Outreach: Making the Connection

Out on the streets, among equally unstable peers, troubled teens find themselves very much alone. At Crossroads, we understand that a teen in crisis often lacks the ability to seek help. Our social workers therefore engage in active outreach, visiting neighborhoods and schools by day, and streets and bars at night. They offer street kids immediate assistance when necessary, and explain the long-term services we have to offer. Caseworkers establish bonds of trust and support that are strengthened over time. This way, when a teen is ready to get off the streets, he or she can turn both to the Center and to its staff.

Terrorist Attacks: A Rapid Response

As part of the emergency response team of the Jerusalem Municipality, Crossroads staff searches for teenagers wounded in or witness to terrorist attacks. Our social workers provide or organize on-site medical treatment for victims, and offer witnesses emergency counseling and assistance. English-speaking teens are directed to the Crossroads Center, where they can phone home and sign up for further therapy, including for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The Drop-In Center: A Safe Haven

Located on HaChavatzelet Street, directly across from Zion Square, the Crossroads Center offers an alternative to being on the streets, and social activities other than hanging out in bars. The doors open at 3:00 p.m. daily, at which time teens can come and go as they please, making use of Center services. These include:

• computers with internet access
• English-language library
• recreation room
• boardgames
• television
• resource center

Additionally, the Crossroads Center provides three forms of assistance: therapeutic social activities, counseling and therapy, and educational opportunities.

The Moadon: A Social Hub

The Moadon (club) operates three nights per week from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. Attendance ranges from 30 to 60 youth per night, with an estimated 300 teens participating in the course of a year. A range of ongoing and one-time activities is offered. Ten-session workshops on topics such as cooking, art, drumming, and photography take place on a cyclical basis, each series followed by a one-month hiatus to allow time for evaluation. An average of eight to 20 youth take part in each workshop, including a core group that attends consistently.

The Crisis Center: Counseling and Rehabilitation

The Crisis Center offers teens free therapy in their native language. Each Crossroads social worker has a caseload of teenagers with whom he or she meets individually on a regular basis. Counselors find housing for homeless teens. In addition, they act as case managers, accompanying teens on visits to various community services and maintaining contact with the clients’ families. Staff members act as a bridge between teens in need and options in the larger community: jobs, schools, social services, and governmental agencies. When necessary, the caseworker also helps the teen navigate hospitals, courts, and prisons.

At Crossroads, teens learn to help themselves, to seek help for themselves, and to let themselves be helped.

Looking Forward: Educational Opportunities

Many of our teens have partially or completely abandoned their educations. Either they have dropped out of the program in which they were enrolled, or have fallen so far behind in their studies that they need intensive tutoring. Without assistance, they have few educational and professional options; they face formidable barriers in adjusting to Israel’s culture, language, and society. We offer our clients academic assessment, enrollment, and tutoring, and vocational training.

Education programs are tailored to students’ individual needs in the following ways:

1. Placement into an appropriate educational framework, either by facilitating the return of the student to his or her previous program or by finding a more appropriate institution. This process is coordinated jointly by the Crossroads social worker personally counseling the client, the Crossroads director, and several Israeli welfare services and educational programs.
2. Intensive tutoring in various subjects, aimed at keeping these teens in school and facilitating a positive educational experience. To that end, we hire professional tutors experienced in working with troubled youth, and offer them ongoing advice and support in their relationships with our clients.
3. General Educational Development (G.E.D.) courses. Ten to 20 students enroll each semester and are split by level into classes. Assisted by their teachers, students work individually and at their own paces within each class. Once a student has the capacity to pass the G.E.D. exam, thus earning a high school equivalency diploma, Crossroads arranges for him or her to take the exam at the testing center in Tel Aviv.
4. Alternative vocational training, including courses such as computer graphics, computer programming, mechanics, and hairstyling. The classes are taught at several levels, and are intended to create professional opportunities for clients unlikely to return to a formal educational framework due to psychological difficulties or learning disabilities. Each course lasts for three months; courses are held year-round.