TJJD youth build muscles and strengthen social skills during recreation time

By David N. Krough, TJJD Communications

Recreation is more than fun and games for youth at TJJD – it’s a daily chance to stay fit, build new skills and make positive connections, both physically and mentally.

Youth and recreation staff recently finished two weeks of events during school summer break, including football, basketball, volleyball and soccer clinics, as well as some special events in the gym.

Many kids who come to TJJD say they have not participated in many positive or pro-social recreational activities, which can sometimes lead to negative outcomes. Positive physical outlets on a consistent basis reduce the chances of fights or self-harm in youth.

There are at least seven recreation staff at each of TJJD’s five secure facilities who spend their days planning, scheduling and coordinating their event calendars with activities that involve a combination of problem-solving, communication and emotion regulation that can translate to all aspects of daily life. For facilities with a population of more than 100, sometimes there are up to 10 people on the recreation staff.

Recreation also now incorporates Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills as part of the curriculum. 

“We provide opportunities for coaching; for youth to apply the skills in real time,” Texas Model Youth Activity Leader Skylar Lott said. “And then after the activities, we process their response and incorporate discussion about skillful behaviors and how it relates to other settings.”

“They’re always eager to get out and want to have fun and they know that in order to be able to do that, they have to complete their program like the DBT training and stuff like that,” Recreation JCO Michael Jones said. “It’s a good time for them to make sure they’re staying on the right track and out of trouble.”

“We’ve increased the amount of recreation that you get,” Lott said, adding that current state requirements call for one hour per day. At TJJD students currently get one hour per day on school days and two hours on non-school days.

“For summer programming, they’re getting two hours of recreation every single day,” she said.

This year during summer break, several facilities held their own “Summer Olympics” to reflect the 2024 games in Paris.

At McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility last week, youth from the boys’ dorms took part in some aqua-volleyball in the August heat, interspersed with water gun blasts.

In the gym, the youth from the girls’ dorms got together after lunch for their talent show.

Alone or in pairs, each got up to perform a solo recital of song, rap or dance moves – most all of them to rousing supports of applause and hollers from their peers.

“(The) talent show, this is an opportunity for the girls to just express themselves, who they are . . . how they want to – but in a respectful way,” Recreation Supervisor Taresa White said. “We want them to come out and have fun, and smile and just enjoy being able to come out of the dorm and do something different in a different space.”

Activities are tailored to youths’ needs

Lott said staff has now also implemented what they call “leisure recreation,” for when youth have free time.

“A lot of them have a hard time making good choices whenever they have leisure time,” she said. We are “trying to implement pro-social and positive and engaging activities so they can make better choices with their leisure time in the future at the same time.”

Heat can be a big factor for summertime rec outside, so staff try to get the youth out earlier in the morning for recreation and then do more indoor activities in the afternoon. The state of Texas heat index requirement limits outside time in extreme temps to 15-20 minutes, and then youth move back inside and continue.

“They’re excited to see us because we’re the fun team – they know they’re going to do some activity they don’t get to do in the dorm,” Recreation JCO Stevie Gonzales said. “I like that I get to interact with every kid here – so I don’t just get to see the boys or just the girls, it’s everyone – I’ve got a rapport with every single kid here . . . I probably know them all by name and they know me.”

Gonzales has been on the recreation staff for almost a year and said she sees the difference between simple playtime and the ability of youth to incorporate mental and emotional skills into their activities.

“Last week we did a football clinic and it was more drills . . . it wasn’t just like, come out and play,” she said. “You have to listen to what the coach is telling you to do and actually follow rules and direction instead of just coming out here and playing with some water or throwing a ball around – you actually had to get them out and listen to the whistles. What we’re implementing, I think they like it – it kind of surprised me because a lot of them enjoyed it more than I expected. Some of these kids they’re tough, tough to get them involved – I think they kind of enjoyed having that structure.”

Youth can “cash in” earned incentives for video and gameroom time

Recreation JCO Dashone Johnson oversees the game room, with foosball, air hockey and videogames where youth who have earned incentive points can spend some free time – and even some screen time.

“We choose a youth of the week based on behavior and for incentive I give them 10 minutes of Facetime,” for someone on their approved call list, she said.

While recreation plays a big role in learning and relating to others, ultimately youth get the chance to hold onto childhood while they still can.

“You’ve got to remember, these are still kids and sometimes we are hard on them because we want them to be structured, but sometimes it’s good for them to just get out there and play as a kid . . . because a lot of these kids they didn’t get that,” Gonzales said. “So, when they come out, they enjoy that you can see the kid in them, rather than you go in the dorm and they’re more like uptight. But when they come out and they come to rec, they get to let loose a little bit and I enjoy seeing that too because a lot of these kids they didn’t get that too much.”