Interrupt the cycle of violence with cycles of respect and safety and love and care
Adults should teach that you can be really angry because somebody stripped you of rights, but committing violent acts will perpetuate the very thing that caused this trauma in the first place. I think we need to interrupt the cycle of violence with cycles of respect and safety and love and care. We know that kids who have at least one adult with whom they feel connected, with whom they feel a trusting relationship, are much less likely to engage in risky behaviors including violence.
Colby Swettberg, Ed.M, LCSW
Recognizing their world
You can’t be thinking that you’re going to swoop in with your superhero cape on and save a kid. You also need to recognize the kid’s world. You’re only going to be doing good if you’re helping them to navigate their world, and see that the world is bigger, that it’s not just their neighborhood, that there are other options out there. Their neighborhood is what’s comfortable and familiar. Plucking them out and moving them to a totally different world where you feel safe and comfortable and where you think there isn’t violence isn’t real, and it’s not fair to either of you.
Colby Swettberg, Ed.M, LCSW
Modeling respectful behavior
As kids get older they need to have a lot of the adults involved in their lives that are caring and nurturing, and are modeling respectful behavior. In order to respect other people kids need to experience respect. If they are not feeling respected it’s going to be harder for them to grow up and respect other people. There’s a layer that providers and families can offer in terms of building trusting relationships with kids and being a community of support. Acknowledging when kids do something really well and not only focusing on deficits is a constant struggle.
Erin Collins, LICSW
Youth can see an officer is just another normal guy who has a job he’s doing
Get youth involved in community programs. You have midnight basketball league, you have summer programs where cops are there, so kids can see the police officers out of their normal capacity driving around patrolling. It doesn’t even have to go so far as a program. It can just be a police officer coming into school once in a while to talk, so youth can see that an officer is just another normal guy who has a job he’s doing. If they start to respect the cops on an individual basis, maybe they’ll think all the rest of the cops aren’t such bad guys, either. To see police officers out of their working capacity in any situation would help.
Taylor Small, Police Officer
Street workers have been there
As a street worker, a lot of gang members trust us. Because most street workers have former experience with gangs, they know the streets. So we can relate if someone says, “I just got locked up, man, what do you know?” “My girl just got beat up, this guy is gonna beat me up. What do you know?” “I just got shot at, what do you know?” I can say, “I was there. I was on that road.” I can explain a little bit of my stories. I can tell them, “I’ve been there. I found a better way to deal with it, so you got to find a better way to deal with it.”
Veasna Mao Kang, Streetworker, United Teen Equality Center