Jay's Story

Jay is a 15 year old with a history of charges relating to robbery, burglary, assault, and vandalism, in the form of tagging, dating back to the age of nine. He admitted to experimenting with various drugs from age 14 and smoked marijuana daily. He lives with his mother and four younger siblings. He has had sporadic contact with his father and his stepfather is incarcerated.

During his six months of placement at Ettie Lee, he struggled with aggression and non compliance. With encouragement from Ettie Lee's staff, Jay began to develop trusting relationships and was able to experience the benefits of the Ettie Lee program. The group home and day program staff, as well as the program therapist consistently worked to help Jay achieve his goal of reunifying with his family, and to develop skills to prevent him from re-offending. He willingly attended school; actively participated in groups at the day program and experienced success home passes until his reunification with his mother.