Jose “Neaners” Garcia: Kids are not Broken; They Just Need to be Seen

Washington, United States: Jose “Neaners” Garcia was the youngest gang member in his community. He had shot someone by the time he was 10 years old, had a child at age 12, got shot himself at age 13. Traumatized by both parents and his surroundings, he felt his life was limited to what he saw in front of him. But a 5-year stint in solitary confinement helped him see a purpose to it all. His vision, Hope for Homies, became his calling to show young people something better. 

Transcript

Neaners: 0:03

I think a lot of these kids, I see them dying in hunger to just be seen, just be loved, just be recognized. And just to stand with them because none of these kids are broken. There's nothing wrong with them. They just need to be seen. And we need to stand with them. We need to be there for them. We need to love them. We need to support them. I don't care if he says he's gonna be in NASA support that dream, support their vision. He's gonna be the next President support that dream support that vision.

Paul Meunier: 0:42

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association. And I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I? I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shaped their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of the passionate youth work. Hi everybody for this episode, we're joined by Jose Garcia from Washington in the United States. He's the founder and executive director of Hope for Homies that has programs to help young people growing up in gang affected communities. The young people he supports are living with street after street of low income apartments, stifling poverty, drugs, gangs, and their entire world consists of a four block radius. Jose, it is so cool to have you as a guest on the podcast. I have so much I want to ask you, but first, thanks for being a guest on the podcast.

Neaners: 1:54

As always, thank you guys for having me here.

Paul Meunier: 1:58

It's great to have you here. And Jose people who know you best call you by your nickname Neaners. And I'm wondering how you got that nickname? Neaners. And is it okay, if I call you Neaners throughout the podcast?

Neaners: 2:12

Yeah, yeah, for sure. You can call me Neaners, man. I appreciate that, kind of enjoy it. So I was called Neaners since I was a little kid, I remember being a little rugrat in the neighborhood. I became one of the youngest gang members that we had in our community. So they used to call me baby. They're like baby J baby J. And at that time, I didn't want to be called Baby J. So they went on to be called Neanie. And it was like neanie, neanie. And then it became Neaners. So they just stayed and I was like, Yeah, I'm cool with Neaners. And so it's been rocking with me ever since I was like about 9 or 10 years old.

Paul Meunier: 2:44

You have a cool nickname. I love the name of your organization. Hope for Homies. What a catchy title. And I think it describes like the young people that you work with so well. And you already started talking a little bit about your upbringing. And you're saying you're the youngest gang member in your area. Can you just talk a little bit about your upbringing and get the listeners kind of up to speed on gosh, so many of the things that you experienced as a really young person.

Neaners: 3:09

As a migrant kid, I didn't have the opportunity as other kids did to attend school to be a part of like just your normal childhood. You know, it was it was work sent ups and down migrant work parents for migrant workers. We worked all the I5. I wasn't born in Washington. I was born in Oregon, you know, we just traveled a lot and so I just was constantly at work English is my second language. So once I started getting the age of going to school, my mom had forgotten to register me at school so she registered my whole family in school everybody all my brothers and sisters. So I was the youngest of six and then I ended up getting put in an all white school and being in an all white school was really really hard because, I for one didn't know who I was with how to pronounce my name my skin tone. I spent more time inside the principal's office not because I was in trouble but because of the fact that they couldn't understand me. And so I just started staying home I just started I just didn't even care anymore. So one of the things that my sister did, she just gave me this boost of hope this little small glimpse of hope and that was to to learn to speak English and so I had the privilege like to have a sister like that to cater that to me. You know, l ke most folks from my neighbo hood, you know, that parenta role is forced on these kids. S my sister picked that role up and she had me watch shows I watched like Sanford and Son, We come Back Kotter, Happy Days, illigan's Island Wonder Years, I paid attention to all their acial expressions and kind o put two and two together and sl wly started developing this k nd of little skill of what t at was like. And so I would atch my dad before he would et drunk before he would beat m mom up. I watch his little attitudes during the day and an notice that a lot of it was ju t slowly developing. And so I s arted knowing where to sleep, and mom was sleeping betwee us and he would like physic lly assault her. So this was a onstant reminder of what I didn t want to be in. So I wanted to leave my neighborhood I want d to get rid of this four block adius. I wanted to get as far aw y as I could. So I had my sister stole this map. And it ended n North Carolina. And so when i ended in North Carolina, I was ike, that's where I want to go. That's the end of the world. I mean, for a little eight ear old nine year old kid, t at's the end of the world. I wanted to be a basket all player. But as always you know, my neighb rhood. I watched all these lint Eastwood movies. By the ti e I was 10. I shot someon. And by the time I was 12 or 3 I had a kid by time I was 13. got shot six time. By the time was 14, my sister had already a baby and moved on. And I go sent up to Green Hill Juvenil Institution, and I was sent up rom 14 just went through the ystem the whole time, about 18 years in the system and got

