The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation has funded COMPASS to create a psychoeducational group program TALKS (Teaching Adolescents Learning, Knowledge and Skills) that will help 17 at-risk youth each year to achieve lasting, positive mental health and remove obstacles to success in school. The success of this integrated and experiential learning program will be demonstrated by the ability of participants to reduce risk-taking behaviors and improve academic performance.

TALKS will help troubled youth rebuild their collapsed learning structures and achieve their life goals. An inquiry-based, experiential, integrative and student driven psychoeducational program , TALKS will meet one hour a day, four days a week throughout the school year. The program will have two hours a week of group psycho-education, one hour of art therapy, and one hour of wellness activities for credit toward graduation.

TALKS will focus on addressing three key risk areas that COMPASS does not currently have the clinical staff to handle: 1) substance abuse, 2) violence prevention and anger management and 3) sexuality/healthy relationships. The program will also include modules on lifestyles for success, communication skills, mental health issues, decision making and adolescent psychology.

COMPASS is an innovative program that combines the resources of private foundations, federal Workforce Investment Act funds and public school funding to help the community's most vulnerable youth succeed in school, work and life. The program is five years old and has received highest recommendations from the public justice system; public school principals and guidance counselors; Gloucester's independent public education auditor; the Department of Labor; and most importantly, the youth themselves who graduate from high school and move on to goals they would not have achieved with out COMPASS.

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Compass Youth Program of Action, Inc. 978.281.9682