1. Preventing and Reducing Adolescent Violence

2. What is Violence?
Arghhhh! Ruff…Ruf
Phsttt.. Rarow!!

3. Common Types of Violence
Aggressive and intimidating posturing or bullying
Verbal threats of violence
Physical fighting, sometimes including weapons
Violent outbursts when challenged or confronted
Date violence
Gang violence

4. What influences youth violence?
Belief that violence is an acceptable problem solving method or reaction
Learned violence from family, community and media models
Poor impulse control
History of abuse or trauma
Youth at-risk characteristics
Risky Behavior

5. Assessing Adolescent Violence
History of violent and aggressive behavior
Poor impulse control
Poor anger management and problem solving skills
History of other risky or inappropriate behaviors
Prior history of abuse, neglect or trauma
Family or community violence that results in the belief that violence is acceptable

6. Adolescent Violence Information Sources
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
U. S. Surgeon General
Center for Disease Control
Blueprints for Violence Prevention
American Medical Association

7. Programs Targeting Adolescent Violence
Aggression Replacement Training
Anger Management & Anger Management Skills Training
Cognitive Mediation Training
Cognitive-Behavioral Skills Training
Moral Reasoning Development Program
Positive Adolescent Choices Training (PACT)
Anger Management, Problem Solving & Social Skills Training Programs

8. Programs Targeting Adolescent Violence
Bullying and Gangs
Bullying Prevention Program
Gang Resistance Education & Training (G.R.E.A.T.)

9. Programs Targeting Adolescent Violence
Family Therapy
Functional Family Therapy
Multi-systemic Family Therapy

10. Programs Targeting Adolescent Violence
Mentoring Programs
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Quantum Opportunities Program

11. Programs Targeting Adolescent Violence
Out of Home Home Placement
Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
Multi-modal Approach
Residential Therapeutic Milieu

12. Anger Management Training Components
What is anger?
What causes anger?
How is anger different from aggression?
What triggers anger in you?
What are the external and internal cues that tell you that you’re angry?

13. Addressing Anger Management (Reducing Anger Responses)
Stop and think
Attend to relevant cues
Identify alternative responses and the benefits and consequences of each alternative
What are alternatives to violent responses?

14. Addressing Anger Management (Reducing Anger Responses)
Use self control and relaxation skills
Use assertive techniques
Resist taunts
Self evaluation

15. 8 Step Social Problem Solving Model
Is there a problem?
Stop and think.
Why is there a conflict?
What do I want?
Think of solutions.
Look at consequences.
Choose what to do and do it.
Evaluate the results.
Guerra, N. G. & Slaby, R. G. (1990). Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: 2. Intervention. Developmental Psychology, 26,

16. Pro-Social Skills Communication skills Negotiating skills
Giving and receiving positive and negative feedback
Recognizing and following social norms
Controlling angry, surly, or sulking behavior

17. Pro-Social Skills Using assertiveness to express own needs
Using appropriate conversational skills
Social networking
Avoiding alcohol and drug use
Appropriate use of affection and sexual interactions

18. Bullying…
Is repetitive, aggressive behavior that exercises power over the victim
Includes behaviors such as teasing, gossiping, social exclusion, extortion, verbal attacks, and physical attacks.

19. Bullying Prevention Program
School-based program developed by Dan Olweus
Emphasizes increased supervision of individual students, classrooms, and school “hot spots.”
A school-wide conference assesses specific needs

20. Bullying Prevention Program
Consequences for bullying behavior
Empowers students to resist bullying
Specific rules about bullying
Rules are evaluated regularly in the classroom.

21. The Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program
School-based gang prevention program
Nine-week curriculum for middle-school students presented by uniformed police officers.
Topics presented include:
impact of crime on communities and victims
conflict management
personal responsibility and goal setting
meeting basic needs without joining a gang

22. Confronting Beliefs that Support Violence
Violence is not an effective way to solve problems or feel powerful or be in control when confronted.
Consequences of violence
Alternatives to violence that better solve the problem,
Effects of community prejudice and ways to overcome that prejudice.

