for evil. This is a “must” program for all youth who are “sexually active online”.