Daniel's Story

Empowering Youth

Daniel’s destructive behavior and disregard for the rules lead the ENP staff to give him an Ultimatum. Since he loved to be at the youth centers but refused to change his behavior, the staff convinced him to agree to attend regular meeting with the ENP staff if he wanted to stay at the center. This Ultimatum later resulted in a change of behavior and new positive attitude that greatly affected his future. Daniel was a 16 year old boy living in Kiryat Yam, who was, what most would describe as mischievous and wild to an unhealthy extent. He attended one of the Youth Outreach Centers in his neighborhood, but instead of listening to any of the ENP staff or engaging nicely with other peers he would start fights, run around constantly, break every rule, and even beat up on his own brother. He had also, due to this behavior, left his boarding school, and entered the work force. He would work until 2 pm, and then come to the center. The ENP staff saw that he was not responding to any soft rules or nice words, but since he enjoyed coming to the center they wanted to find a way to help him improve his behavior so that he could coming to the center. They decided to give him an ultimatum, if he was willing to meet with the staff regularly and listen to their rules, then he could keep coming. His behavior, after only a few short weeks of intensive work with the ENP staff improved dramatically, and with their encouragement of how important education was, he decided to go back to school. The wild behavior miraculously changed for the better. Even though school takes up most of his time nowadays he still comes to the center every once in a while, and is welcomed with open arms.