eleased in July 20, 2014 at 8: 5:34

0 am. So it's very interesting

Paul Meunier: 5:44

Boy, there's a lot to unpack there. I can't imagine going through some of those things as a young person myself, and I know your dad had problems with alcohol too. Right. And being besides being abusive, I think he's mentioned that he's had problems with drugs and alcohol as well. Is that correct?

Neaners: 6:00

Yeah, my dad became a severe alcoholic, you know, he died from cirrhosis. He embedded that into our culture into our family in our family. My dad died from cirrhosis. My grandpa died from cirrhosis, my brother died at age 28, from cirrhosis. And at the same time, my dad passed away slowly, my mom started becoming this migrant worker and slowly derailing that into becoming a drug dealer, drug addict, she started getting involved with drugs, she started getting involved with several men, like we kind of knew these guys, we would pay attention to them. Like this was just our everyday life. You know, having different people coming out of our house, it was just got to the point where I got molested, my sister got raped, there was no set boundaries, no set of understanding ourselves of knowing who we were, we just went with what we seen and try to live and survive for every day. And it was really hard because my sister was she had a baby and stuff. And so being that at that age, you know, I mean, we try to gravitate to what's going to get us out of that neighborhood. And the only thing that we've seen was the the gangs, drugs, sex, violence, and marrying some older guy or something, you know?

Paul Meunier: 7:04

Wow, Neaners, I can't even begin to express how much you've gone through and what that does to your developmental years and your outlook on things. How did all that you just described, skew your view of the world? Did you see it as an unsafe untrusting place?

Neaners: 7:24

Yeah, I started noticing our neighborhood was full of just browns and blacks. First of all, that's all there was, you know, a couple of white kids here and there. But more importantly, I started noticing that the looks we got, you know, we never wore nice clothes were always in poverty. I would see how just the environment was so set different from when kids that when I started seeing kids in school, when I got out of Echo Glen and I started seeing kids in school, their whole parenting was different. You know, I never even knew about a cookie jar. I never knew about playing with their dads, you know, like the only thing that we played we were kids were playing dodgeball and and catch with their, with their parents, you know, we were dodging bullets. And we're trying to play catch me if you can from the cops, you know, a neighborhood securities like, like, this was an everyday life. And it just did not add up. And it just didn't feel normal. But we dealt with what we had at that time and the environment we lived in.

Paul Meunier: 8:17

How old were you when your dad died? And how did his death affect you?

Neaners: 8:23

I mean, I was young. I remember he was about, I want to say he was, I don't even remember the last time I see my dad, I think it was like 10 years old. But in all reality, you know, there's a song and I admire from Tupac, he says that his dad wasn't there, you know, but his whole time he has looked for a male role model and one of his songs. Yeah. And he's like no love for my daddy because the cower wasn't there. And that's how it was, I had no love. I didn't even notice I didn't even know anything about him. So it was just it was just through all the trauma that I've been through. It was no emotional tie at all to that. My emotional tie was to surviving, surviving, surviving. That's all I could think of and all I could do, you know?

Paul Meunier: 9:04

Yeah, I can understand why you would feel that way. Your mom kind of had her own issues. You described all those really well. How did her behavior affect you? And do you still have contact with your mom today?

Neaners: 9:19

It affected me really, like I literally had so much confusion on what a mother was because, um, you're talking about a mom that that sells crack that does coke and in is all messed up, we'll take her grandkids to go steal from Walmart, and just all kinds of stuff and you're like, Man, this is not your ideal mom that you want to take to a parent teacher conference. You know, you go visit her in jail. You get arrested with her, you know, cops pulling you over and you're in the car crying because you don't know what's happening. And so it really messed up my mind bad with just knowing what a mother figure was and seeing the self respect that she had. She didn't she didn't really value any of herself or her well-being the well-being of our kids. It really made a big 'ol turmoil of emotions that was created for my dad. Now we have the ones trauma from a mom that just exploded. And they created this kid that was just running, running from everything and fighting and running. And so, as far as connections, yes, I still talk to my mom on a daily basis, you know, I forgive her for everything, you know, something that I'm learning a lot is to forgive. I can't forget the stuff that I've been through. But I can forgive and I can dread on the past, I can only utilize it to create a better future for myself, the people I serve my community and my kids in some systematic changes that are happening in the valley. Yeah, she got deported. She lost her green card. She's in Mexico. And so she's over there now. You know,

Paul Meunier: 10:43

How is she doing?

