I like that somewhere within us is the solution to the problem.   My solution happened to be a pencil and paper, but I imagine the solutions are as various as the types of people in the world.   I think the answer when working with young people is to get them to just hang on until they find that solution.  We can support, facilitate, and identify but in the end the solution is in them.   My story may be similar to theirs but it isn’t the same.  Therefore the ladder they need to use to climb out of their hole will also be different.

It is so incredibly tempting to look in panic for an answer, and in not finding one to just give up.

But it is in there.  The answer is in there.  It took me decades to understand how I was different from those around me, and even longer to take my oldest crutch (a doodle) and turn it into a vehicle to move outside of myself and into the larger world.