Custom Curriculum

We provide nearly 100 different titles addressing gang prevention and intervention. Our comprehensive resources make it easy to select materials appropriate to your needs. We can help identify resources appropriate to your population, time frame, and objectives. We specialize in packaging the materials to make it easy for your staff, counselors, or teachers to implement the program.

If you need additional resources in specialized program areas, our psychologists, social workers, corrections professionals, authors, and editors specialize in the development of new materials — at very reasonable cost!

We can readily help tailor programs for specialized applications. In most cases, this involves helping clients select the most appropriate resources. There is no charge for this service.

Consultation

We work closely with most of our clients to tailor our programs to best address their needs. We can help you design an entire new program, or complement your existing program elements. Your response to the form below will enable our staff to discuss the most appropriate program options and program resouces with you. There is no additional charge for this service.

If you would like to take advantage of this service, fill out this form. The form is crafted to take into account cultural and population traits of your clients the treatment setting, and your organization's preferred apprach to treatment.

Our curriculum approach for gang intervention programs

Our approach is taken with these compelling features in mind:

• Our resources are based on cognitive-behavioral treatment concepts. This means that participants are guided to identify "thinking" issues underlying their past behavior. Following this, they are guided to a new understanding of these issues, their feelings, and the ways in which their own thoughts have set them up for more problems. Following this cognitive work, participants are taught new ways of stopping old (harmful) behaviors and using new coping skills. Successful management of individual-specific risk factors is a critical part of relapse prevention.
• The curriculum has a logical progression, guiding the process of personal change. It first addresses defensiveness, then cognitive issues. Among the critical issues for gang intervention programs are the individual risk factors that led to gang involvement - and which may contribute to a return to these behaviors in the future. When the participant is ready to learn new approaches, it then addresses the behavioral component (primarily new coping and interpersonal skills), leading to risk factors management (self-efficacy), relapse prevention planning and life/lifestyle planning. Finally, the program addresses specific individual risk factors. Our program is based on the widely-accepted personal change model of Prochaska and DiClemente, and includes the tools your staff need to evaluate individual progress and program success.
• The intervention program is primarily workbook-based, with supportive materials to increase individual and group participation. Workbooks provide structure and support and they clearly identify the progress of participants. When work is not completed, this is also evident. Most materials are written at a grade 4-5 reading level, so most participants have no difficulty in understanding or completing the work. Frequent checklists, charts, tables, and group activities make the work non-threatening and reduce resistance, and make it more likely that participants will identify issues and problems.
• The program supports group and individual counseling. Many assignments can be given as homework, so participants will completed reading and written assignments before coming to the group activity. This reduces the need to spend the limited time available for group discussion or treatment in reading or writing activities. Teachers can use the critical activities identified for each assignment to go immediately to the important issues and engage students in discussion. To make it easier for program staff, behavioral objectives are identified for all activities in each workbook (in the lesson plan provided).