Scott Summers

[x-psylocke.livejournal.com]

When I tell you to take a nap, you bloody well do it! Don't force me to take extreme measures and no, I don't mean a tranquilizer gun.

Houston, we have a problem.

[x-madelyn.livejournal.com]

All right, saying we have a problem is probably a bit on the obvious side, but it's nearly 2 in the morning and I reserve the right to be obvious.

The problem, fellow faculty, is this: we've lost touch with the kids.

Twice in the past week I've had separate kids tell me that the reason they don't ask for help is that they feel that other people are more important, or that we're too busy and they don't want to add to it. In the past couple of months, we've had one kid nearly blow himself up because he didn't trust us to help with his problem, another have a relapse into an addiction that nearly resulted in another student being killed, despite copious warning signs. Another who managed to hide the fact she still has some kind of connection to a demon dimension (and no, the number of times I type that doesn't change how ridiculous it sounds to me...) and nearly was eviscerated because of it. And today we nearly lost another because he decided he was the only one who was capable of stopping the shooting today. By putting himself in the firing line.

We're losing them here, people, and if we don't do something to address it, the next time could be the time our luck runs out. It's something that's going to take more than a couple of outings to an amusement park to fix. We need to start establishing relationships with these kids, talk to them, find out what's bothering them, whether they approach us first or not, because we sure as hell have seen how effective that is. Seriously, something has to change, or otherwise we're looking at the telepaths doing probes on the kids' heads every minute, and that's just ridiculous.

Down in the medlab, we've got a mentoring system with the helpers. We each have one of them assigned to us, based on interests and personalities, and we keep an eye on them, teach them, and just sometimes talk about nothing in particular. I know Nathan has a similar thing going on with his tribe of misfits - Angelo and Amanda have been in far less trouble and more inclined to ask for help because of it.

I don't know if it's feasible, extending this sort of thing to include the student body and faculty as a whole, or even if it's a good idea, which is why I'm tossing it up here. Sending the idea up the flagpole and see who salutes, I suppose. And it wouldn't be compulsory, either for student or teacher, since it doesn't work if forced. And it's not a matter of being a counsellor or anything similar - it's just a matter of touching base with the kids, showing them we're available to talk to, about anything. Anything serious, steer them straight to Leonard - it's what I ended up doing tonight with one of mine, after all.

So, is this crazy 2am talk, or do I have even a vague grasp on something here? I do know we have to do something. The next kid I have to give CPR to may not be as lucky as Doug.