Helping Youths Work Out Their Problems : Passageway, which operates group homes, assists teen-agers in finding jobs, mastering survival skills, getting along with others.

Andrew Juels fell apart when his father suffered a fatal heart attack in 1983.

“Every week, I was beat ing somebody up,” Juels said. “I was a good kid who suddenly got into trouble.”

Fortunately, his mother saved him from high school expulsion, and taught him responsibility.

Juels, 26, never forgot the lesson. These days, he is trying to save others, like Ben, 13, who carried a knife to a Saugus middle school last year and landed in Juvenile Hall. Juels put Ben--not his real name--in a group home for youths in Calabasas. After a year at Passageway, Ben says he has realized his mistakes.

“They treat you better here,” said Ben. “They help you to learn how to stay out of trouble and do the right thing.”

Juels is executive director of Passageway, a nonprofit organization that operates four group homes, serving 24 boys and girls ages 13 to 18, in Calabasas, Canoga Park and Agoura. Funded by Los Angeles County, the five-year-old organization helps teen-agers find work and master everyday survival skills such as shopping, banking and getting along with others. Each resident also receives individual and group counseling twice a week.

“We take them to job interviews and tell them what to say and how to dress,” said Juels. “These kids are not delinquents, and we just want them to get a shot.”

Juels said some of the youngsters have been involved in gang activities, but most have committed minor crimes such as loitering or theft and are referred to Passageway by county probation officers and social workers.

“It’s real petty stuff,” said Juels, “but they keep coming back. We want to take them before they get too far out of control.”

After only five years, it may be premature to judge the organization’s success. Juels admits some former residents have repeated their crimes, while others have found success in school or the job market. He said youngsters normally live at the homes at least six months. His first task is to make them understand how difficult life will be when they turn 18.

“A lot of these kids aren’t realistic,” he said. “We show them what they’ll need to survive. They thought before they would be able to buy a car, but they see they’ll be lucky to have an apartment and something in the refrigerator.”

Passageway helps the kids set up bank accounts, and lets them spend 20% of their earnings while saving the rest. Juels said he doesn’t like to release residents without at least $3,000 in the bank.

This summer, the group sent some kids to help dig out a new stretch of the 65-mile-long Backbone Trail that will eventually take hikers and equestrians from Pacific Palisades at one end of the Santa Monica Mountains to Point Mugu at the other. The teen-agers earn $5.47 an hour, but more important, have a chance to work.

“A lot of these kids have never worked in their lives,” Juels said.

The residents also cherish the freedom away from parents who didn’t care, or a system they felt didn’t make them count.

“Other group homes don’t let you be free,” said John, 18--not his real name, who was taken from his North Hills home by social workers when his parents neglected him and his siblings. “They let me be myself here.”