Type:
Government
Location:
Rocky Mount, NC
Phone:
(919) 807-4400
Major(s)
Social Work, Psychology, Criminal Justice, Behavioral Science, Sociology and any other major falling within Human Services
Project Objective
Edgecombe Youth Development Center is one of the state's six Youth Development Centers (YDCs) for the confinement of adjudicated delinquents. The facility operates under a therapeutic model of care that was piloted for three years with the assistance of two prior summer interns. Under the model, staff teach youth pro-social skills throughout the day through structured role plays, while also addressing other factors known to increase risk for involvement in criminal activity. One such factor is gang involvement; there has been a steady increase in gang activity noted among youth committed to YDCs across the state, with 38 percent of our current population assessed as gang-involved. As a result, our Department is examining ways to supplement our rehabilitation efforts with a Gang Intervention Program that is being piloted at our facility and at one other. The project involves an intensive group curriculum targeting motivation to change and the psychosocial needs of gang-involved youth. Changes in receptivity and in attitudes forward gang involvement are being monitored systematically. We aim to increase confined juvenile offenders' motivation to change, decrease criminal thinking attitudes, values, and beliefs, and to decrease gang affiliation as a result of this effort.
Major Tasks
The intern will work closely with a licensed clinical social worker who works as a member of a multidisciplinary service planning team to coordinate the care and services addressing the treatment, rehabilitative, and educational needs of youth confined at the facility. Interns will assist with care management, including service and aftercare planning, and will also assist in co-leading multiple gang interventions groups weekly, and in tracking gang intervention data collection and entry. Interns will also attend monthly multidisciplinary service planning meetings and weekly clinical staffing wherein youth's progress is monitored, and through which treatment goals and strategies are adjusted.
Final Product or Outcome
By the completion of the 10-week internship, interns will have a better understanding of the psychosocial factors contributing to gang involvement, as well as the complexities of large scale clinical research. They will have assisted in the coordination of data collection, in manualized psychoeducation group delivery, and in streamlining implementation procedures for the project.