You don't really need that other shit like drugs and alcohol. For the outside environment you might need it, but when you start coming to YES for a while, your outlook starts to change. Just being a positive place for kids to be is one of the biggest priorities of YES, says Sharren Breen, the program's co-ordinator. You have to have a place that youth can come in and feel comfortable, so you can start a dialogue with them. YES is that place, says Breen.
Kids can come in and hang out.
If they want to talk, they can. If they don't, then they don't. No one criticizes them or tells them what to do. I think that's a really big thing. They're not used to adults that will just sit down and listen to them without any kind of judgment.