NH OUTLOOK, Tuesday, 7/15/2003

NH OUTLOOK, Tuesday, 7/15/2003

Hello	Tomorrow
Intro Teen Risk	Goodnight
Teen Risk	founders
Intro Portsmouth	Tonight 10:00
Portsmouth	key: Health / Healthcare
Portsmouth 2	key: Youth
Web Pointer	WEB PROMO

Hello
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Hello. I'm Allison McNair. Welcome to NH Outlook.

Intro Teen Risk
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Risks are a part of everyday life. However, the pressures and insecurities that teens deal with can sometimes make them more vulnerable. Eating disorders, substance abuse and low self-esteem are some of health issues that challenge many young adults. This week, in our continuing series, The Teen Survival Guide, producer Phil Vaughn introduces us to a young Manchester women who encountered some of these demons and then dealt with them.

Teen Risk
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Shot of Danielle and friends playing mini-golf.
Narr 1 - Danielle LaRouche is a high school senior. She's not a great golfer, but that doesn't matter. Just being here and having fun, for Danielle, is a victory.
Danielle 1-2026 "When I was in 7th grade I started to go into my depression."
Danielle 1-2334 "I was very depressed and I didn't know why I was crying all the time. I used to cut and that was a way to relieve the pain and it was something that I got addicted to - it was horrible."
Narr 2 - Cutting refers to self-injury - lacerating the skin. For Danielle it was a desperate way to relieve her anger, fear and sadness.
Danielle 1- 2205 "I had very low self esteem, body image is a big thing with me I didn't regard myself as a worthful human being and it was very sad."
Shots and sound of mini-golf
Narr 3 - In part, those feelings led Danielle to drug use and for a while she suffered alone.
Danielle 1-2238 Phil "Do you remember looking for help? Not really, I wrote a lot in my journal, I really didn't want anyone to know because I didn't want them to know I was different in anyway -- that would have been even worse."
Narr 4 - By ninth grade, Danielle started seeing a doctor. It was also when she discovered community outreach.
Danielle 1-2110 "I started at the YWCA with the PACT program which is peer action changing tomorrow and it really inspired me to get involved in the community."
Narr 5 - Besides the peer program at the YWCA, Danielle found help at the Teen Institute in Concord. Here, teens talk and listen to each other. They hope to reduce risks in their lives. Tym Rourke is the program director.
Tym 1-415 "We really learned about it from the young people who came to us and said this is what's going on with me, this is what I'm struggling with, this is what I need to know about to be a healthy person."
Danielle 1-2530 "Basically they pick you up from the world you live in and put you in this utopia where everything is ok just to be yourself. And after a week you go back into your community because that's not the way it always is. It really motivates you."
O/C "And that's part of the change that's happening in NH. Some programs are shifting away from treating specific problems to that of a more holistic and community-based approach."
Tym 1-2:30 "Nothing happens in a vacuum, you can't talk about substance abuse without talking about self-esteem, dating violence, choices around sexual activity. So we try to educate teens around all the factors that influence their decisions as to whether to use substances."
Ben 1-18:50 "Youth don't grow up in programs or services, youth grow up in communities."
Narr 6 - Ben Wood works with NH's Office of Community and Public Health. He and the University of NH's Christine Bayber have been studying ways to reduce teen risk.
Ben 1-17:10 "Certainly looking at risk is important. We need to look at those risky behaviors. We need to do what we can to make sure that the bad outcomes that result from these risky behaviors are decreased. But, there's been a lot of people who have talked about how to address it differently and take a more positive approach, to change the outcomes that we're looking at, move more from outcomes to inputs."
Danielle 1-2425 "When I got to high school there were options like PACT and I realized wow you can volunteer in the community there are so many things you can do. Maybe I don't like the way the world looks right now but this is giving me tools and showing me how I can go out and fix things."
Tym 1-917 "The fact that she has found her voice and I don't mean the words but that she knows who she is that she's not afraid to use her own experience in the past, good or bad to influence others."
Narr 7 - Part of that influence for Danielle happens on stage. This is the Manchester Youth Theater a program of Child Health Services. Issues like drug use, sexual behavior and relationships are acted out.
Danielle 1-2832 "We can usually entice our crowds into discussion. Maybe they are not seeing it right now in their middle school but they may face it in high school when the time comes for them and hopefully we can brief them that not everyone is doing drugs and its ok to be you."
Tym 1-1345 "I'm a firm believer that if there's ever going to be change in the adolescent community around anything whether it's substance abuse or rates of teen pregnancy a critical component of that change has to come from within the community. So young people play a vital role."
Danielle 2-3600 Phil "How do you see yourself now? 'I try to be insightful and positive. Of course I still get sad and cry sometimes but I feel that I've seen what teens can do and what the future holds and I hope I can make a difference. I know I am and that so many other people around are as well if we take that initial step. I know we can do it and our future looks bright."
Narr 8 - For NH Outlook, I'm Phil Vaughn.

