Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation
55 W. 39th Street
New York, NY 10018
Violence prevention and intervention services for youth in Cincinnati, Ohio
Grant Application:
Safe At Home is seeking support for our Margaret’s Place program at Riverview East Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio. Margaret’s Place is a safe room within the school, staffed by a full-time, master’s-level therapist. The therapist provides group and individual counseling to youth impacted by violence, abuse, and trauma; violence prevention workshops for youth; youth empowerment and leadership training; violence prevention workshops for parents/caregivers and school staff; and school-wide awareness campaigns. Safe At Home has been working with Riverview East since 2017, providing students ages 11-18 with services free of charge.
Goals:
Margaret’s Place program has five overarching goals:
1. Provide clinical services to youth who have been exposed to violence or abuse.
2. Provide psychoeducation and counseling to prevent violence.
3. Engage youth leaders as advocates in their own peer circles.
4. Engage the student population in violence prevention programming.
5. Improve school safety and climate.
In order to achieve these goals, counselors and staff aim to provide the following deliverables broken down for each aspect of the program. Core to our mission is supporting youth who have experienced trauma through clinical services, such as group and individual counseling, in order to begin the healing process. The goal of our programs are to decrease symptoms of trauma, develop healthy coping skills, and develop youth capacity to engage in non-violent communication. Achieving these goals, SAH will provide at least 40 youth with ongoing counseling and a minimum of 220 counseling sessions, both individual and group counseling.
Grant Evaluation Report:
During the grant period, the MP Counselor facilitated two LGBTQ+ Counseling Groups, one for middle school and another group for high school. Most of the participating students reported experiencing a lack of acceptance from their family members related to their LGBTQ+ identities, and several have experienced prior abuse. The group aims to offer a safe space for students to explore these experiences and identities and to empower themselves through therapeutic interventions. For example, a student asked a question about a cousin that recently came out as transgender. The student was mindful and respectful to the group and asked questions to have a better understanding of how to engage with and accept his cousin. Students of the LGBTQ Community spoke up and gave him advice and also thanked him for asking questions rather than assuming something or simply ignoring his cousin. This interaction happened because students felt comfortable coming into Margaret's Place and having open, honest and above all respectful conversations with each other. Since this occurred, more students identify as allies to the LGBTQ community.
During the Domestic Violence Awareness campaign, one of the most successful campaign activities was an interactive mural project. High school art students contributed by creating paintings that represented their own personal experience with domestic violence or painting ways to bring awareness to others about domestic violence. Students did this through painting messages and stories on shoes with the understanding of having to "walk a mile" in someone's shoes that have been effected by domestic violence. Additionally, students painted mason jars and placed a purple LED light in jars. Mason jars were displayed in the windows of the cafeteria to pay tribute to the survivors and people who have lost their life because of domestic violence.
Results:
Safe At Home utilized Charles Dater Foundation support to achieve a majority of the goals we set out to achieve this past year. The Riverview East Academy counselor provided 50 youth with individual counseling with 138 sessions held along with 62 group counseling sessions to 51* youth. Youth who received counseling reported the following: 75% felt more confident and having better self-esteem; 100% had more interest in activities; 75% felt they can better deal with their problems; 67% felt more in control when they get angry and are not as easily angered or irritated as before; and 67% felt confident they could put into practice the tools and strategies learned in Margaret’s Place.
In addition to our counseling goals, the counselor provided 45 topical prevention workshops to 537* youth, 5 YES curriculum workshop cycles to 93 youth, and 14 peer leadership activities for the 3 peer leaders. Youth who have taken part in the above programming reported the following: 75% agreed that they had the skills to be a responsible bystander and 65% of youth agreed that they have a responsibility to intervene. Students also reported a greater confidence in their relationship skills and greater confidence in identifying a trusted adult within the school. Peer leaders and the counselor hosted 2 violence awareness campaigns during the grant period. The counselor held 1 workshop for 50 staff during the grant period.
*Calculation might include duplicate participants
Website:
http://www.joetorre.org Amount: $20,000
Date: June 2022
