By Shari Kaplan
Andrea Galen Woods' earliest memories of wanting to work with children go back to when she was one herself. In sixth grade, she began to assist other kids in the classrooms, and has continued offering a helping hand or listening ear ever since.
The Boulder Creek resident now holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and music and a master's degree in psychology, specializing in marriage, family and child counseling.
Times have changed, she says, from her schooldays to those of today, in which more young people come from broken or dysfunctional homes and a growing number are turning to drugs or alcohol for comfort and coping ability.
Along with a private practice in Santa Cruz, Woods has been active with the Scotts Valley-based Triad Community Services since 1991. Triad's three-pronged goal consists of prevention, intervention and treatment of a wide range of problems and issues affecting all age groups and social classes.
Currently Woods works as an on-campus counselor at Blossom Hill School; Triad contracts with school districts to provide counseling and referral services. Woods is also Triad-on-Campus clinical coordinator for the Los Gatos Union and Lakeside School Districts.
"I have a caseload that ranges from 40 to 50 kids per year. A lot of what I do involves seeing kids individually and/or in groups. My commitment is also to meet with families, because I believe I have to impact and empower the families somehow, or not really much changes."
When she first came to Los Gatos, Woods picked up on a "myth" about the town that it was not really affected by the social ills prevalent elsewhere. "But dysfunction--however it appears--doesn't know any socio-economic boundaries," she adds.
Some problems she sees facing elementary-schoolers include neuroses caused by parents pushing for high achievement, and divorce, death or abuse making children unable to focus.
One method by which Woods reaches out to children is through play therapy with stuffed animals, which often find themselves portraying family members of the given child. Play is a symbolic language in which children speak, Woods says, and provides clues to how they feel and helps them to heal when they express internalized feelings.
Regarding adolescents, Woods is concerned about many factors that cause them to feel they have no voices or power.
"Beyond normal adolescent rebellion, kids are very disheartened about the world they're inheriting," she says, explaining how the world is changing--often for the negative--politically, economically and environmentally.
Peer pressure and curiosity are also problems. If adolescents lack family or other adult role models for guidance and values, they may turn to each other. Rites of passage can focus around becoming sexually active, joining gangs or experimenting with drugs.
Woods considers alcohol and marijuana the "staples" among substances abused. "Methamphetamine is very much a rival to first place, though. Its use is explosive," she says of the drug, which can be either smoked, sniffed or injected. This and many other drugs may be used not only to "fit in" but to numb emotional and psychological pain or create a false sense of happiness or power.
Counseling and referral groups such as Triad and networking and education groups such as CASA--to which Woods will be speaking at its Jan. 11 general meeting--can help parents and children improve communication and understanding. So can simple empathy.
"One thing I think everyone should do who has a young person in their life is be genuinely curious about their life, and what it's like to be a young person today. And hear them out," Woods adds.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.