Canadian Training Institute
Institut Canadien de Formation

Youth Ambassadors Speak

How has Breaking the Cycle changed your life?

• B.T.C. has changed my mind frame into a more positive mind and a positive way of thinking. Now I am more motivated to accomplish my goals. It gave me a chance to weigh my options and make a lot of important decisions in life about where I want to be and be proud of my accomplishments. B.T.C. has kept me out of trouble and made me feel good about myself knowing I can encourage younger youths to be positive.



• B.T.C. has changed my life a lot. It has made me start thinking differently about life, taught me how to handle situations in different ways, helped me to tell and understand my life story and taught me how to understand other's minds. B.T.C. has showed me my future by being a youth worker and that's something I really enjoy doing. B.T.C. has helped me to help others.



• B.T.C. has changed my life in many ways. The people in the group have changed me because by them sharing their stories with the rest of us, it got me to see a different side of life. I see that everyone in the group homes come from different backgrounds/ problems. It inspires me to help out others who need it or just want someone to talk to.

What were you doing before?

• Before B.T.C., I was involved in all the wrong things. I did what I had to do to support me and my mom's. I was always chillin', and wasn't really thinking about my future. I was all about making money and loved the smile on my mom's face knowing that we can maintain. I made a lot of bad choices and dealt with the consequences.



• Before I came to B.T.C. I was not really doing anything. I tried to get into a school and that didn't work out, then I worked at different restaurants but they were just a short period of time. So I would just chill at home all day and do nothing. Somedays I would go job searching. Then I joined this program, Job Cord. It taught me how to do job searching and life skills. I also learned how to paint. That was just a 5 week program. After that I went back to doing nothing. Finally I got a call from B.T.C. and I started in the middle of June.



• Before this program, I was working at Suzy Shier and smoking a lot of weed. By doing this it cost me my job. I kept coming into work high or just not showing up.

What are you doing now?

• Now I am planning my future day by day and thinking about my goals that I know I can accomplish. My future is important to me and now I have to make the right choices 'cause I'm at an age where they will reflect on my future.



• Right now I go to B.T.C. everyday, which I enjoy. Besides that I take care of my daughter and just try to stay focused.



• Now I keep myself occupied when I am done the group. I walk my dogs, take them to the park.

What do you think about the Media Coverage?  Did they get across the right message?

• I think the media portrays "the hood" as something else because they are looking at it from an outsider's point of view. I think they criticize where we come from and look down on us as individuals thinking there is no future for us. Living in these areas just motivate us to step up and move out of these areas.



• I think the media is just stupid. They come in B.T.C. and record me for like 15 minutes, and show me for 2 minutes, making me sound so bad. Nothing has changed in the city. No one ain't benefiting. No one besides themselves. They need to find out the truth first. I don't think they came across the right way. They came in here and made it sounds like we were saying that the crime is because of the police. The media is making it seem like we have so much shooting this summer. It's been like that every year. They just don't know what to do anymore.



• I think the media is unbelievable. I think they are so extra and go way out of proportion.