A bilingual "neighborhood club": intervening with children exposed to urban violence.
Mental health practitioners have offered relatively little in response to the pervasive community violence faced by many children living in impoverished neighborhoods. The "neighborhood club" is a school-based, short-term, support group designed to assist children with the psychological impact of exposure to community violence. Ten "neighborhood clubs" were conducted in two public elementary schools in Detroit, Michigan. This paper reviews the implementation of a bilingual "neighborhood club," undertaken to better serve the Spanish-speaking Latino students in a school community. We discuss many of the rewards and challenges of conducting a bilingual, multicultural support group for children and conclude that a bilingual support group provides all children with a model that validates ethnic and cultural diversity while also building empathic bonds based on mutually-reinforcing, common experiences.
Ceballo
Rosario
R
Psychology Department and Women's Studies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. rosarioc@umich.edu
Ramirez
Cynthia
C
Maltese
Kelly L
KL
Bautista
Elida M
EM
D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan; D019303:Multilingualism; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011822:Race Relations; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*