SUU Animal Ambassadors

Today we had the privilege of having the SUU Animal Ambassadors come visit and share their knowledge with us. The students who came were all Biology Majors at Southern Utah University. They discussed possible careers one could have with a biology major and showed the youth some pretty neat animals. The youth were able to pet the snakes, tarantulas, hissing roaches, lizards and geckos. Even one of the staff was able to participate. Sorry for the blurry picture, but I don't think Sefa liked the snake that much. 

We are thankful for the chance to have these students come visit us and share their knowledge and experiences with us. 

The Legacy we Leave.

It's about the journey--mine and yours--and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better. Tony Dungy

We live in a beautiful place. We decided to take the opportunity to explore some of the sights around us. We decided to go to a few hisoric places.
I have been thinking a lot about legacy lately, and the kind of legacy we would like to leave for those who come after us. We used this theme today on our trip. We stopped at each of these locations and had a group on the legacy that the Native Americans left at Lion's Mouth and the Legacy that the pioneers left at Old Iron Town. It was a good day and nice to be out and about. I have included some of the information on the two sites we visited.
 . Old Iron Town, originally Iron City, is a ghost town in Iron County, in the U.S. state of Utah. It is located in Dixie National Forest, about 22 miles (35 km) from Cedar City. The settlement was founded in 1868 as a second attempt to mine iron from Iron Mountain after a disappointing yield from Cedar City. The colony lasted until 1876, when strife from the Edmunds–Tucker Act and the Panic of 1873 forced its closure. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

All of the rock art in the Lions Mouth are Pictographs, using reds, white, yellow and some black colors. It is thought that the art was done by Shoshoean or Paiute peoples. The next stop was the Lions Mouth. The Lions Mouth is an alcove located in a sandstone formation high in a juniper forest. The alcove is about 200 feet long about 10 feet above ground level. The alcove itself is about 10 to 15 feet wide and about 10 feet tall. The

The Holidays at Turning Point

Christmas time is a difficult time for many of the youth here at Turning Point. For some this is their first Christmas away from home. For others it may be just another year they do not get to spend the Holidays with their family. This year we worked hard to make new holiday traditions at Turning Point. We brought in some of our own family traditions from making gingerbread houses to having Santa Claus visit on Christmas Eve. We also took the youth to look at Christmas Lights and drink hot chocolate. 

We held our family day on the 19th. Mrs. Carlile and her cooking class made a great lunch. The theme this year was Mexican food and it did not disappoint. We also held a family group on communication which was great as many families shared stories and thoughts they had. We appreciate all the families that were able to come and spend the day with their son!

We really enjoy working with these young men and look forward to what they next year brings us!

Message from our Peer Leader

We have started a new thing here at Turning Point. We have a Peer Council and the Peer Leader or President will update the blog with activities and more of a personal view on the happenings in the program from a youth's perspective.
Here is the first update:
Weekly Events:
Turning Point Family care has came up with new things that will help the youth take more charge of what is going on in the facility. We created directors so that youth can learn leadership and self discipline.

The goal of president/leader is to help out the directors and assist them when they need the help. He is also in charge to make sure they get their duties done.
The goal of the service director is to have one youth be in charge of setting up service for the youth and must have four hours weekly.
The goal of Activity Director is to set up protocol activities for the level three and up therapy levels. He is in charge of off campus activities and helping to plan the longest day as well.
The goal of the PRS Director is to teach the youth social skills that will help the youth with skills that they will need to return to society. They will facilitate PRS groups with the help of staff.

Longest Day: 10-16-2014

The youth had an 18 hour therapy day. For breakfast they had pancakes and bacon with over easy eggs on the Camp Chefs. Then the kids went to two elderly homes to do community service and spent  hours helping them out.
The kids then came back and went to the rooms and wrote resumes for what position they wanted. As I mentioned above there are directors and that is what the requests were for. Afterwards we had Sharon’s group about being positive and what it means to be positive? Then we made brochures that talked about our selves. After we were done with that we went around and each youth had to write down one positive thing about another youth on the brochures. Then we did a jump rope exercise that helped us practice our teamwork skills. And the staff went against the youth to see who completed the task first. After the jump rope we split into three groups and each team did their own Dutch ovens.  Once we got done with the Dutch ovens we started a hike. that ended at the base of three peaks.  After that we had a fire and spent time  talking about what the youth needed to let go of. The things that we wanted to let go were thrown into the fire.

