Citation

Ceballo R, Ramirez C, Maltese KL, Bautista EM. Am. J. Community Psychol. 2006; 37(3-4): 167-174.

Affiliation

Psychology Department and Womens Studies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1007/s10464-006-9016-9

PMID

16619138

Abstract

Mental health practitioners have offered relatively little in response to the pervasive community violence faced by many children living in impoverished neighborhoods. The "neighborhood club" is a school-based, short-term, support group designed to assist children with the psychological impact of exposure to community violence. Ten "neighborhood clubs" were conducted in two public elementary schools in Detroit, Michigan. This paper reviews the implementation of a bilingual "neighborhood club," undertaken to better serve the Spanish-speaking Latino students in a school community. We discuss many of the rewards and challenges of conducting a bilingual, multicultural support group for children and conclude that a bilingual support group provides all children with a model that validates ethnic and cultural diversity while also building empathic bonds based on mutually-reinforcing, common experiences.

Language: en