Urban School‐Based Family Counseling: Role Definition, Practice Applications, and Training Implications

Violence Prevention in United States Society of Jesus Secondary Schools

“…Schools can also address person based triggers for violence, such as family issues and mental health issues, by training personnel to refer students to counselors when they exhibit warning signs for violence, and by providing trained counselors who can assist students (Bybee & Gee, 1982;Canter & Garrison, 1994;Dorn, 2002;Dryfoos, 1998;Evans & Carter, 1997;QPR Institute, 2007;Rubel, 1977;. School personnel and researchers will want to explore how to address person based triggers for violence.…”

“…• Develop and implement sound school safety policies including policies on how to report a threat against the life, health, or safety of an individual to proper authorities (Shaughnessy, 1998(Shaughnessy, , 2000a(Shaughnessy, , 2000bWatson, 2003); • Develop and practice crisis response plans (Boyd, 2000;Dwyer, Osher, & Warger, 1998;Shaughnessy, 2002); • Carefully screen all school employees and volunteers (Gluckman, 1996) • Use police-style logging methods to record violent incidents so that details such as time, place, and persons involved can be used to prevent future incidents (Vestermark, 1996); • Provide training for school personnel on how to respond to student misbehavior and how to respond to warning signs for violence (Bybee & Gee, 1982;Canter & Garrison, 1994;Dorn, 2002;Dryfoos, 1998;Evans & Carter, 1997;Rubel, 1977;; United States Secret Service & United States Department of Education, 2002); • Provide training for school personnel in suicide prevention strategies (QPR Institute, 2007); • Create a school climate in which students feel welcome and take ownership for violence prevention, especially the prevention of harassment including electronic harassment (Battistich & Hom, 1997; Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, 2007;Cimino, Haney, & O'Keefe, 2001;Eschool News, 2007;Films Media Group, 2007;Kozaczek, 2000;School Violence Resource Center, 2007;Snowden & Gorton, 2002); • Combine safe school technology (video cameras, door alarms, and door locks) with safe school training for faculty and staff; recognizing that technology by itself is a weak method of violence prevention (Newsbriefs, 2002;Satchell, 2002;Zinna, 2002); and • Initiate programs that bring school personnel, parents, students, and members of the community together around violence prevention; especially programs to store weapons safely in homes and reduce violence in the media (Derksen & Strasburger, 1996;…”

Carrying a Weapon to School

“…Proponents of school-based family counseling models and the full-service school movement, for example, suggest expanded roles for school personnel better positions them to provide educational and therapeutic services to families to improve the likelihood of success for their children (Evans & Carter, 1997;Kronick, 2003). A challenge inherent to these school-based approaches to prevention work, however, is that often the youth and families most in need of services are the most difficult to engage.…”

Integration of the Family Therapy Specialist into Public School Pupil Personnel Services

“…This concept is not a new one. Champagne (1990), Evans andCarter (1997), andOkiishi (1987) have found use of the genogram for different school populations very useful. A family specialist in the schools would initially use genograms in working with problematized families, but other staff could be trained in time so that each child in the district would have their genogram re-drawn in three year intervals.…”