American Samoa Community College

	ASCC-YANA Certifies Largest Group Yet in Crisis Counseling
	October 2, 2006 James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press Officer


	A group of concerned faculty, staff and students at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) formed the You Are Not Alone (YANA) Coalition in 2003, after an unprecedented wave of teen suicides in the Territory saw more then half a dozen young people, some of them ASCC students, take their own lives. Based on the simple idea that young men and women going through difficult emotional challenges should have someone to turn to, the YANA Coalition has spent the subsequent years educating ASCC students and community members in the basic principles of crisis intervention.
This past Saturday, a group of 34 students from ASCC organizations such as the Student Government Association, the Peer Mentors, and the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, as well as an additional four from Catholic Social Services and Leone High School, completed their training in the best known methods for counseling individuals struggling with crises such as teen pregnancy, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS or thoughts of suicide. While YANA has taught these skills on previous occasions, this latest group represents the largest number of students the organization has ever trained in one session. The training took place over two weekends, with the first session focused solely on communication skills. Led by newly appointed YANA chairman Mark Mageo, Rosevonne Pato of the Health & Human Services Division and counselor Annie Panama, the sessions employed a combination of lectures and group activities to demonstrate the best approaches to establishing effective communication with individuals going through a crisis. Topics covered during the second weekend included Problem Solving/Decision Making, Crisis Intervention, Group Issues and Networking and Resources. The 34 students will receive their certificates of completion for the YANA training during a school assembly on October 19 th, which will mark the third anniversary of the establishment of YANA at ASCC. In his role as the new chairman, Mageo explained that his goals for YANA include looking into grants that can help YANA financially. “With the right resources, we could provide more training for students as well as government agencies. We’d like to expand our budget to purchase training materials for and other necessary equipment. This would enable more outreach efforts such as brochures on our services and advertisements for our crisis line. Up to this point, we’ve relied primarily on fundraising to keep YANA going. ” Despite limited funds, YANA has managed to keep its crisis line active, and young people who would like to talk about their problems with someone interested in helping can call 252-9262 ( YANA), or send an e-mail to yana@amsamoa.edu. <<< Back to Other News & Events