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Meet David Jordan

For nearly two decades, David has worked with youth and young adults from all over the country in a variety of roles.  He is committed to helping others, particularly the young, lead a better life, and his compassion for those who are struggling runs deep.  Having served as a counselor and clinical director at programs for teens in crisis for nearly eight years, David came to Action Ministries in May, 2006, where he is now the Executive Program Director. He hopes to also serve the youth, the youth workers, and the parents of the conference specialized services that his training and experience make possible.  One of those services is going to be a running commentary posted on this website that addresses topics relevant to youth work today.  Ranging from articles that explore adolescent psychology to entries that demystify spiritual formation, we hope that readers will find the series helpful and practical.  Questions and dialogue are always welcome.  Readers can also contact David for further discussion or to inquire about additional services such as incident debriefing, retreat facilitation, or leadership training.
 
As for his background that enables him to provide this kind of help, he would first list his sixteen year marriage to Laura, a local pastor and candidate for elders orders who has been serving youth groups since 1995.  Beyond that, David is a guide in the truest sense of the word, having spent much of his life leading groups and individuals as a therapist, teacher, and adventure facilitator.  He has extensive experience in working with adolescents, young adults, students, and families.  Through the years he has developed a supportive, direct manner that manifests in a strong, balanced and compassionate leadership style.   He brings his experience as a counselor, wilderness guide, college instructor, and performing artist into the service of his clients.  His skill set is unique, drawing equally from extensive scholarship and broad practical experience, and he applies these skills in creative ways.  He teaches and counsels using experiences in which an environment of trust and openness is maintained.  Above all, he seeks to foster relationships in which transformation and growth can occur. 
 
David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Georgia State University, a Master of Theological Studies degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Prescott College.  He has spoken and lectured across the country on topics ranging from wilderness therapy to parenting techniques.  In addition, he is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Georgia.  He has also received training as a challenge course facilitator, wilderness first responder, first-aid and CPR instructor, and wilderness guide.  His most important relevant experience, however, has come from being a husband and father of two.
 
Again, it is David’s hope to serve the needs of the youth and youth workers in this conference by offering affordable services that help plug the gaps in the continuum of care provided by youth programs.  By serving as a resource for programming, training, education, or clinical consultation, he wants to help empower youth workers, provide them with useful insights and tools, and foster understanding.

The Call of the Wild: Competing for the Hearts and Minds of Young People, Part I
 
 
How is it that we’re supposed to get the attention of our kids today, as parents or as youth workers?  How are we supposed to get them to listen, much less learn?  How do we make ourselves heard above the “noise” that surrounds us?  Is this apparent failure to connect a matter of what we’re saying or how we’re saying it?  Is it nothing more than the same old dilemma of the young not hearing what the older generations have to say or is it something more?  What is it that they want, from us and from life?

 
These are big questions and there are no simple answers.  It doesn’t matter that parents and youth workers around the country have been asking these questions for generations, the answers continue to elude us.  To be sure, there has always been a degree of “disconnect” between successive generations in the modern world.  However, I think the evidence suggests what many of us feel is the case: the challenge of connecting with kids has never been so daunting.

 
At times, it seems almost impossible to compete with the myriad of voices vying for the attention of children.  And if this were not enough of a challenge, it also seems that kids have lost the ability to focus their attention on anything worthwhile for any non-trivial amount of time.  It’s as if an entire generation has been infected with an “attention-deficit” disease.  If you can’t package your message in a five second multimedia sound bite, you’re probably not going to be heard.  Those with messages that need to be heard are struggling to gain the ears of those who need to hear.  And for those trying to stay ahead of the curve by “re-packaging” their message, the result is all too often great entertainment with lousy substance.  It is extremely difficult, to say the least, to get and keep the attention of an entire generation that thinks in sound-bites.
 

