Counselling scheme to prevent trauma victims from falling into crime
Dozens of young people who experienced severe trauma as children will be offered counselling in a bid to prevent them falling into a life of crime.
Behaviour experts have found that children who have parents with drink or drug habits, or from families suffering domestic abuse are more likely to end up in trouble with the law as they grow up.
Now a new counselling initiative has been launched by the Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) which was set up in 2019 to tackle the causes of violence. Whilst the police investigate crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice, the partnership seeks to tackle issues at the root cause.
Places are available for 85 people mainly aged under 25 in Birmingham and the Black Country.
The cognitive behavioural therapy sessions will be provided by AVision, is designed to help young people work through conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, paranoia or extreme anxiety to help young people gain more control over their thoughts, feelings and actions, to overcome the impacts of trauma and to enable them to make better decisions.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster said: “This intervention is an important contribution to the action we are taking to prevent and reduce violence.
“Whilst we need robust policing to hold offenders to account for their actions via the criminal justice system, we have known for a long time that we cannot simply arrest our way out of the problem of high levels of violence.
“Schemes like this can help tackle violence head on and prevent people from reoffending time and again.”
AVision chief executive Avril Grant said: “It’s a sad reality that our young people are exposed to violence at such a young age and many experience trauma.
“It’s important that young people have a safe space where they can feel comfortable enough to express their thoughts and feelings without judgment. All our experienced counsellors and therapists are culturally competent and easy to relate to.
“At AVision we believe it takes a joined-up approach to reduce youth violence and a critical part of that process is about healing the wound itself, rather than putting a plaster over it.
“With better understanding they can then break a negative cycle and build a new path towards transformation and hopefully, aspiration.”
