The Power of Sharing

Therapeutic boarding schools are full of angry teens whose association with other angry teens spelled disaster at home. But in a therapeutic environment where they learn to recognize their triggers and tolerate their strong emotions long enough to find other ways to express them, angry teens are actually helping other angry teens.

One girl who arrived with a lot of anger toward her mother had often tried triangulation---to turn her father against her mother---and was continuing to do so even from school. Another student was able to relate, saying that when her doting grandfather remarried, she became angry, resentful and disrespectful toward her new grandmother and tried her best to break them up. "Then one day I saw in my grandfather's eyes all the pain that I was causing him, and I couldn't stand it," she said, close to tears. So she began working on her resentment which saved her relationship with her grandfather and made it even stronger. Talking about her past anger (and her underlying selfish self-centeredness) wasn't easy for her, but her message was powerful and helpful to other teens, and even to herself.  We believe that we keep what we have by giving it away. In continuing to share her experience, strength, and hope, this student now believes it too.