Preventing Youth Violence:
Communities Take Action
It Can Be Done
SAMHSA-funded programs have demonstrated in communities across the United States effective steps that can be taken to prevent youth violence and promote the healthy development of young people. The success story below suggests why a coordinated, comprehensive strategy is so important. The rest of the pamphlets in the series can help you accomplish this and more. We hope you’ll read them all.
Multidisciplinary Team Helps a Whole Family
The Victoria (Texas) Independent School District used Safe Schools/Healthy Students funding to create a new multidisciplinary service for students and their families called the SNAP Team. A young boy named Mark was referred to the SNAP Team because of concerns about his overall health. When the nurse could find no medical cause for his headache, chest pains, and frequent crying, she referred him to a counselor. The counselor discovered that the child and his siblings were living with the children’s maternal grandmother. Mark’s mother was homeless and had a history of drug abuse.
Mark was clearly depressed and struggling to concentrate in class. Mark told the counselor that his mother had promised him a visit for his birthday, but had not shown up. One of the SNAP Team case workers found out that Mark’s mother worked in a restaurant near the school and arranged a family reunion that was very powerful. The Team offered the mother a referral for drug counseling, which she declined, but she was later referred for housing and is moving up on the waiting list. The SNAP Team linked her to transportation services that allow her to see her children more consistently.
Mark had been in three schools in 4 years and was at risk of failing. He was referred to the content mastery program, the afterschool homework center, individual counseling, and Victoria’s Promise To Youth, a community-based program. The mother now enthusiastically and thankfully supports the services offered to her children.
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