Of the countless theories out there attempting to explain this growing trend, one that I think strikes a poignant tone is that of Richard Louv.  In his book Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, he argues forcefully that there are a few key social and cultural factors having an enormous negative impact on us all, but particularly on the latest generation.  Specifically, he theorizes that the loss of our deep and historic connection to nature has contributed significantly to the dramatic increase in the occurrence of attention-deficit disorders in the young.[1]  While there is no question that this diagnostic and behavioral trend is on the rise, its cause is still deeply debated.  For me, however, Louv’s proposition corresponds closely to another contemporary theory that has to do with a culture’s spiritual awareness.  It has been argued by some that cultures which divest themselves of traditional nature-based worldviews also begin to lose their sensitivity to the spiritual aspects of life.  In my opinion, it is this pathological combination, an inability to focus and concentrate, and a breakdown in spiritual sensitivity, that effectively describes many kids today.

 
As the clinical director of a residential treatment program for adolescents, I worked for a number of years with teens who suffered from a wide variety of psychological and behavioral disorders.  I have witnessed a steadily increasing number children being diagnosed with, among other things, attention-based disorders.  Despite the fact that most were highly intelligent and capable, nearly all of them didn’t understand or even hear the warnings, guidance, and pleas of so many around them.  This, however, was not the only irony I saw in their lives.  Their desperate efforts to gain control in life regularly resulted in an utter loss of control.  Their inner and outer drive to lessen the pain often resulted in complete emotional numbness.  Their deep thirst for connection and spiritual substance led frequently to isolation and malnourished souls.        

 
For a lot of the kids who ended up in this program, it took a fairly radical set of circumstances to get their attention, which in the case of my work was a wilderness-based curriculum.  We utilized nature-immersion as the primary therapeutic platform.  Taking these kids into the woods for extended periods of time was an effective means of completely separating them from the cultural and environmental forces that were wreaking havoc in their lives.  In most cases, spending a month or so in this way proved remarkably beneficial, in the short-term; focusing on simple tasks, receiving reality-based counseling, and being encouraged to acknowledge their own spirituality.  Along with stabilizing more acute emotional and behavioral symptoms, the kids began to experience a greater receptivity to guidance and discourse that would play a major role in their continued, long-term improvement.
 

But, effective or not, the treatment begs the question:  how has it come to this?  Why are these types of treatment programs becoming more and more prevalent, and more and more necessary?  What is going on today that makes this kind of intervention necessary in order to just “get the attention” of so many of our kids?  Without a doubt, there is a particularly strong dynamic ensnaring our young and destroying their ability to connect in a meaningful way with those who are trying to help.  
 

This dynamic that I speak of is very much like a deep, primal, and inescapable “call.”  It’s nearly impossible to ignore, and it affects the old and young alike, though most significantly the young.  To be sure, it is loud, forceful, and plays directly to our most basic drives.  In the truest sense, it is a “Call of the Wild.”  Yet, it is generally a tragic game of bait and switch: a promise to meet our needs and desires followed by an inevitable inability to truly do so.  The real tragedy here is that not only does this “call” fail to bring us health and wholeness, but it devastates our ability to recognize and respond to the true voices that can bring these things.  Of the many that have identified this dynamic, the work of William Finnegan certainly deserves our attention.  In his book Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country, he zeros in on some of the key social realities impacting young people today.  In a quote provided by Finnegan, Earl Shorris, I believe, summarizes it best:

Now the clash is different, no longer between opposing sets of values, but between values and the violent vacuum.  The substitute for culture presented to newcomers [and I would say the young] was invented at the conjunction of entertainment and advertising; it may still be called culture, but neither Rambo nor Madonna has the character required to get a troubled child through the night.[2]

While it may seem almost too overwhelming to face, we can’t avoid the desperate need to answer this “call” with an alternative; one that is able to connect and deliver.  We, as parents and youth workers, are called to both understand and address the circumstances in which our children are raised.  The longer we wait to engage these issues, the deeper our children are drawn into a world that will ultimately fail them.  Believing this, however, leaves us with one enormous question: what’s the alternative?