Middle Ga Teen Hotline - 912-751-6666.-24hrs/day

This was in Friday's Macon Telegraph...11-6-98. Until we're able to launch a support program for lgbt-related issues directed toward teens, PLEASE consider this a vital step in the right direction. I just called to ask what measures are included for teen gays and discovered the number is straight into Susan Joanis' office. I left a message and am waiting for her call. In the meantime-- PLEASE POST THIS EVERYWHERE IN MIDDLE GEORGIA.
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Hot line opens to help area teens
By Matthew I. Pinzur
The Macon Telegraph

A Macon teen-ager slept at a bus stop Tuesday night.
She is 18 years old, addicted to crack and raising her
2-year-old son. She finally went for help Wednesday
when she couldn't find a way to get to her mother's
house to pick the boy up.

The Bibb County Teen Parent
Center introduced a 24-hour
teen-crisis hot line this week,
designed to help an age group
that often waits to get help
until problems reach a
flashpoint. When the young
mother became one of the hot line's first callers, Susan
O. Joanis went to work.

Joanis, a family independence and social services
supervisor for the Department of Family and Children
Services, called a DFACS caseworker to help the young
mother get her baby. The caseworker also will introduce
her to programs that can get her off drugs and into a
healthier environment.

It's too soon to know if this woman and her baby will be
saved, but Joanis said her chances are much better now
than they were last week.

"We are seeing a lot of teens who were homeless, who
did not have very much family support," said Joanis, who
oversaw the hot line's creation. "They didn't know where
to go."

The hot line is primarily a referral service, directing
troubled teens to programs and services they need. It
handles problems and questions about issues such as
date rape, jobs, parenting, recreational activities, drug
and alcohol abuse, college and career planning, illness
and suicide.

Joanis said the process is confidential, unless the caller
is in serious danger. That confidentiality, one high school
counselor said, is vital to the program's success.

"They can ask a question, not be made to feel stupid for
asking, not be kicked out of the house, not get sent to
detention," said Margaret Jackson, a counselor at
Southeast High School.

In many cases, Jackson said, teens will use the hot line
as a safe way to answer questions they can't ask of
friends or family.

"When you were 14 or 15 and worried you might have
gotten your girlfriend pregnant, would you have gone
and asked your mama?" Jackson asked. "And they can't
ask their peers, because they don't want to lose their
macho images."

Because it has not yet been publicized, the hot line only
received a smattering of calls this week. Some are
simple, such as the 13-year-old boy looking for
after-school programs.

Others are complicated.

"A lot of teens don't talk to their parents," Joanis said.
"This would be a way that they could get really good
information."

Macon already has a 24-hour crisis hot line, but Joanis
said the new one is directed specifically to teens.

The hot line was designed with input from teens,
especially those staying at the Teen Parent Center.
That, Joanis said, is its greatest strength.

"We are already really in tune with what's going on with
teens in our community," she said. "We will be able to
serve any teen in Bibb County who is in a crisis situation
and get them whatever help they need whenever they
need it."

Joanis receives a follow-up report within 10 days of any
referral, which lets her keep up with the teens' progress.

"It's much-needed," said Cynthia Warren-Ross, a
counselor at Southwest High School who sees a
constant stream of teen pregnancy, violence and abuse.
"Perhaps with this service, maybe a wayward youth can
be found."

The Teen Crisis Hot line is available 24 hours a day at
912-751-6666.