Vulnerable Teens 'Sing It Out' in Santa Barbara

A Santa Barbara group’s unique approach to helping vulnerable teens was recently recognized as one of the top youth programs in the country. The program is called AHA! and it teaches middle and high school kids how to cope with their feelings through games, dialogue, and performance.

Wild cheers and applause greet 18-year-old Samantha as she strides onstage in front of a packed auditorium at AHA’s annual Sing It Out performance. AHA stands for attitude, harmony, and achievement. Most of the teen performers have never sung in public before. This show is the crowning moment of their AHA journey.

Before the performance, Samantha describes AHA. “It’s such a sense of community that I’ve never felt before,” she says. “They’re people that I can rely on, all of them, even the adults, which is something as a teen I think is hard to find.”

Samantha didn’t want to give her last name. Before finding AHA in the ninth grade, she’d been through some tough times.

“In sixth grade, I began self-harming.” She pauses. “There wasn’t really a concrete reason, a lot of it had to do with body image. And then I found AHA and I got better.”

But better only lasted for a while.

“I got extremely, extremely depressed,” Samantha explains. “And I had stopped going to AHA, and then one of the facilitators called me, she said ‘why don’t you come back, it’s not good for you to be isolated.’ And I came back, and it’s probably one of the best decisions so far that I’ve made, for sure.”

Jennifer Freed is co-executive director of AHA. She says the strong relationship between teens and their adult mentors makes the program unique.

“The community aspect of this, we’re all in it together, and we’re better together really makes a point in terms of teen brain development and seeing a possible future for themselves,” Freed says.

Freed and fellow psychotherapist and educator Renny Freedman founded AHA in 1999. Motivated by the shootings at Columbine high school, they created a year-round program at a few local public schools to help teens feel connected and safe. The idea was for the students -- and adults -- to learn and grow together, and improve their social and emotional skills. Weekly group counseling sessions are a key part of the program.

At a rehearsal for their annual Sing It Out show, the teens and their mentors sit in a circle to share what they call “thorns and roses”-- their highs and lows of the week.

“My thorn is that I’m kind of behind in some English work,” one of the students says. “But my rose is that I went to the beach last night by myself, and it was just very relaxing.”

AHA’s methods also include games, icebreakers, and trust activities, where the teens and adults play together. And this approach is getting some attention. Earlier this month, a Chicago-based philanthropist tapped AHA to help establish a national curriculum for social and emotional learning.

“It’s a whole set of skills that allows somebody to become a really good relationship person which is now proven to be the skill set needed in all facets of life,” Freed explains.

Skills like managing moods, self-awareness, self-motivation, empathy, and compassion--skills Joseph Ortiz was lacking when he first started the program.

I had a bad attitude to everything,” Ortiz says. “I just had a lot of anger and no outlet, ‘cause guys are supposed to be super tough and everything and can’t talk about your emotions. I just needed somebody to talk with.”

Ortiz opens up about being bullied in grade school.

“And I guess that’s where the anger first started because I felt I was being hated on, bullied, called names for everything for no reason, and what I call six years of probably the rough times of my life,” Ortiz says. “I just wanted to stay home and cry at times.”

Today, he’s a happy, enthusiastic college freshman -- and he still attends AHA groups. Next year, he’ll be part of the alumni group. He says he’s never performed at any of the Sing It Out shows, but he finally worked up the courage this year.

“I’m a shower singer, never sang in public before, really, so this is a huge step for me.” He smiles “I’m singing Ben E. King’s ‘Stand by Me’.”

At Sing It out, the audience claps and sings along to his performance. Ortiz exits the stage to a standing ovation.