Neaners: 10:45

She's still my mom. She's, she's, she's, she's still a hustler. She still tries to hustle us for change here and there for a couple of dollars here and there. But, I mean, we know the poverty of Mexico. I mean, you can, when you're getting 500 bucks a month, that's just like, you should be living in royalty. But I mean, it's my mom, she's just trying to grind and hustle. I think she's still in survival mode.

Paul Meunier: 11:09

And I know you did some jail time, too. Can you talk a little bit about how you ended up in jail and what that experience was like?

Neaners: 11:17

Yeah, my stinks started in 1995. I remember being being a little kid going into the system and being in juvenile institutions. And slowly, not understanding why this was happening. Like this was not what I wanted. I mean, you can ask any garden juvenile system that I was in, they'll say, you know, this guy was really awesome, really listened to, I mean, I was really clean, I was really nice. I was respectful. It felt safe, it felt really safe to be there. And so I got sent up to Green Hill got sent to the juvenile systems went through the whole juvenile systems, age 17, got sent to DOC Department of Corrections, was in prison in 1999, started doing my prison sentence and started really recognizing the difference between between the difference of the gang banging that I knew from the streets to the gang banging from prison, that it just it was it was so much different. I watched a lot of trauma, it was just like you cut through trauma when you're just sitting there. And you're watching. I remember being there. The first weeks that I was there was there during Father's Day. And I didn't think about Father's Day at all, like that just never hit me. Even though I had a daughter didn't hit me up. I literally remember hearing staff running to get a guy out of the bed because he had committed suicide on Father's Day. And those days, were depressing. You got to think you're in an institution full of nothing but men that are just fathers in their way from their family. And like myself, we're all we were all running from problems. We're all running from trauma. We're all not sure how to deal with trauma. You know.

Paul Meunier: 12:46

Your story is absolutely amazing. It's breathtaking to me to hear all the things you've gone through. But you know what? It turned out pretty cool, because you now have a wife and a couple kids. And what do you think your wife saw in you that she said, there's more to Neaners than all this stuff you just talked about. What did she see in you?

Neaners: 13:15

Yeah, I hope that she's seen something that I didn't probably see in myself. Because, you know, sometimes we we tend to sell ourselves short, you know, we tend to never have that self acceptance or self observation of who we are. I think she seen a person that just needed a chance, needed some type of support some type of love some type of kinship, as we call it, you know, she's seen that even though she's had said she wasn't gonna be with me, she said she was she just didn't take that walk with me. But I promise I said, you know, I, I promise you like, I'm, I'm gonna marry you, we're gonna have a family. She's still to this day, when I tell her she just remembers like, man that was over seven and a half years ago that we we've been rocking with it, you know, and this is talking about me coming from living in, syaying in a garage and in little garage. And she had her own apartment, but she would still come stay with me. And it showed a lot. So a lot of value in her. You know,

Paul Meunier: 14:10

She has a strong character. She saw something. She knew what she wanted. And she wasn't going to be judged by what other people thought she just knew what you had. And she was cool with that. And she thought this was a pretty special person. It's great to hear that you got a couple of kids now. I bet you are showing them love and affection, fatherhood, all the things that you probably never saw. It must just be kind of mind blowing to be giving those things to your kids when you didn't have any of that stuff.

Neaners: 14:44

Oh, yeah, today. Today I had the privilege I woke up this morning, had a meeting. And then I took my daughter to a dentist appointment. She's had my hip on everything and it was just really um, it's really good to be there not be, have the same words that we grew up with, like, hey, just handle it, just be a man man up, handle it, but to be able to win the hey, it's okay mama, you know, you're gonna be alright, we're gonna get through this, you know, like encouraging her, not discouraging or not telling her how to feel, but allowing her to validate what she does feel. So that she doesn't have to go through this type of stuff that I went through, you know, and supporting her, my son has autism. He has severe autism, he doesn't speak, he's nonverbal. And so it's like, a lot of times, it's just really hard to do stuff with him. But I, but I really enjoy and I challenge myself everyday because patience is a virtue for him. I got scratched marks on my back bites, all kinds of stuff. And it's cute, because I mean, that's just how, how he is and, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Like, he's golden peace to me. And I'm just grateful for, for being able to be their dad, you know, to me, it's just big. It's an honor. You know, as they say, you know,

