Community and School Violence and Risk Reduction: Empirically Supported Prevention

The development, implementation, and research of two separate psychoeducational group programs are described. One of the programs, Project FREE (Family Rejuvenation, Education and Empowerment; developed by Paula T. McWhirter and her colleagues) focuses on mothers who have suffered domestic violence and their children as witnesses. The project includes parallel psychoeducational group sessions with battered mothers and a simultaneous psychoeducational group session with the children followed by a conjoint session with both mothers and children. The pilot and the initial studies were conducted in a clinic/hospital setting and later studies in temporary domestic homeless shelters. The second program, GOPEP (Group Oriented Psychoeducation Prevention; developed by J. Jeffries McWhirter and his colleagues) includes four separate school based interventions designed to reduce anger, diminish depression, reduce anxiety, and build positive peer and adult relationships. Each program includes 15 1-hr sessions for classroom group or as a pullout group program. Both Project FREE and GOPEP utilized group process is to reduce future problems and to promote well-being and positive mental health. Following program description and implementation, research process and group program efficacy are presented.