Intro Portsmouth
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To get a better sense of what young people in the seacoast are saying about taking risks and how they can impact their own well-being we spent some time listening.
In this program, we take you to the New Heights Adventure Program for teens in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth
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So I'm going to start by asking if I say to you what does it mean to be healthy or to take care of yourself - Micheala - what would that mean to you?
11:30:20 - Micheala
Eating good food and exercising and keeping in shape.
11:30:30
And is that something that you do?
11:30:33 - Micheala
Yeah
11:30:34
How about your friends?
11:30:36 - Michaela
I guess.
11:30:39
What about you, Tyler? What does it mean to you to take care of yourself?
11:30:41 - Tyler
Pretty much the same exact thing Michaela just said. And, yeah, that's it.
11:30:38
Anyone else have any other thoughts on that at all? What about, as far as, mental health - if I say that you, as far as making sure you're happy and you're doing ok and you're with your friends - do you guys try to take care of yourselves and make sure you're doing alright? Ashlyn - what about you?
11:31:08 - Ashlyn
Yeah for the most part - I mean - I don't really know what mental health, like - being happy I guess, I don't know
11:31:19
Yeah, yeah - I'm just wondering if you notice, like, kids your age or lets say your girlfriends and stuff - does everyone seem pretty content? Do some kids some to go through times when they're not doing as well? What do you find you know if you think about people's moods and that kind of thing?
11:31:32 - Ashlyn
Yeah I guess people are mostly happy mort of the time - there's like relationships and stuff that sometimes make people sad, but nothing big.
11:56:53 Tyler
Most of the time I eat fruit and apple juice. But sometimes I eat junk food.
Yeah, I think we all do. What's your favorite junk food?
Chips.
Yeah, me too.
And soda.
How about anyone else here? Michaela what about you? Do you eat junk food?
11:57:07 Michaela
Yeah.
Do you eat a lot of junk food?
Um, ugh.
Its ok, you don' t have to tell me
Kind of?
Who here says I really, who here has three meals a day here and eats healthy? Im very impressed. And here is our true confessions person Ashlyn. Come on Ashlyn, fess up.
11:57:34 Ashlyn
I eat a lot of junk food.
Do you, and do you ever wonder what that might do to you?
A Lot. I worry about that a lot. But there is just some times that I can't help it. And it's the easiest food because its just lying there.
Its quick, right. Yeah its quick, its easy. Um, but do you ever think that this might later in life?
Yeah, definitely.
Im going to ask two more quick things, One, for the girls here more than the guy. Do you see some of your friends already having eating disorders? Or they won't eat, or they will eat and get themselves sick. Have you seen this already?
11:58:17-Nicholle
I have. My friends sister she thinks she's fat, and I can't see that. And after she makes herself get sick. Its disgusting
Do you think any of her parents know, any adults?
No, her parents don't know. She keeps it a secret. The only person that knows is me and her sister.
That's tough, that's a tough situation. So sees herself as big and she's not. Is she making herself get sick all the time?
After every meal she has.
And how old is she?
She's in high school. I don't really know her age. But.
Ok. Anyone else, does anyone else know girls who have eating disorders like eating too much or.
11:59:25-Kristina
I have friends who tried it.
Tried…?
Tried being like bulimic or anorexic. But they figured out how it would effect their older life so they stopped.
How did they learn that? How did they learn that Kristina?
I don't really know.
Michaela, how about where you go to school? I mean do you have girls doing this already?
12:00:30 Michaela
No, I don't know anyone who does that.
Tyler, what about., do you hear about that at all? What about guys who want to look really rugged and that kind of stuff. Do you hear about guys who are taking supplements or steroids?
12:00:48-Tyler
No
Q12:07:23: What kinds of things is your school doing to make food healthier?
12:07:25 They took our candy bars out of our snack machines, and our soda, and they bumped some of our chips back.
Q.How do you feels about that?
Kinda mad. Hahahaha
Q12:07:40 So what did they take out now?
12:07:42 Our soda and put water in em. And our candy bars.
Q.And what was the reasons you were given?
