"Thirteen"

(Now, I know this is not a new movie and this might be an old discussion, but bear with me)

Last night, my wife and I watched "Thirteen." I picked it up from the library because I had heard some good reviews of it from other youth workers. I heard it was a good movie when it comes to the youth culture and how it showed the family dynamic.

WOW!

It was not at all what I expected. I did not even watch all of it. After a while I just left and did some other things. It was very intense. (Plus, what kind of ending is that - yeah, I was curious as to what happened at the end)

I have not ran into that in my youth ministry. I am not saying it is not out there, but I have not seen it that extreme. It did cause my wife and I to talk about the fact that change can happen very quickly in middle school.

Have any of you see something like that in a family? As a youth worker, what is the best way to work with a student going through that?