Safe Passage

Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence
offers expert perspectives and guidance in understanding, assessing, and
addressing school violence. Although the book is designed for child and
adolescent forensic psychiatrists and psychologists seeking proficiency in
youth violence risk assessment, educators, school administrators, mental
health clinicians, other health care professionals who work with children,
and interested laypersons will also find the book both practical and
illuminating. The editors' approach to school violence is informed by their
educational, scholarly, clinical, and forensic work with children and adults
who have been disenfranchised through the cumulative effects of poverty,
trauma, untreated mental illness, and inadequate access to education. This
background has fostered a sensitivity to and understanding of critically
important developmental factors that can be passed on generationally, which
are explored in depth in the volume. Case vignettes and follow-ups are used
liberally to illustrate and illuminate the range of violent situations
(e.g., bullying, cyberbullying, gang violence, sexual violence) likely to be
encountered, as well as the advantages and disadvantages inherent in various
interventions. The authors stress that threat assessment must take
individual, school, and community variables into account, a complex but
necessary task for mental health professionals and educators who wish to
safeguard individuals and society from harm.

This book provides a
road map for understanding and addressing violence of all kinds in the
school environment:


* The subtyping of aggression is thoroughly explored, with special
focus on reward-seeking behaviors and the development of impulse control in
adolescents.
* Identifying students at risk for violence or abuse at
home is of critical importance. The chapter on danger at home teaches the
reader to recognize trauma symptoms and examines the necessary steps toward
establishing a trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive school environment.
*
In violence risk assessment, every student is evaluated in relation to
static risk factors (historical variables that cannot be changed), dynamic
risk factors (risk factors that are amenable to change) and protective
factors. The authors emphasize that violence risk is characterized along a
continuum rather than in binary fashion.
* Case law is cited where
relevant throughout the book, providing context for the evolution of school
policies toward violence.
* Key points and clinical pearls at the end of
each chapter provide convenient summaries of information and help the reader
focus on the most important ideas.

Compassionate and comprehensive,
Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence introduces
readers to important concepts pertaining to school violence and serves as a
practical guide for mitigating and preventing violence in our schools.