Why they took them?
Q.Yea.
Because the obesity levels are getting high, and I can understand that, but for the people who aren't obese, I mean…I want a candy bar.
Q12:08:06 Do you have any friends who take over the counter diet pills?
12:08:07 Yes.
Q. So what are they taking?
I dunno, They won't take anything healthy because they think they are too fat or something. Or they're …not happy with what they look like.
Q.12:08:27 So they're buying the stuff at the drug store?
Yeah, or sort of a health food store that I don't think is healthy.
Q. So it says it's a health food store, so you think maybe what they're buying isn't good for them.
12:08:41 Maybe the side effects aren't healthy.
Q. Ashley, you nodded your head…
12:08:49 Yeah, my friends mom took some diet pills and she lost like 30 pounds, so my friend like brought them in for other people, but I didn't take any because my Dad's like "don't take pills from other people." And but so my friend just gave them to some other people who wanted to try them because her mom lost like 30 pounds.
Q12:09:05 Now why did you tell your dad, some people wouldn't tell their parents that?
12:09:10 I dunno, because I trusted that he would tell me if he thought they would work or not, and he's really into excersing and stuff and working out and he's like "no, you just need to eat good and you don't need diet pills."
Ok, I'm going to show you guys this picture that I have in a magazine. This is seventeen magazine. Ok. 'Im going to show the camera first the picture that I'm going to ask you about it's a model. And I just want you to each take a look about it and tell me what you think about it. I'm going to start at your end Nicholle. What do you think when you see this?
12:01:17 Nicholle
Anorexia.
You do?
Yeah
Why do you think that they put her in there in an ad to make you want to buy those clothes?
I guess because its in style. And they want money for it.
Would that work for you?
No, that wouldn't make me happier and that's just showing that those are the people who like those clothes. And it's a trend setter. I like to dress how I like to feel and I don't really care what anyone think about me really.
Ashlyn, what do you think of that, we're just gonna pass it around here, what do you think of that picture?
12:02:02 Ashlyn
Um, if I, I don't know, when I look at clothes in a magazine I look at how they look on that person so personally I'd be like wow, looks good on her, maybe it'd look good on…you know what I mean? And I think it would look good on someone who's that same shape, I g-that's just how I think, I mean…
When you look at her, do you think she looks thin?
Yeah, definitely.
Do you think that's, do you look at that and say, boy, I'd love to look like that, or do you say that's little much, what do you say? What do you think?
I think she's OK. She's not too skinny, she's not really too fat, but I wouldn't want to look, I mean, wouldn't want to look like her necessarily but…
Yeah, but you don't say, boy, that's a woman who looks to thin, or that's a girl that's too thin, you say, she looks OK.
Yeah.
And Christina, we'll send it up to you and then Michaela.
12:02:52 Christina
Everything that, like, they said. She's just, they put it, like, they're using her just to put clothes to style, cause it probably looks good on her but when somebody buys it they said oh, it looks bad on me and then they want to send it back. So they're just styling it so they can try to get money.
Do, do you feel that sometimes giving you as girls a message that you need to look like that? I mean, we see a lot of those kinds of pictures. Does anyone feel that…yeah?
12:03:21 Nicholle
Sometimes, but not most of the time.
OK. Michaela, what about you?
12:03:30 Michaela
I think, she looks freakishly skinny.
You think so?
It looks really weird on her, cause it looks like it doesn't really fit her and it's actually kind of gross.
Now see I think, don't you guys think that's interesting that you can, two of you can see it so differently? I always find that interesting and now to put the man on the spot who's with us. Tyler, what do you think, is that a pretty girl, is that, what do you think?
12:04:03 Tyler
They're probably just using her, to like, show off their clothes?
But if you saw, if you saw, her if you saw that girl, say she was a little bit younger, but if you saw that girl in high school, or jr. high, would you say that's a nice-looking girl?
Yeah.
You would? Now that's an interesting. So looking at that picture you say, that, that's a pretty girl?
Yes.