As a youth, I thought that this was one of the best longest days that we had and I thought that the youth got along really well for the most part. I hope that we do this sometime soon again. I loved the food and the activities that we did.

Halloween Party

Paint pumpkin: 11:00The first place prize will get candy Twinkie, soda—Second place will get candy and Twinkie---Third place will get candy.
Pumpkin pie contest: 2:00
The person that wins will get a Twinkie
Pumpkin search 4:00p.m.
There will be 4 groups of teams and we the group that can find the most gets, will get a Twinkie and a soda each.

Dinner 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Movie- with candy, popcorn, soda and Twinkie: 6:45 p.m.

Longest Day In October

 This month according to tradition we did a long, long day. We held many groups throughout the day and focused on the youth. We used the theme of victim empathy and empowerment throughout the day. We started the day off early with a big breakfast to fill the boys up. After that we went to two different homes to help the owners of the homes with their yard work. The boys and staff helped trim trees, rake leaves, throw stuff away, dig up gardens, etc. The people were so happy to have the help and really appreciated the help. This is a great way for our youth to interact in the community, not only to get their service hours, but to show that they can make a positive difference in someone else's lives.

As administration we decided to start a new peer council for the youth. We developed this as a way to empower the boys in the facility and hopefully get them to see that they can control things in a positive way and use this control and power to build healthy relationships and have a happy life.
We also did groups on self esteem, treating others with respect, and attunement with each other during the afternoon.

As dinner time approached we let the youth know that they would be in charge of cooking their own dinners. We gave them the ingredients and told them to make what they wanted to make. We also broke them up into teams. It was a good way to see the youth come together and resolve conflict, or they did not resolve conflict. Some of the food was great, some of it was not.

 As the sun went down and dinner was cleaned up we had the youth read the following poem.

The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance
in black and bitter cold
Each possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
the first woman held hers back
For on the faces around the fire
She noticed one was black.
The next man looking 'cross the way
Saw one not of his church
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
>From the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
And the last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
The logs held tight in death's stilled hands
Was proof of human sin,
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from the cold within.


James Patrick Kinney

After this we headed out on a hike at which the end they were greeted by the fire. At the fire they were to read on a piece of paper what was keeping their cold within and to burn it if they were ready to move forward. This was a very moving experience for so many of the youth, staff and therapists as well.

We truly work with some great kids. 

We look forward to the next big activity!

Using the Twisted Forest as a Metaphor

We are so lucky that we live in Southern Utah.The beauty that surrounds us is amazing. This past week we went on a new hike. It is called the Twisted Forest Trail. It is located just past Brian Head up Parowan Canyon. The Twisted Forest Trail is a short trail that has the Bristlecone Pine trees located on it. The Bristlecone Pines are some of the oldest living things on the planet. They can live for thousands of years. We saw many of these trees that have survived fires, droughts, freezes, and many different types of weather. We used these as metaphors for the things in their lives. The many storms they have encountered in their lives and survived. We discussed the history of abuse and other trauma's they have been victims of. We discussed how this has affected their lives and if they have chosen to be a victim or a survivor. Many of the youth seemed to take the message from this hike and use it as a motivation to change. At the top of the trail we looked out over the view and discussed how at times we have to go through hard trials and it seems that all we do is climb mountains, but at the end it is worth it. 

The beginning of the trail. 

A view of the "Twisted Forest and a youth pondering our writing assignment. 

Another youth thinking about the hike. A look at the hill we had to climb. 

The youth at the top of the hike. The view was amazing!

These pictures are from the top. It is an amazing view. 

Upper Limit Aviation Dropped By

Cedar City is such an amazing community to live in. It is a small town, but there are many giving and gracious people. Upper Limit Aviation is a flight school that is here at the airport. Check out their website http://www.upperlimitaviation.edu/

They heard about Turning Point and wanted to do something nice for us. They took time out of their day to fly a helicopter to our building and land right in front. They also talked to the youth about helicopters and becoming a helicopter pilot. They have also discussed having youth come to the school to learn more about helicopters. We hope that our youth will take advantage of opportunities like these. 

After all it's not everyday you get to see a helicopter land in the middle of the street.