Supporting teens in difficult times

Skylight, a not-for-profit organisation focused on helping kids and teens, has launched an innovative new single edition youth support magazine, ‘The Journey Through’, which honestly and frankly tackles the very difficult issues teens and young people face. It’s been written specifically for young people in New Zealand, and features many stories, words and photos, kiwi teens have contributed.

The media release says: Life can be really tough. The issues teenagers face are diverse and include changing schools, moving to a new city or country, losing your friends, bullying, parents breaking up, living in a blended family or absent parents, peer pressure, terminal illness or death of someone close to them, mental health issue, disability and too often trauma, abuse or violence.

Jean Vanier

I sense that a new spirituality is being born in the church today, flowing from the wounded hearts of the weak and broken who are crying out for friendship. This friendship is also a source of healing for those who answer their cry.- Jean Vanier
from Spiritual Journeys: An Anthology of Writings by People Living and Working With Those on the Margins

The book's blurb says:
Today's world is characterised by the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, between the so-called able and those with disabilities. The streets of our big cities are populated by growing numbers of homeless, broken people. Spiritual Journeys is about bridging the ever-widening gap between the 'capable' and 'admirable' person and the broken, weak person in each one of us. It is about being healed by the poor and lonely. Edited by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, founder of Focus Point Ireland, Spiritual Journeys includes essays from Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche Faith and Light communities for people with mental handicaps; Dr Sheila Cassidy who works with the dying as a palliative care physician; Fr Peter McVerry SJ, well-known in Dublin for his work with homeless young people; Edwina Gately, a Catholic lay woman who works with prostitutes.