Teen drop-in centre serves youth in St. Vital area

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2019 (2427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Celina Bravar was young and encountering challenges at home and at school, she always knew there was somewhere she could go: Teen Stop Jeunesse.

Bravar first visited the St. Vital drop-in centre when she was 11 years old. It became a regular part of her life when she was a teenager.

“I could come here, I could talk with the staff and I could talk with the other kids,” says Bravar, who is now 27. “It was nice to have a place to go.”

Bravar stopped going to school after Grade 8 as a result of her anxiety. When she was ready to go back, Teen Stop was there for her again. In 2013, Bravar earned her high school diploma through the centre’s education program.

“It felt awesome,” she says. “I had a lot of issues getting there, but the teachers were very helpful and understanding.”

Today, Bravar works at Teen Stop as a facilitator with the centre’s Transition to Employment program.

It’s just one of the many things Teen Stop offers, including a computer lab, a homework club, a recreation room and a life-skills program. Youth at Teen Stop also have the opportunity to record music and make films together.

St. Vital may have a reputation as an affluent neighbourhood, but there are pockets of poverty, Teen Stop executive director Pat LeBlanc says.

Youth in the area face the same challenges that youth in other parts of the city face, including drugs and alcohol, abusive relationships and difficult home lives.

“We’re dealing with kids that have been told most of their lives they’ll never succeed,” says LeBlanc, who has been involved at Teen Stop in one way or another for almost 40 years. “All it takes is someone telling them they do have skills, they can succeed and that there’s potential there… then they start to see it.

“I’m a big believer in the idea that the more we make people feel they are worthy, the more they will succeed,” he adds. “To be honest, that’s what the United Way did for us.”

When LeBlanc left his job at a car dealership in 1998 to become the executive director at Teen Stop, the drop-in centre was in danger of closing its doors.

“The first phone call I made was to the United Way,” LeBlanc recalls. “It was the United Way that said, you are too important to your community to close.”

The United Way gave Teen Stop extra funding, helped LeBlanc raise funds from other sources and assisted LeBlanc in making changes to the drop-in’s board of directors, which helped the organization run more efficiently.

Today, the drop-in centre is thriving and receives more than 10,000 visits from youth in the community annually.

“My hope for them is that they feel safe and secure, and that they consider this to be their home,” LeBlanc says. “I have an incredible staff… with the biggest hearts you can imagine. I have to say, they are the best at what they do. They really are.”

That includes Bravar, who enjoys her work at Teen Stop.

“I hope it will be around for a long time, because it’s a great place and we help a lot of people,” she says.

aaron.epp@gmail.com