What the heck am I doing?

I am a therapist for 14-18 yr old boys in a residential facility. Most of the boys were placed here because of behavior problems (including criminal charges i.e. assault, weapons and drugs.) The first two weeks were pretty good with these guys. They were all pleasant with me and were pretty compliant. I have been telling people that I love my new job.... well, I may have spoken too soon. Today I got cussed out by two of the guys and I had another one refuse to come to his therapy session. My supervisor told me that they are just testing me. Maybe they have all realized that I don't know what the heck I am doing. How do you get kids who are (hopefully former) gang members, drug dealers, etc. to talk to you about their problems? Even more, how do you get them to recognize that they have problems? They are not motivated to do anything and attempt to get into a power struggle with you any time they are required to do something.

Today the boy who refused to come to therapy eventually came after my supervisor spoke with him. He stated that he wasn't going to talk. I told him that was his decision to make. He sat in my office for about 30 minutes and stared at the ceiling and did not say a word! I asked him 3 questions throughout that time to stir him a little and he just sat there. Let me tell you... 30 minutes is a long time to sit in silence and stare at someone!!! There are two things that could have been going on with him... 1) a power struggle OR 2) resistance to therapy. He just found out earlier in the week that he's not going to be able to live with his mom and other family out of state. He is stuck in St. Louis in Children's Division custody. So, from knowing this, I choose to believe that it's #2. I noticed that his eyes were a little watery but he insisted at the end of our session that it's not a big deal. After I dropped him off, I went into our beautiful chapel here and had to pray. I'm really thankful for that chapel. I think I may spend a lot of time there.

I really feel like I'm in over my head right now. I really want to help these guys but I don't know how. I don't remember covering this stuff at Covenant. This isn't exactly the population that I pictured myself working with. I think that I have the potential to learn a lot about therapy from this job and am really excited about that. I'm pretty sure that it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of prayer. So, if you think about it, please pray for me.