NCJ Number
217882
Date Published
2007
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents a nurturing practice model (NPM) for working with incarcerated juvenile gang members.
Abstract
The NPM, whose original format was developed with support from the National Institute of Mental Health, provides a step-by-step, exercise-by-exercise guide. It also provides a rationale for each exercise as well as the expected outcome for each level of the model. The NPM focuses on working with individual gang members and their families in a nonjudgmental interaction that identifies feelings linked to their behaviors, so that their feelings can be managed more constructively. One of the major challenges for forensic social workers involved with gang members is to deal with the needs of the family unit as well as the gang member. The NPM is grounded in systems theory and the psychosocial theory of life development across the life span. It emphasizes the importance of raising children in a warm, trusting, and caring household. The goal of the NPM is to identify all family subsystems and bring them together for an interaction that identifies goals, objectives, action plans, and follow-up methods. The family, the community, the gangs, social services, and juvenile services are viewed as systems that influence the feelings and behaviors of the gang member. The NPM's overarching orientation is empathy (understanding, feeling, and valuing the condition and needs of another person). The NPM aims to develop empathy in all stakeholders and players involved in the cessation of gang activities. It promotes the intervention process of "undoing" what is not working in the family and "doing" with families what they need in order to replace angry, violent feelings and thoughts. This chapter describes the six phases of the NPM: oral history, taking responsibility, capitalizing on strengths, involvement of significant others, experiencing success, and evaluation. 52 references