When you hit a roadblock, you need to turn around and find a better path. That’s what happened to Troy Hertzog when some poor decisions built quite a roadblock to him living a typical teenage life. He turned things around with the help of Turning Point, a program of Diakon Youth Services.

Troy, a student at Columbia High School in Lancaster County, was behind on credits and had truancy issues. With his success at Turning Point, he got his credits back on track and was successfully able to join CTC (Lancaster County Career and Technology Center). In this vo-tech school, he now studies automotive technology for his senior year of high school.

Troy turned his behaviors around and was a true success in and out of the program. As a result, Turning Point paid his fines/costs in full, and he was able to get off probation.

The overarching mission of Turning Point is to keep adjudicated youths in home settings through effective and meaningful community-based interventions. The Turning Point Day Program provides an alternative academic setting for post-adjudicated males. The program works collaboratively with juvenile probation, children and youth departments, the Lancaster/Lebanon Intermediate Unit, students, families and community resources.

County personnel grant students the opportunity to participate in this therapeutic program, designed to address their competency in social, academic and work skills so that they can return to their family and community better prepared to make decisions that reflect productive and positive values.

Below, Troy and his dad John tell their stories.