AMA Question: I remember reading that residents were discouraged from behaving in a truly friendly and therapeutic manner toward one another, so "talking down" a violent/deranged kid must have been a delicate balancing act.
Added 2019-03-09 23:44:29 +0000 UTCYeah, I can remember many moments of potential violence, particularly while on the corner SP, where it seemed completely hopeless to be able to talk someone down, especially because even they knew it was all a mind-game at that point. Many times, people had at least one or two people in the house who everyone knew could get through to them, so many times we would have to send for that one person. Basically, the one person that even that particular corner kid would not bash with a chair, because of some weird bond they had formed.
A lot of bonds were based on maybe being from the same part of the country, or having similar backgrounds, both adopted, for example, or both were heroin addicts, stuff like that.
But yeah, that part of the program, the part where the kids themselves needed to manage the other kids, that was definitely the craziest part. That is one thing I will never forgive them for, how they could put that kind of pressure on us, with very real consequences, when we were all really so young.
When I hear that one song "How to Save A Life" by The Fray, it always really hits me hard. Because the whole tone of that song, and the lyrics, really describe this aspect of my time in Elan.