Portsmouth 2
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If you were at home instead of here, what do you think you'd be up to?
11:36:52 - Tyler
Um, video games.
11:36:57
I'd say most kids your age like video games, right. Do you play a lot?
11:37:01 - Tyler
Yes.
11:37:02
What - do you have any guesstimate of how many hours a day you might be playing your video games?
11:37:09 - Tyler
Maybe 5 or 6.
11:37:11
That much? Wow. And you have an older brother. Does he play video games too? Do you guys play together?
11:37:17 - Tyler
Yeah, he plays them with me, yes.
Anybody else? Are any of you ladies into video games at all? Nicholle what do you like about video games?
11:37:43 - Nicholle
They keep you busy.
11:37:46
They do. So, do you have a favorite?
11:37:28 - Nicholle
Spiro.
11:37:49
Spiro….and how many hours a day would you say you play video games?
11:37:53 - Nicholle
5…….
11:37:55
Really? Every single day?
11:37:56 - Nicholle
No.
11:37:58
Ok, but some days.
11:37:59 - Nicholle
Like once a week or something.
. Um, I'm gonna ask you guys, we talked about dating a little bit and Ashlyn let me start with you cause you're in high school, you've been through junior high, obviously, you're going into the tenth grade, are kids sexually active, say, in junior high or in high school?
11:39:39 - Ashlyn
Junior high, not so much, but definitely when you hit freshman year there's a lot more of it going around - a lot more than I expected when I went to high school. I didn't expect that many people to be sexually active when I went to my freshman year.
11:39:55
Um, do people talk about it a lot, or do you just kind of hear about it?….
11:39:58 - Ashlyn
Its, I don't. It's a little of both I guess. Its talked about a lot but at the same time people just bring it up. And a lot of its rumors so you don't really know what to believe. But you can tell what people its going to happen to before it does.
11:40:11
Oh really? Well how do you know?
11:40:14- Ashlyn
By the way people act. By the summer of 9th grade you see how people really are and you just know who the first ones are to have the rumors started about them.
11:40:27
Do you think people are careful? Do you guys get an education as far as what to do, how to protect yourself from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and things?
11:40:39-Ashlyn
Yeah, we;re definitely educated about it but I don't know that people necessarily take care of themselves. Like people are taught about it but people don't necessarily use what they are taught.
11:40:47
Why do you think that is?
11:40:49-Ashlyn
You just, I don't know. I guess, you don't think about it when you doing what your doing your obviously not thinking about it your just doing it.
11:40:58
Is it true someone was telling me that they are looking to keeping you guys on campus and not letting you leave during the day. What's that about.?
11:41:09-Ashlyn
I don't really know exactly, but a lot of people we have people that come to our school and just decide were wicked spread out at lunchtime and stuff, like two people are sitting all over the school and the people who came didn't really like that because….
Can you leave campus?
Not at my age.
Ok, when your older?
Yeah, when you're a junior you can have junior privelages.
Are they thinking of taking that away?
Yeah.
And is that because kids left and did like drugs and alcohol, or are they worried about that?
I think they are more worried about that. It hasn't happened a lot, im sure its happened but not that much.
11:41:42
What about the rest of you, I don't want to put you on the spot but Christina you going into the 9th grade so you are the eldest of the others here as far as junior high goes, are there kids who are already sexually active in junior high?
11:41:58 Christina
Well there is not many in the junior high but I heard that people have done that.
You've heard that.
Well yeah, ive heard rumors going around the school that people are sexual, sexually active but I don't believe them that much because people say that they are and then there are rumors that they aren't you don't know what to believe.
11:38:44
Behaviors and sex and stuff. Um, do they worry about becoming pregnant about getting aids and that kind of stuff?
11:48:46-Ashlyn
Not as much as they should., I don't think. I don't think they worry about pregnancy. Not too many people get pregnant, like 2 out of our whole high school. And people just, like I'm sure they use protection against their risky business and stuff. But I don't know, you hear rumors about people like "oh I think 'im pregnant" and stuff but you know people are just saying it for attention and you know that they don't, you know that there is no possible way that they could be pregnant in their freshman year.
Now do you think sometimes, this is an adult I'm asking you, do you think that sometimes when you guys are young that you will probably go on forever, that maybe you won't think about those risks. People will say that as a teen you feel invincible. Do you think that goes on a little bit?
11:49:36-Ashlyn
Yeah, a little bit.
Kristina you said before that you have heard rumors that once kids hit 9th grade that they become sexually active. Is that something that your worried about. Or something you have in mind as you go into high school. Is that a little scary?
11:49:56-Kristina
Well, I've never met all the kids, I don't know how they are. But I'm not really that scared because I know that I'm not going to become sexually active. Cause my mom like talks about it to me.
So you have a good relationship with your mom about this stuff?
Yeah.
Your lucky, and is that important to you or is that uncomfortable for you?
It doesn't really matter as long as I've learned it from my mom. Because I can't really talk to anyone else. Like my friends
Is she your best person to talk to?
Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I go to my grandmother but…
Oh yeah, that's great. Im sure that makes your grandmother feel good too. That's nice. What about the rest of you. Your all younger than Ashlyn and Kristina, is this something your worrying about yet, or somting that your even thinking about? How about you Tyler, do people even, have you guys even learned about aids and sexually…
11:50:52-Tyler
Yes
What grade were you in?
6th.
6th. Is it something that you kind of learn in the classroom and everyone just forgets?
Yes. But some kids remember it and some kids are just like who cares, and just don't remember it.
What about you Nicolle, is that something that kids are thinking about, are kids thinking about becoming sexually active?
11:51:20-Nicolle
Sort of, I have a few friends, or a few people that i know that are talking about it, but.
They are talking about it as far as maybe they are going to do it, or they are being careful or not?
Yeah. Mostly
Do you all feel that if you have questions in that area, Kristina I know that you said that you can talk to you r mom, do you all feel that you have someone that you can go to to ask, whether it be an older brother or sister, someone at church or school or whatever, a cinagog, Do you feel that there is someone that you can go talk to to ask questions. Who here has someone they can ask? You do, who would that be?
11:52:04-Michaela
My parents and certain friends I can go to to talk about it. Or just close friends moms, my friends moms I can go to them and talk about it. But mostly I can just go to my mom.
How about any one else? Is there anyone who you can go to and say, do you have anyone who you can just say just about anything to?
11:52:22-Tyler
My brother.
How old is your brother?
18
So do you feel that if you had any questions or you were worried about something that he could come and help you out?
Yeah.
Does he let you know that he's there for you?
Yeah
That's nice. Michaela what about you?
11:52:40-Michaela
My mom. Yeah.
That's good and Ashey you are in high school, if you had any questions or problems would it be someone in school you would go to, whether the school nurse, or would it be mom or dada and. Do people know that there is someone they can go to if they had a problem?
11:52:57-Ashley
Yeah, I think everyone has someone. I have a lot of friends, friends moms that I can talk to. I don't live with my mom, I just live with my dad. So I just talk to my friends moms and my aunt and that kind of people.
Is there anyone at school that you could talk to if you felt you needed to?
Yeah, there is a couple people I think I could talk to.
Now lets see, lets talk about folks. And how important it is to you. Kristina said yeah I can talk to my mom and my grandmother, and I know your folks are going to see this so it's a little tough to answer this, but how important is it to have a good relationship with your mom and dad? Nicolle?
11:53:44 Nicolle
I think it's a, you should have a really good relationship with your parents because if you didn't you would probably be more lost than if you had them. Like some of my friends don't have moms and they look up to my mom sometimes as their mom and go to them and talk to them. And I think im lucky that I have a person I can talk to and stuff

