Mike's Success

Mike’s parents were very young when he was born and into illegal drugs. They both wound up in prison and haven’t really been in his life since he was born, but luckily for him his Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Bill were willing to become his legal guardians. Bill and Jenny own several barber shops in the community where they live. Jenny has been a rock for Mike, providing him with unconditional love, no matter how much he pushed the limits she and Bill tried to enforce.

Mike is 17 years old now, but he joined a neighborhood gang when he was only ten. He was constantly in trouble, starting fights, smoking marijuana and getting kicked out of school. Mike stayed on probation for committing multiple violent acts in the community and at school. At times when Jenny didn’t know where to turn to help Mike get straightened out, juvenile probation sent him to a series of residential treatment centers. He was in and out of centers that tried to treat his diagnoses of oppositional defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with little success. Nothing seemed to work in those days as Mike became more violent and angry every year. Mike didn’t seem to care how much he hurt his grandparents by his out of control behavior, but his Grandma Jenny never gave up on him.

Mike’s lucky day came when he and his family were referred to the Choices in February 2009. He was living at a treatment center in Terre Haute – almost a 2 hour drive from his grandparents’ home in Indianapolis. His new Choices care coordinator Linda made sure that Mike’s grandma could visit him at the center at least every other week to participate in his treatment there. After the referral to Choices, Mike told Linda and a therapist at the center that he wanted to turn his life around and was willing to change his ways to do it. The fighting with other residents stopped, and plans for Mike’s return home began slowly. Linda gave Jenny a choice in the assistance she wanted to help her keep Mike out of trouble. Mike had been doing very well in GED classes at the center, so Jenny chose a parent mentor to help her get Mike signed up for accelerated GED classes at Ivy Tech. Jenny also needed a little help in navigating the mental health center system to get Mike signed up for a therapist when he got home.

When Mike told Linda “I’m done, I want to go home, I want a new life”, she believed him and helped him get there. Today he is enrolled in GED prep classes and close to passing the test, which will qualify him to attend school to become a barber and join the family business, his long time dream. Mike has great support from the mental health center and an awesome social work mentor from BoysIIMen who will both stay with him when Choices closes. Mike has been home for more than 2 months now, and has made everyone proud – he is a respectful, caring young man who made the decision to turn his life around and with the help of a few very supportive adults and some great new friends, he has done just that. His case will close soon, but Linda and Jenny know that Mike’s future is bright.