Paul Meunier: 15:55

That's beautiful Neaners, good for you, and good on you for raising your children in a way that they're gonna grow up and say, my dad was cool. I don't know about your dad, but my dad was cool. And that's a great thing. We do have to take a short break. But when we come back, I'd like to talk to you about Hope for Homies and your view on young people and how you help them. So we'll be right back after this short break.

Jade Schleif: 16:23

No matter how you support our young people, the professional youth worker powered by YIPA has your training and learning needs covered. Is it training.yipa.org. That's training.yipa.org to see for yourself, and then join the 1000s of youth workers around the globe learn from our easy to access exceptional trainings, from our blogs to our podcast, the professional youth worker is your go to resource for tools to help you keep going keep learning and keep growing. members enjoy free unlimited access to live online and on demand trainings, and a preferred discount pricing for one of a kind certificate course. Annual memberships are just $99 for individuals, and only $250 for your entire organization. Visit training.yipa.org today to learn more, that's training.yipa.org.

Paul Meunier: 17:13

And we're back with Jose Neaners Garcia from Washington. And right before we went on the break, I said I'd like to talk a little bit more about Hope for Homies and what caused you to go from this life of being in prison not having a lot of hope not having a lot of trusting people to also say I'm going to just turn it completely upside down and give back everything that I can. How in the world did you decide to start an organization?

Neaners: 17:39

It's funny because I was in solitary confinement and I had got sentenced to an indefinet program. I'm in the hole, I know I'm gonna go home from solitary confinement. So I'm in confusion now what it's like, but I'm listening to a lot of the conversations. I'm hearing a lot of the stuff and I'm watching that, and a lot of it. We're still children. We're still kids, a lot of the older cats, we're still kids, were internally just forced to become adults. Um, I started registering some of the stuff they said some of the stuff they lacked, you know, most of our stories were similar. Single mother, dad was an alcoholic, you know, stepfather, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the same stories. And so when I had this vision of Hope for Homies, it wasn't what I envisioned. I had drew it on the back of an infraction that I'd just got an infraction for staff assault, on the back of it, I drew the whole outline of a farm. And in the farm, all I wonder was a safe haven because I've walked the streets and watch over my back every day, because it's something that you just do constantly in this kind of lifestyle. I looked at it. And I was like, this is Hope for Homies. And so I built this whole fireplace did this whole thing. And I just embedded it in my heart. And I built it into my vision. And I told myself, if this is my success, there's nothing less I'm not going to settle for anything less. So I told myself that day, this is where I'm going. And this is what I'm driving to. And so I've been going that route the whole time and trying to embed all the stuff from life living experience to to watch another group. So listening to some of your guys's stuff and use it utilizing some of your stuff to help kids go through their self sabotage and self realization self reflection, stuff like that. So it's been a very, very interesting journey.

Paul Meunier: 19:19

Well, I'm so grateful that you did because I got to believe you're giving hope to a lot of young people that might feel like there's no hope out there. And you have really cool programs. I know you work with adults, but when you work with kids, you've got Hoods in the Woods in Teeny Tiny Homies I just come you come up with the coolest names. So what do you do with Hoods in the Woods and Teeny Tiny Homies?

