hold on the reins, it gets easier! but it may get harder first. i don't know what the environment you're working with these kids is, but i work in a psychiatric treatment center for teenagers. talk about scary, eh!? i was scared of teenagers even when i was one!!! and i'm only 22. 21 when i started, so i almost could've gone to highschool with some of my clients! it was really nerve-wracking, scary, etc, at first. i realized, looking back, that i dissociated a lot at work ("spaced out" when i was under stress). i also cried sometimes after i got home. i didn't think i would ever bond with those kids, but i did. and i cried and they cried when i changed positions within the company. sometimes you just have to hang in there for a while until you gain your footing. and if you have supportive staff members who work for the same company, definitely ask them for advice or ask them about when they were new, if you're comfortable with that.

good luck!!!!

Angela

-comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable-