AUBURN – Steve Finkel was 10 when his parents dropped him off at a Spurwink group home in Portland.

It was 1965 and Finkel was having trouble at his regular school in Massachusetts. He was energetic and intelligent, but also hyperactive and learning disabled. His grades were poor, his attention span nonexistent. The local elementary school didn’t know how to help him. His parents didn’t know how to help him.

But Spurwink’s teachers and therapists did.

Four years later, Finkel left the program a more focused, articulate young man with the determination to succeed in life.

On Monday, Finkel – now 54 and a member of Spurwink’s board of directors – told this generation of Spurwink students in Auburn that they could do it, too.

“When I first got to Spurwink, all I could think about was how I could get out of this joint, like jail,” he said. “But you can’t run from your problems. And I had some issues.”

“Don’t we all!” one teenage boy exclaimed.

“Yes!” Finkel agreed enthusiastically. “Don’t we all.”

Established around 1960, Spurwink was originally a residential program dedicated to helping children who were smart but troubled. Its first home served eight boys in Portland. When Finkel arrived in 1965, it had two Portland homes for 16 children.

Over the past four decades, Spurwink has grown to serve thousands of boys and girls who have behavioral problems, emotional issues, developmental disabilities or mental illness. It runs seven programs throughout the state, including day treatment programs, in which children go to a Spurwink school and receive therapy during the day and return home at night, and residential treatment programs, in which children live in a Spurwink home full time and attend either a Spurwink school or a public school.

Nearly all the children have had trauma in their past.

Although today’s Spurwink is dramatically different from the Spurwink Finkel grew up with, its mission largely remains the same: Help people. And so it’s stayed a soft spot for Finkel.

“I knew at some point I was going to come back and get involved. That was never not going to happen,” he said.

After leaving Spurwink, Finkel attended college and planned to become a gym teacher. During one summer break, he returned to Spurwink as an athletic director.

But Finkel quickly discovered that teaching paid too little for him to support himself. At a job fair, recruiters honed in on his natural exuberance and charisma. They told him he’d make a great salesman.

They were right.

Finkel developed a successful career in sales and financial services. Although he lived in Connecticut, he visited Spurwink every year to say hi, to see how the place was doing.

A few years ago, the private nonprofit invited him to sit on its board of directors. Officials believe he’s the first former student to become a board member.

Soon after, he began to tour Spurwink’s centers when in Maine. Monday marked his third trip to the Auburn school.

“I get really involved with the kids, and that’s where my love is,” said Finkel, who married but never had children of his own.

On Monday, he spoke to about 20 kids. He talked about his life, his time at Spurwink and – with the dynamic air and rapid-fire give-and-take of a motivational speaker – he talked about anger, attitude, persistence and choices.

“Embrace choices,” he told one boy. “Choices are great! You’re not going to get them all right, and that’s OK. It’s totally cool.”

Finkel’s scheduled hour-long talk stretched to an hour-and-a-half, and even then many of the students weren’t eager to go. They identified with his childhood frustration and his desire to go home. They could relate to the attitude he had then and to the changes he made.

And they admired his energy.

“Kids want to know what he’s going to say next,” program director Jen Appleby said.

Finkel plans to keep visiting Spurwink’s programs, particularly the Auburn school, where some of the students are struggling with issues and frustrations similar to his.

He next plans to visit this summer.

“My heart is here for the Spurwink school,” he said.