Phil Edwards is excited. He had a big win with a student last week, and he can’t wait to share the news.
A teen he mentors got into a heated argument in the lunchroom recently. The freshman pushed another student’s buttons so much that she threw her water at him.
Edwards, 58, was there and quickly jumped in. The boy, with water dripping down his jacket, made a move toward the girl, but then changed his mind and walked away.
When Edwards debriefed with the teen the following week, the student told him why he turned around.
“It wasn’t worth it,” the teen told Edwards.
The interaction is an example of the help Shepherd Community Center hopes to bring in a new partnership with Arsenal Tech High School.
Edwards, who is the chief engagement officer for Shepherd Community Center, knew he wanted to do something to help as he watched reports of youth violence escalating in his near eastside neighborhood during the pandemic. Now, he’s one of six Shepherd counselors placed in a newly created Reset room at Arsenal Tech to give kids a safe place to seek advice and talk about what’s bothering them.
With its pale green tones, gentle music and comfy seats, students can take a break during the school day and cool down from stressful situations.
For Arsenal Tech academic specialist Candace Robinson, the room has become integral in her response to behavior challenges in the classroom. She often refers students who are on the cusp of suspension or expulsion to the Reset team so that they can talk to someone about why they’re missing school or why they’ve been getting into fights.
Some of the teens are dealing with trauma — like the death of a loved one or unstable housing — that even adults struggle to make sense of.
And, the Reset team’s work is proactive, too. Students are encouraged to come in and talk to someone before whatever’s troubling them becomes a larger issue.
“It’s not just about coming in and hearing their problems,” Edwards said. “We want to see solutions.”
A resource for the east side
Edwards is an eastsider. He’s lived in the area for 17 years and considers Arsenal Tech his neighborhood school.
So, when youth violence ticked up in his neighborhood during the coronavirus pandemic, he felt compelled to do something about it.
“I would like to serve,” he said. “I would like to volunteer and just be in a space where I could help kids process what they’re going through.”
He started with a call to Purdue Polytechnic High School on East Washington Street and asked how he could help serve kids in his neighborhood. That simple question blossomed into the creation of a mental health room, recently rebranded as the Reset room. The idea expanded to Arsenal Tech this year.
The school opened its first room in a classroom building, then added a second across the hall from the Dean’s Office, where important conversations about classroom behavior and attendance often take place.
Arsenal Tech’s team says they want students to use it as a space to cool down, take a beat and talk to someone whose only job is to listen.
“I have tremendous teachers here,” Principal JR Shelt said. “But, there are things that teachers just simply can’t do. There’s a trust that sometimes our kids will not give to a teacher, but they’ll give to someone who’s just here to talk to them about life.”
A place for teens to feel understood
Shepherd is a faith-based community center. Edwards said counselors don’t lead with their faith but if students ask about it, they’ll discuss their Christianity with them. There’s also a Bible study after school.
The program pairs well with existing resources at the school, administrators say. After-school groups like Young Life allow students to hang out in a more casual environment.
But, the Reset room is there when teens need it during the day.
Between the six counselors, the Reset room is open five days for individual appointments and group sessions. Counselors are each assigned a caseload of students. Teens can spend 15 minutes in the room to check in or can meet with an advisor for a couple of hours.
“A lot of them don’t understand why they feel the way they feel,” Edwards said. “It creates a space for us to not just listen to kids so that we can respond to them, but to listen to them in order to understand what they’re feeling.”
The room is needed, administrators say. One student is staying with a grandparent after her mom had a bad interaction with drugs. Another is living on the streets after an altercation with their guardian. For them, Robinson said, Arsenal Tech is a safe place.
“It’s real-life, adult issues that 16- and 17-year olds do not have the skills to process,” she said.
The counselors can easily connect teens and their families with broader community resources through Shepherd, such as rent assistance, utility payments, health care and food. And the high school has licensed therapists available through a partnership with Aspire Indiana Health. With more than 2,300 students on campus, though, Robinson said it can be hard for administrators to see every student.
Often, counselors in the Reset room have an idea of what the teens are going through.
One counselor turned her sister’s murder into motivation to become a grief counselor, Edwards said. Another’s son was killed years ago at a basketball camp.
Edwards himself grappled with traumatic loss as a child. When he was 11, his father was murdered. He now shares that story with students.
“I really felt a bit hesitant because I thought ‘I’m an old guy’ and ‘why would these young folk listen to me?’” Edwards said. “As time went on, we just developed a really good relationship.”
Helping Haitian students feel at home
Early on in the Shepherd partnership, however, Robinson saw a missing link.
The school — like many especially on Indianapolis’ east side — has seen more and more students from Haiti enrolling as their families seek refuge from violence and political instability in their home country.
The students brought with them an entirely different trauma, Robinson said. Some teens traveled from country to country with family while others came on their own.
“This is a new territory for me — how to help them,” Robinson said. “There’s immigration stuff, there’s all kinds of things going on, and then you have some kids that are here without a guardian.”
Robinson and Edwards came together to add Phelandes Fobert to the counseling team. Fobert is a native of Haiti who was a psychologist in his home country and traveled to the U.S. with his student visa. He’d already spent some time in the nearby school district and knew some of the teens from his church.
Fobert meets with a small group of Haitian students regularly, giving them space to speak their first language and connect with others who understand the journey that brought them to Arsenal Tech.
The advisor talks to students about relationships and what’s troubling them. He also checks in on grades and helps the teens understand graduation requirements and what they’ll need to apply to college.
A teen in the program told Mirror Indy he welcomes the support. The sophomore moved with his family several times before settling in Indianapolis.
He likes soccer and writing, and thinks he might want to do something with those interests in college, but he’s not sure where he wants to go to school yet. He’s been talking with the counselors at the Reset room about it. They’ve reassured him that he’s still got time to figure it out.
“It’s good,” the student said. “Having somebody to talk to about how you’re doing, my grades, how’s it going — I love that.”
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
Supporting youth at Shepherd Community Center
Shepherd Community Center leaders say there are three ways you can help youth on the east side:
- Provide financial resources for continued support of student counseling sessions.
- Donate snacks for students meeting with mental health support specialists in Reset rooms.
- Make a donation to support Arsenal Tech students’ participation in an upcoming summer youth employment program.
To donate snacks or to support counseling services, contact Phil Edwards at phile@shepherdcommunity.org. To support the summer youth employment program, contact Development Officer Jackie Cissell at jackiec@shepherdcommunity.org.
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