Economy
Where Dealing With Trauma Is Part of Job Training
An unusual nonprofit for disadvantaged youth combines real-world work experience with counseling to overcome past pain.
How can you help a young person with a painful history prepare for the working world when you can’t see what stops her from keeping a good job? The answer lies, according to a nonprofit called Hopeworks ‘N Camden, in therapy that teaches the young person to know and change how she deals with past trauma.
A person may show up on time, sustain eye contact, speak crisply, and dress properly, but still lack readiness for the job. Consider Melissa*, a young woman in Camden, New Jersey. According to Hopeworks’ chief Dan Rhoton, Melissa would get jobs and quickly lose them. “Managers would say: ‘She became unhinged; we move her burrito, and she’s cussing at people,’” Rhoton says.