Clint Houlbrook helps youth navigate those difficult years

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce has released its Top 20 Over 40 for 2020, and Castanet will be featuring all of the honourees.

It's not easy being a young person in today's society.

The ever-present peer pressure that is even more relentless thanks to social media, can make those teen years a challenge at best.

Clint Houlbrook has a passion for helping youth navigate those years, and has spent most of his life doing so.

Houlbrook is on the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce Top 20 over 40 list for his work in the community.

Houlbrook has worked in the Downtown East Side, skate parks, school hallways, family homes, back alleys and streets.

Currently, he is a youth outreach counsellor with the North Okanagan Youth and Family Services Society working with the Vernon school district.

“Every day I get an opportunity to be a supportive, encouraging, trusted, caring adult in the lives of teens and youths in Vernon and help them and their families navigate a really challenging stage of life which is adolescence,” said Houlbrook.

“I feel like this is how I'm wired, this is who I am, this is my calling.”

One way Houlbrook helps youths build self esteem, value and worth is to engage them with volunteer work, such as the Salvation Army Food Bank.

The chamber's Top 20 Over 40 is sponsored by KPMG, the Regional District of North Okanagan, and Castanet.