Recently I attended (and Horse Sense & EAGALA had a booth at) the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's National Youth Gang Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, June 23-26. (Click on logo at right to take you to the OJJDP website to learn more.) It was a wonderfully informative conference, and we had a lot of interest in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and utilizing the EAGALA model for working with court-involved and particularly gang-involved youth!

This conference focused on the range of services for this particular population, from Faith- and Community-Based Organizations to Law Enforcement. I attended many helpful and insightful breakout sessions with new ideas for prevention and intervention, both areas that Horse Sense is involved in in our own community.

Of particular interest to me was a presentation called "Community-Based Gang Prevention, Intervention and Suppression and Re-Entry", given by the Gang Reduction and Intervention Program (GRIP) of Richmond, VA. Quite similar in description to the Gang Violence Prevention Program in Buncombe Co, NC, which Horse Sense is a part of (now funded by the Govenor's Crime Commission), the GRIP program was launched in 2003 and has really leveraged the idea of partnership and community-based intervention. Among the folks from the GRIP program presenting were representatives from the Office of the Attorney General for Richmond, VA, the Richmond Police Department and various GRIP outreach workers.

There are various ways EAP/EAL programs can work with gang programs in their community. Prevention would include events to engage kids before they become involved with gangs. Intervention would include programs like Horse Sense's Running with Mustangs, providing counseling, skillbuilding and vocational support for kids already involved in gangs. Re-entry is another area where EAP/EAL is an appropriate consideration. (Suppression, however, is primarily a police/enforcement level of engagement.)

Howdy everyone!

Today Lisa and I spent the day in Morganton, NC attending the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association's Gang Awareness Symposium, and all-day event designed to educate about gang and gang activity in our state.

As many of you may know, we are active in serving gang-involved and youth at-risk of gang-involvement in Western North Carolina, and events like this keep us informed and aware of new trends and developments that affect us and the kids we serve.

Today's symposium had an Overview of Gangs in North Carolina and, although no one would really expect North Carolina to rate high on such a scale, there are over 550 gangs across 62 counties in our state. Pretty surprising numbers, wouldn't you think?

Also part of the day was a presentation on Psychology Behind Gangs, along with a presentation by Gang of One(tm), a Charlotte-based program that offers a variety of services, such as prevention, intervention, suppression and reentry of former "gang-bangers" back into society. It's a large collaborative effort that is well worth a look!

Like the many programs involved in Gang of One (tm), Horse Sense of the Carolinas is part of a larger collaborative effort in our own Buncombe County called the Gang Violence Prevention Program, begun in 2006. Our Running With Mustangs curriculum is the culmination of our five years of work in the field with adjudicated and incarcerated youth.

To learn more about gangs and possible gang activity in your area, visit this website called Helping Gang Youth. While there, be sure to download the National Youth Gang Survey 1996-2000. Although a bit outdated, it's still a great reference. Or, contact your local police department and ask if they have any upcoming trainings or educational presentations about gangs in your community!

All the best,

Hey everyone!

Well, another group of boys from the Youth Development Center (YDC) here in Western North Carolina (WNC) are about to graduate from our Running with Mustangs program. We are always sad to see them go!

From rather simple beginnings and with the collaboration and efforts of the YDC, our Running With Mustangs program is the counseling and vocational element of the multi-agency Gang Violence Prevention Program in Buncombe County. Running with Mustangs has grown into one of the cornerstones of the programming at Horse Sense of the Carolinas, and we really feel that others are looking to us as leaders in the field of innovative treatment of this specialized population.

As those of you who have attended our trainings know, we're passionate about adjudicated youth, and we're honored and grateful to be able to provide such an effective intervention.

Running with Mustangs, our curriculum for working specifically with incarcerated youth, is comprised of four components:

• Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)
  
• Natural Horsemanship
• Vocational
• POETIX

We always begin with EAGALA-model EAP, and then progress into Natural Horsemanship. The Vocational and the POETIX components run concurrently with the EAP & Natural Horsemanship.

Today the boys prepared for their graduation ceremonies, in which they will perform some of their spoken-word poetry, and also demonstrate "freestyle" some of the skills they've learned playing with horses. The confidence and satisfaction in their eyes always fills us with gratitude.

As soon as we incorporate these boys' poetry into our Mane Lines book, we'll make them available for you to buy. All proceeds from the Mane Lines goes to support the Horse Sense Scholarship Program.

All the best as we continue to make a difference, together!

Click here to learn more about our Running with Mustangs program.

Hey guys!

Just getting back in from the 3rd Annual Youth Violence Prevention Conference in Charlotte, NC, which took place today, March 25th. There were some wonderful presentations on a variety of topics. The focus of the conference was "Girls Gone Wild: The Rising Tide of Violence in Young Females."

Among our keynote speakers was Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a nationally recognized public health leader and author of Sugar & Spice and No Longer Nice: How We Can Stop Girls' Violence and Murder is No Accident: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America. It was an honor to hear her speak about the topic, and I'd like to draw attention to a few of her key points.

She talked about there being 3 Waves of Youth Violence in the United States, pointing to the First Wave of young male violence in urban poor neighborhoods, such as in Chicago, New York and other big cities. We're all familiar with that wave. The Second Wave is the one characterized by the suburban, rural, smaller-town feel, such as Columbine. The Third Wave she points to is with girls and young women, the topic of today's conference. (She hinted at her thoughts toward a Fourth Wave, that of much younger children and violence.)

Perhaps the most interesting idea was revealed when she spoke about the Risk Factors that foster youth violence. They include:

• Poverty
  
• Access to Guns
• Alcohol/Drug Use
• Biological/Organic Abnormalities
• Culture of Violence

The first 4 risk factors are equally evident for both boys and girls (girls and boys have similar rates of poverty, similar access to guns, etc.). She pointed to the last one as on the rise for girls, that our society is now actively "marketing violence to girls," a la Zena the Warrior Princess and such. While violence has always been marketing to some degree to boys, it's now being "sold" to girls more and more. I'm intrigued by this idea, and find merit in it.

If you have a chance to look at her work, I think you'll find it illuminating. And she was just one speaker among many for the day!

All the best,

Shannon