Neaners: 19:41

So we have Hoods in the Woods. So one of the biggest things is as kids we live in this four block radius of all you see is all you know and if all you see is all you know, then you're basically going to be the next clerk out here. And if you come here on these neighborhoods on Casino Road and Evert after 10 o'clock, you're going to see these zombies out here. They're out here walking around all night. And it's either you're going to become there, are you going to become a clerk? Are you going to become a cashier? Just something like that. And so to me is what the way I can break that that what is it that I can trigger within their brains to see that there's far more beyond that. So I utilized all of our time in the That's cool. And I know some of these teeny tiny homies just summer to make sure that we embedded something that was going to be created for folks like myself, folks on the margins, folks unlikely to be se n those who people are in awe when they see us because they feel disgusted with life that we grew up in. So I take them and we go hiking, we go do stuff, we go to kangaroo farms, we go to equine therapy, we go to stuff that they've never done or seen or not have the mobility to get around. Because as kids from my culture, from my people from my background, we are forced into a parental role, we are forced to take care of the younger siblings. So one of the things that we switched up here at home for homies is we have taken on the kids that are 16, 15 and the have younger siblings that the can't leave their house, the have to stay there with them. W have brought them together an said, hey, we're going to buil a group here, we're going t call it Teeny, Tiny Homies. An it's going to consist of homie that are seven, all the way t 12. These are the teeny tin homies, these are the kids tha we're gonna just bring them in and we're gonna allow the 13 an older kids to be kids, you don' have the responsibility o having to watch your brothe having to make sure that he' going to eat having to make sur that anything's going to happe with him. No, you're going t bring them here. And we're goin to split you guys up. And we'r gonna focus on the teeny, tin homies. So about 75% of th conversations on Teeny Tin Homies is always about who' gonna be the next CEO. And so constantly go back and fort with Peewee and Gordo and Emily we're always talking about who' gonna be the next CEO. And, an it's just funny, because i really brings out the real yo that you, you know. And kids ha e no filters at that age. Th y'll likely ask you questions. hey're the most realist, and hey're the most straightforwardi t, and they're the most honest, nd it's really, it's an njoyment, it's an enjoyment, nd then we bring them in ogether, we create a circle, or e do a healing circle with all f them together to validate hat they go through to validate heir emotion, validate their week, and to know that they stand together, that no matter what, they're not standing alone, we're all in this together. recently gave you some, they made cards for you. Can you share a couple things that these teeny tiny homie's said? Because it's pretty cool. Yeah, so one of the ones that my best friend, he sat there and wrote this in different colors, it's in different colors. He said, just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, it turned into a butterfly. And it has a picture of him in the front and it says to Neaners, we love you. And he eraseshe messed up a little bit on the love, but he esrased and did it again. And then we have your amazing person very funny, we'll have three sad, and then I have something that this boy wroteand it's really good. He says, I think you need us for helping me through hard times. And I want to say that the only reason most of the kids listen to you is because they know you have been through the same thing. We have so much respect for you. And thank you, we love you. And it's just can't beat that, that's poems right here, that's poetic.

Paul Meunier: 23:26

And that's that's why we all do this stuff, right? We know that when we're working with young people like this. And we're authentic and real. And we're in the moment with these young people that think so highly of us. And it gives them hope and inspiration. And I'm grateful that you're doing this. What is your vision for the young people that you work with Neaners?

Neaners: 23:46

I think the biggest vision I have that I've been really, really focused on why I created Teeny Tiny Homies is that I know that my 15 to 16 year old boys are going to turn 18. And if their younger siblings are not being well taken care of their mom will keep them there. And so my vision is to have the kids go off to college, Job Corps, the service, whatever it is they want to do, but that they leave and they know that their younger siblings are in well kept hands that there's going to be a community that's gonna stick with them through and through, you know, that it's not just because they turn 18 and they're gone. And we just forget about them. So we try to make sure that we run an all year round program, we try to make sure that we serve them on every angle that we can, and it's all about the family. How do we come around the family? And how do we continue to support them, you know, and as well as the kids going off to college, we have one that's in Texas A&M, who we support all the way fully. It's just so many different things. Our biggest thing is to make sure that the kids leave that four block radius so they could see further beyond this, if they come back that's on them. But we want to give them the opportunity to see that

Paul Meunier: 24:52

It's a wonderful vision. And I'm going to make a prediction right here right now. I think someday you're going to be the best man for one of these kids.

Neaners: 25:00

I hope it's one of the boys, not the girls, the girls will make me cry.

Paul Meunier: 25:07

Yeah, right. Exactly. Be too emotional, right? Yeah, you work with mostly boys or the girls?

Neaners: 25:12

No, there's both. It's very so we in the juvenile system, we have a group of two Cottages of girls. And two cottages are boys, two different groups. Here, we have boys and girls, and it's the Teeny Tiny Homies, there's one girl. And that one girl's been with us through the whole thing. She's seen 10 boys be here. And she was the only girl now we have a bunch of girls. And it's just been amazing. It's just a whole mix of boys and girls.

Paul Meunier: 25:38

That's great. All the research and all the data shows girls are bumping into the juvenile justice system just as fast if not faster than boys are these days, and usually for different reasons. So it's great that they got the support too because last thing they need to do is end up in a detention center somewhere. Well, none of these kids need to end up in a detention center, especially the girls, it just doesn't seem like it's gonna do anything but cause harm to any young person. I got a question for you. So what do you think from all your experience, all the things you've gone through Neaners, what do young people need to thirve?

