During the last week, I was fortunate to attend the Collaborative Support Program of New Jersey's Annual Conference.  There were many interesting and wonderful workshops, however, the one that was most relevant and important to talk about on this site, was called "Youth Voice" and was conducted by Patrice Swarbrick, MSW.  The workshop discussed how the youth are an integral part of the consumer movement.  They are the voice of the next generation, and in the next generation, they will be the ones fighting to decrease stigma. 

So how do their "voices" sound?  Well, youth seem to give voice to their problems and concerns through the hip hop culture in rap music and poetry slams.  They also are very much into other forms of music.  Some youth have community theater groups in which they perform and try to erradicate stigma. 

The message here was- give a youth a creative outlet to let out their emotions and thoughts, and you give them a voice. 

For more information of Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, click here.