Oct. 25, 2007 — People talked about the fears and tears of their adolescent years Thursday morning in the conference room of the Hibiscus Beach Hotel on St. Croix, part of a gathering that brought together school nurses and guidance counselors, people from the Women's Coalition, Health Department officials and Human Services counselors.
The walk down memory lane was part of a training workshop: "Building Skills with Adolescents: Talking About Sex and Sexuality," conducted by Cicatelli Associates, a non-profit educational institute based in New York.
Cicatelli instructors Lymaris Albors and Dianne Browne come down to the Virgin Islands several times a year for educational and training seminars relating to youth counseling, family planning and disease prevention.
The goal of Thursday's workshop was to give participants tools to overcome the many barriers to talking with adolescents about sex and sexuality. As is the mode in such seminars, Albors and Browne took turns asking the group questions and writing their answers on flip charts with colored markers, using the audience's input to guide and inform the discussion. Topics of discussion included identifying the barriers to talking to adolescents about sexuality; describing adolescent mental, physical and sexual development; the social culture of adolescents; and methods and forms of birth control.
The exercise in sharing individuals' own teenage fears and hopes served several functions, as the participants themselves listed. It helped put nurses and counselors into the mindset of adolescents by recalling what it was really like. It encouraged empathy and genuine feeling for how teenagers feel, rather than dismissing teen problems as minor or temporary. And it reminded participants of how much more difficult it is to talk about your own sexuality to a stranger than it is to ask the questions.
In the confidential environment of the seminar, people shared their early crushes, the TV shows they liked and the things they used to do. One woman recalled having a crush on Little Joe from the show "Bonanza."
"I would smile thinking back," said another participant. "But a part of me was also cringing. It was not a nice time."
Other stories, while charming and harmless, were perhaps too personal for publication.
"Now we have all the answers, but when we were teens, we were confused and imperfect," one participant said. "As much as anything, this helps us to be aware they have a right to be imperfect and we should be patient and tolerant."
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