[Shawnina]

I am wondering if any of you have worked as a nurse in a facility for young offenders? I would like to know more about the experience to be gained in this setting.

[docpsychrn42]

We have one camp that is geared towards the juveniles and they are kept seperate from the adults. Juveniles are a whole diffent type of nursing being as they are in the "tween" stage of being a child and then almost an adult. Juveniles tend to act out a lot more than adults because of their immaturity and their lack of understanding that their actions will only cause them more trouble. I know that these juveniles are criminals and have committed sometimes horrible crimes, but again they are juveniles and they are treated differently. In my opinion the experience I have gained in working in this area of nursing is that there is still a chance that you can make a difference in these kids lives. They still have that chance to straighten up their lives and make something of themselves. As nurses, we have that opportunity to help them in making that decision to turn their lives around. I am not saying that adults can't do the same thing with their lives, but most of the adults that I see have no desire to change because they keep coming back. They have this learned behavior and they simply don't know how else to change mid-life and become a viable working class person. Most of them can't find jobs on the outside, they have lost all of their family, can't pay the child support they owe, etc etc and they wind up going back to using and committing crime. I am an older woman so working with the juveniles is like being a mom. I do not transfer that to my inmates but you know what I mean. Hope that I have given you some insight to working with the younger generation of criminals? It's a great field to work in and you do walk away most days feeling like you have done something in those kids' lives that no one else has done before for them.