WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY', OCTOBER 27,1976, PAGE il Whitby Chainher speaker says young burden parents Dr. Jim Ricks, director of Whitby Psychiatric Hospital, young people are up against Whitby Chamber of Commerce. the adolescent unit at the outlines his views on wliat today, at a meeting of the Free Press Photo With the problerus that young people are up against oday, there is an increased dependency on non-family experts such as therapists, teachers and psycholugists to deal with these problems, says a representative of the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital Speaking at a recent meet- ing of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Jim Ricks, director of the hospital's adolescent unit, said tuday young 'peuple nu longer tend to have a role in society and becorne a burden to their parents. "The comrnunity says 'get those crazy kids out of society and lock thiem utp; you (the hospital) take care of themn'," lie said. "People say 'isolate theni and keep the problemi away from us. They are nn longer our kids; they're yoLir kids, Mr. Expert'. 1 do n't like this". Dr. Ricks pointed ont that children with dil'fictilties arc the youngsters of doctors. lawyers and business people; "thiey 1.reIV parit of'u Psychiatric Hospital power maintenance a1mros-t completed The annual maintenance distribu- Whitby is almost Ministry Services, buildings of the power supply tion systemn at Psychiatric Hospitali completed. Each year, the1 of Governmnent which owns the1 used by the hospital, con- tracts l'or the maintenance work. The work takes une to two weeks tu complete and involves cuttirlg - power to varions areas of the hospital. When asked if the powver cnts create prublerns for patients, hospital administra- tor Ken Sheelian admitted "'lt dues but il is a matter of coping with it". Mr. Sheehan says that it is "thle lesser of two evils", the other evil heing power failures which could result if the maintenance wvork was not dune. A lot of people like the Royal Bank frTerm Plan Loans. For when it makes good sense ta borrow. Should 1 Borrow is a question we ail ask aurselves at one time or another. But now it's a lot easier to corne up with'the right answers. Because the Rayai Bank has put most of the answers inta a new boaklet called "Shouid i Borrow?" it explains how interest and time ~ypayments wark, how ta ~<examine your budget ta see Swhat yau can afford, and ai mast everything else yu should take into ~ consideration. Why nat . drap in today and pick up Syour free copy. If you have >4k y~any questians, please corne se e me or one of the staff. SROYAL BAN K serving Ontario Frank Bennett Manager Whltby 868-9358 comrnunity". "The coin- munity does care", said Dr. Ricks, "but they are uncertain, frightened and in some cases ignorant of what's happening with kids". We seem to say the kid is flot part of the community and experts shoul d take care of the pain". Dr. Ricks told the Chamber members that people have to look at ways to increase their sense of relatedness to the young people as part of the community. Commenting on what young people are up against today, Dr. Ricks listed a number of factors which have chianged the role of a yonng person in the co mrnnnity in the past decade. He cited the shift from a rural to urban life style, increased econornic security where the child dues riot have to support the famnily finan- cially, an increased availability of gonds and services, and an increased awareness of the wvorid outside the home television and information froin ail the media. There are fewer taboos than a few decades ago, and kids are much more. sophisti- cated and alert to things,said Dr. Ricks. There was a whole generation of counter cultures in the last decade, crcating a new set of values for young people, lie said. The implications of these changes in society, said Dr. Ricks, means that there is less of a role for the chuld as part of the famnily, and less pre. sence of a meaningful work for him to do. Thu s, he said, a young person's sense of identity is very diffuse. The reduced lack of opportunity for meaningful work which generates skills and self esteemn and prepares the youth to go out into the adult world is a problem, he said. But with the diminishing role in the family, Dr. Ricks explained that there is also a greater freedomn to explore new roles and experienceS in society. Also, hé, said, there, is a changing understanding of adult-child relations. The child's relationship to his parents is flot as clear as it used to be, and lias to be negotiated, lie said. The Chamber members, in the question period that followed, pointed out that- the changes in society often present the -same problemns to aduits as they do to children. 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