23. Family Therapy Programs
Individualized treatment plans
Focus on strengths and resilience,
Use of multiple levels of intervention (e.g., individual, family, community, peers, school)
Improve the relationships between youth and parents
Improving parental limit setting, monitoring and discipline

24. Functional Family Therapy
Short-term intervention
Family and individual counseling
Daily telephone or personal contacts with the family
Meetings with community resources

25. Three Phases of Functional Family Therapy
Generalization
Change of Behavior
Engagement and Motivation

26. Multi-systemic Therapy
Home-based treatment
Developed by Henggeler & associates
Individual and family counseling

27. Three-step Strategy of Multi-systemic Therapy
prevent or block the risk factors from attacking the family
use protective factors to increase resilience
Identify and neutralize risk factors

28. MST Intervention Principles
Understand the “fit” between problems and systemic context
Emphasize the positive and use systemic strengths
Promote responsible behavior and decrease irresponsible behavior
Present-focused and action-oriented

29. MST Intervention Principles
Target sequences of behavior that maintain the problems
Developmentally Appropriate
Daily weekly effort by family members.
Effectiveness is evaluated continuously
Promote treatment generalization

30. Principles of Structure & Limit Setting
Supervise activities
Monitor youth whereabouts
Make rules or expectations clear
Help youth understand the rationale of rules
Give youth input into rule formation
Outcomes should be predictable

31. Principles of Structure & Limit Setting
Rewards include social reinforcement and tangible reinforcement
Natural consequences are more effective
Avoid long-term consequences
Flexible rules are more effective
Following rules is a learning process

32. Did Parents… Monitor adolescent’s whereabouts?
Make rules clear, flexible and predictable?
Explain rationale for rules and give teen some input?
Use natural, short-term consequences?
Include rewards?
Remember that following rules is a learning process?

33. Mentoring Programs

34. Workers as Mentors What did you do that provided mentoring?
What was the response by the individual?
Were there ever times when a youth let you know that something you did meant a lot to them?
Who did you mentor?

35. Effective Residential Care Strategies
Structure and behavior regulation
Consistency and predictability of adaptive demands
Autonomy and individuality
Emotional support
Trustworthiness of staff

36. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) Is…
a community-based alternative to residential or group home placement
adult involvement and mentoring is more effective than peer group interventions in reducing problem behavior.

37. MTFC Components Individualized, structured foster home placement
Clear rules and consequences
Focus on adolescent’s strengths
Daily telephone contact and weekly meetings
Weekly individual counseling
Weekly sessions with parents
Gradually increasing time for home visitation

38. Skills Training Components
Anger management
Problem-solving
Pro-social skills
Increased awareness of consequences of violence and refuting beliefs supporting violence
Effective use of structure, limit-setting, and consequences by parents and other caretakers

39. Common Characteristics of Treatment Approaches
Tailored to meet the individual needs
Involve collaboration and coordination
Use a strengths and resilience approach
Encourage positive relationships with parents and non-parental adults

40. Primary Change Mechanisms
Behavioral changes
Cognitive changes
Focus on learning
Focus on positive
Intensive, collaborative, coordinated treatment

41. Implementing Interventions
Fitting components into present treatment plans
Some treatment interventions are already part of the treatment plan or are logical extensions of elements already in the plan
Collaborating with existing service providers
You don’t have to do everything yourself
Identifying existing services and referral networks

42. Implementing Interventions (cont)
Accommodating agency structure and policies
Identifying barriers to implementing strategies for preventing or reducing adolescent violence
Using supportive evidence of intervention effectiveness
Using a step by step approach (all items do not have to be implemented at once)
Emphasizing linkage with other service providers (unless that is one of the barriers)

43. The End…