Neaners: 26:14

A loving and nurturing relationship? Honest, sincerely loving and nurturing relationship. I believe that we grew up in these environments where I don't even remember my mom telling me she loves me as a kid. I don't remember my dad telling me he loved me as a kid, I remember being hugged. I don't remember anything. I remember my sister supporting me. And a lot of my stuff, my sister was my guardian angel, you know, I mean, she's hands down, supported me all the way through my whole life. And, to this day, you know, and we've always been in each other's corners. She's a blessing. And she's the one that showed me that what is true love, and what is the true relationship. And I think a lot of these kids, I see them dying in hunger, to just be seen, just be loved, just be recognized. And just to stand with them. Because none of these kids are broken. There's nothing wrong with them. They just need to be seen. And we need to stand with them. We need to be there for them. We need to love them, we need to support them. I don't care if he says he's gonna be in NASA, support that dream, support that vision. He's gonna be the next President support that dream, support that vision. But I watched parents should calm down before they even get the first words out their mouth. And it sucks, because that's just how we grew up. You know.

Paul Meunier: 27:35

And every young person has something in them, that is unique, that they can give back to this world and feel seen, feel heard, feel valued, and feel connected. There's systems that prevent young people from being able to do that, from your view, and in especially your community that you know, so well, what are some of the systems that need to change so that these young people have that loving, caring community? I know, it's a complex problem. Do you have any insight into that, that if were king for a day, what would you do?

Neaners: 28:13

My biggest thing is, you know, they spent about six to eight hours in school because they come home, they you know, homework, everything is around school. So I think the educational part is a big factor. And it's knowing how to not just pinpoint a guy cuz he's wearing a pic in his hair, because his pants are baggy. These are all identities and images and stuff. You know, our whole country is based off of images, we need to be presented the best we can never if we see someone just scruffy we just automatically assume he's homeless. But images and I think that's the big word starts at is working with them through schools, you know, every school, focus on the inner turmoil, emotions that they're going through, because that's going to give them the opportunity to be able to study, be able to see things and I see that in all of our stuff. You know, during the pandemic, we ran school here we had tutors coming in here talking to the kids working with the kids, trying to help them that didn't have WiFi didn't have laptops, we're having a struggle getting to know things and being a product of that environment. School education was the first thing that dropped me not knowing how to communicate with me and first people to let me go you know, if it wasn't for one principle that actually gave a damn about me, Miss Ralphson. She was the only one that cared. Other than that, a couple kids that grew up within a neighborhood, but the school just needs to have a different way of looking at stuff. That's just how I see it. But that's my personal opinion, just because that's where they spend the majority of their time. And I think it'd be good to have people like us doing groups in there for them, allowing them to come to us, you know, you gravitate to what you see when it's folks like us that are from the streets, you know, who better to serve you then you know,

Paul Meunier: 29:45

One of the things I love about doing this podcast is I get to meet just phenomenal people. And what we hope to do with the podcast is inspire the listeners to think about how their life experiences help them in their work. And the most beautiful thing about you Neaners is you're just so transparent, and you've gone through so much. And yet here you are giving back just as hard and as much as you possibly can to make the world a better place. I'm so grateful that you came on and told your story. And we're a guest on the podcast. So, God, man, thank you, and good luck to you and just keep going strong, and never lose faith Neaners because you are changing lives, I just know it. But before we conclude, I would like to ask you what words of wisdom or inspiration would you like to share with our listeners,

Neaners: 30:36

I would like to say that, as we're working with youth, or whoever we're standing with, you know, the system is being reflected by creating these outlets and being intentional to where they want to go. And one of the things is working with them to self reflection, you know, having them identifying values, self sabotaged boundaries, learneing all these strong words that they've never heard of, you know, really diving into the conversation with them about self observation. What does healing look like to them? Asking these questions so that they, so that we no longer are the voice, but we're the listeners from once. I mean, God gave us two eyes and two ears and one mouth for a reason. Let us listen. Let's listen to these kids. They just went through the whole world shutting down on them. In the 40 years that I've been here, that's never happened. That'd be one of the biggest things I would give out is just take the time to listen and walk with them as they stepped up these challenges and use these options as opportunities to grow. That's just the best way to go about it. Thank you, thank you for

Paul Meunier: 31:32

If you would like to share your passion for youth everything. work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org That's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.