Web Pointer
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You've heard what some Seacoast teenagers have to say, now it's your turn.
We want to hear what you think about some of the issues we've explored.
Go to nhptv.org and connect with us and others about the issues discussed in this broadcast. You'll also connect to some of the resources we're used for this series.
And let us know if we may use any of your comments in our Friday Edition focused on the teenage years.

Tomorrow
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On the next New Hampshire Outlook -
Part three of our Teen Survival Guide Series: Media Influence.

Goodnight
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We'll see you then.
Thanks for watching.

founders
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Thanks to our founding sponsors who have provided major funding for the production of New Hampshire Outlook:
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Public Service of New Hampshire
Stratford Foundation

Tonight 10:00
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Tonight on New Hampshire Outlook.
Part three of our Teen Survival Guide Series: The Medias Influence
Join us tonight at 10:00 only on New Hampshire Outlook.

key: Health / Healthcare
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NEW HAMPSHIRE OUTLOOK Air Date/Time: 7/15/03 22:00
HOST: Allison McNair Length: 26:46 minutes
In this edition of New Hampshire Outlook, NHPTV's nightly news magazine, the first in our week long series Teen Survival Guide. What do you know about the world of today's teenagers? Are their challenges and pressures any different from your youth? What choices are they making and why? We don't have all the answers. But what we're about to show you may help you better understand the teenagers in your life. Tonight's Guide begins with risks. Risks are a part of everyday life. However, the pressures and insecurities that teens deal with can sometimes make them more vulnerable. Eating disorders, substance abuse and low self-esteem are some of health issues that challenge many young adults. This week, in our continuing series, The Teen Survival Guide, producer Phil Vaughn introduces us to a young Manchester women who encountered some of these demons and then dealt with them. To get a better sense of what young people in the seacoast are saying about taking risks and how they can impact their own well-being we spent some time listening. In this program, we take you to the New Heights Adventure Program for teens in Portsmouth.
PRODUCER/REPORTER: Phil Vaughn, Allison McNair NAME OF PARTICIPANTS: Danielle Laroche\Teen Advocate, Tym Rourke\NH Teen Institute, Ben Wood\Community and Public Health, Michaela Gerome\Grade 8, Tyler Estes\Grade 6, Ashlyn Cook\Grade 10, Nicolle Hale\Grade 8, Kristina Conners\Grade 9

key: Youth
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WEB PROMO
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Tonight on New Hampshire Outlook.
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