The maisons des jeunes de la Montérégie are proud to take part in the 26th edition of the Semaine des maisons des jeunes du Québec (SMDJ), presented by the Regroupement des maisons des jeunes du Québec (RMJQ), which runs from October 9 to 15 under the theme: Engagé-es pour nos ados. There are several youth centers in Vaudreuil-Soulanges: Vaudreuil-Dorion, Les Cèdres, L'Île-Perrot, Rigaud and others.

Despite the critical situation facing youth centers due to chronic underfunding, the workers in Montérégie's youth centers are committed to maintaining the meaningful bond that unites them with the teens they work with on a daily basis.

Recognizing their work 

The work of social workers and community workers in youth centers is rarely understood or recognized for the complexity and variety of skills required. Acknowledging this work means recognizing all the areas of intervention to which they contribute in contact with young people aged 12 to 17: health and wellness promotion, school dropouts, drug addiction, sexuality education, mental health promotion, democracy, etc.

According to a new survey of over 400 Quebec teens attending youth centres, 61% of teens consider it important or very important to be able to see the same youth workers at their MDJ over and over again.

What's more, the meaningful bond and trust young people place in social workers and community workers are at the heart of the youth center project. According to the same survey, nearly one in three teens has confided something to a youth worker that they've never told anyone before.

Talking about the mission of youth centers, Marie-Claude Malo, director of La Piaule youth center in Boucherville, says: "Because teens feel safe there, because they realize that other young people are going through similar things, they feel comfortable talking out loud among themselves and with community workers.

"Because in a youth centre, there's no judgment and teens are taken seriously, because no matter what the subject or events in their lives, they can talk about them freely, because they know we'll always be there, that we'll always take the time, and especially the time it takes and at their pace, young people then develop a sense of belonging and the MDJs then become their second family."

A lack of funding for the mission

"The SMDJ is the perfect opportunity for us to reiterate the essential nature of youth centres (MDJs), which are true living environments for teenagers across Quebec, when over 70% of teens surveyed attend their MDJ at least once a week, and almost a third of them attend every day or almost every day.

"Our youth workers are significant adults in the lives of young people, encouraging, supporting and accompanying them on a daily basis. In order to offer them the working conditions they deserve, we need a significant increase in the insufficient subsidies granted to our houses," maintains Nicholas Legault, General Manager of the RMJQ.