The other day school counsellor Anthony Peets was at the Victor Scott Primary playground playing with his two young children, when an 11-year-old approached, swearing a blue streak.Mr Peets, 47, took the young boy aside. He said to the boy :“Look, you wouldn't like it if I talked that way in front of your sister, would you?”The boy, suddenly meek, shook his head. “Alright then, no more of that language, ever,” said Mr Peets.Mr Peets asked the boy's name, but Mr Peets didn't have to introduce himself in return, because the boy already knew who he was. Mr Peets' reputation as an adult who helps kids had already preceeded him.“If you ever need to talk, just come and see me,” said Mr Peets and the boy nodded and walked off. It was a typical scene in Mr Peets' life.Mr Peets has been a school counsellor in Bermuda for 28 years, and has become well known as a champion for young people in the community. He works primarily as a counsellor at Prospect Primary, and volunteers with St John's Preschool helping to teach character education. Earlier this year he won CableVision's annual Rollin Nathan award for his volunteer work.As a school counsellor Mr Peets is required to lend an ear to students who need to talk to someone, and he also teaches things such as character education, thinking skills and decision making. The idea is to give kids a tool kit to work with, when faced with difficult choices, such as whether to take part in the growing wave of youth violence in the community.“I have talked to the people involved in the violence to see what picture their life has created,” he said. “One person with a gun can cause a whole lot of damage. You do see some commonalities. When you start to talk to them, there is a disengagement from society. That disengagement could be through relationships that have not been fostered. You can see they have probably had some negative school experiences, and parenting experiences.”He said one thing that all young people have in common in Bermuda is school, and he believes strongly that this is one place where young people can be reached.“We (school) can definitely can be a great balance for many kids,” he said. “We know for a fact that we present a different reality from what takes place at home, for many kids. If these things (negative experiences) are taking place at home, and there is a whole high level of stress and anxiety, when the student comes to the door of the school, they should get a friendly welcome, ‘hey, how are you doing, it is really nice to see you today'. We take a picture of how they are looking that day and we can talk.“School can alleviate, for seven hours, what life might be like when they go home. We do know when we look at the people who are dying, they all went to primary, middle and high school.”He said he has sat across the desk from young people who later became involved in antisocial behaviour. Ultimately, at some point a young person has to make a decision about which way their life will head. On the other hand, many of the young people Mr Peets works with do take his words to heart.“One of my old students recently found me through Facebook,” said Mr Peets. “I taught her 23 years ago. She said ‘whenever I make life decisions, I always think of the things you taught me. I put that test to all of my decisions and you would be proud'. She works at the hospital as a nurse. That was an deposit that was made so long ago. I know the power of what you say, and what you do. That is why I definitely enjoy what I do.”Mr Peets said what he wants to accomplish is to heal communities, and bring people together.“One thing I am really big on is doing intentional things,” he said. “If I fill up the car with gas and make sure it is well maintained, then it should work. If you don't fill kids up with love and respect; if you don't give them great role models, then you don't have a positive outcome. People need to have something to look towards and aspire to.”That is one of the reasons Mr Peets visits schools around the island throughout the year to do motivational speaking and teaching with young people. He believed it was important for young people to know that they own their decisions.“You are very powerful and your thoughts can control you,” he said. “If kids hear positivity, and examples of success, they are more likely to be positive.”Mr Peets has two children of his own, Ahmani, nine, and Ahmya, six. Ahmani has autism.“When he was diagnosed we felt there was nowhere to go in Bermuda,” said Mr Peets, “but then we discovered the Bermuda Autism Support & Education (BASE) group. I now handle public relations for them. When I learned that my son was autistic, as a counsellor, I started thinking ‘how many kids did we potentially miss'. I became hyper aware of young people and their behaviour. I have learned that early intervention is a must.”He said like most parents, the Peets have thought long and hard about why this happened, but there will probably never be a definitive answer, but he said it had been a learning experience.Mr Peets' desire to be a counsellor was first fostered in a one room school house run by two ladies who were his aunts. In those days, classroom discipline was harsh and rote learning was typical.“The school had a little outhouse,” said Mr Peets. “The things I espouse now in the classroom are relationships, relevance and rigour. At that school, they didn't spend too much time on the relationship piece, but they were definitely strong on the rigour. There was no understanding that boys and girls' brains are wired differently, as we know now. If a little guy got out of line, it was like ‘whack'. I got to see boys who were destroyed (emotionally). I was like, ‘I will never do that. I will never destroy you. I will guide you. I will teach you'. That is where my motto came, ‘find a way in'. When you find the way in to a student's mind, you can make successes.”When it came time for him to go to university, his family pressured him to go into medicine, because they had never had a doctor in the family. His heart wasn't really into it, and he quickly discovered that his gift was making people think.“Part of being a counsellor is to influence people,” he said. “I will have now been a counsellor for 28 years. I have absolutely seen kids change in that time, but I know that if you work to be inspirational, that is what it is about. Don't look at kids as threats, look at them as building a community.”