2011 Scholarship Entry #159: Janelle Seutter

Straight from high school and with a sense of adventure I made a life changing decision to move to South America to experience a different culture and way of life. It was there that I experienced first hand the Cycle of Abuse and how difficult it is to break it. I had the opportunity to work with an organization in Bolivia who took youth off the streets to educate and reintegrate them back into society. The saddest thing, was that these youth weren't orphaned or born into life on the streets but rather chose to be there as it was safer to live there than in their own homes. Many had fled their homes due to all the violence they had seen and experienced. This experience for me is what sparked a desire to become a Social Worker; to be able to help youth break the Cycle of Abuse they experienced growing up so that they can hopefully one day raise their own families in a healthier environment.

I am currently working with youth who are in care for being both verbally and physically aggressive. Many of these youth grew up in care due to their parents being unable to care for them or due to their home environments being unsafe. Many of these youth don't know how to express their anger or anxiety in a positive manner as they have only seen or been taught that violence is the answer. I want to be able to help these youth learn more about positive anger management techniques, life and social skills and positive relationship and communication skills. I want to finish off my degree in Social Work so that I can one day work towards helping the coming generations break the Cycle of Abuse and family violence and maybe one day be able to help make my community a better place. I feel that if more youth were raised in safe, loving homes where there was positive communication between everyone, there could possibly be less family abuse, less people struggling with low self-esteem, less crime and more of the Provincial and Federal budget could be spent on health care and education rather than housing inmates in jails. I want to be able to help make this difference.