Loyola STOP School Violence

ABSTRACT
The goal of the Loyola STOP School Violence (LSSV) project is to develop and implement age-appropriate, school-specific, culturally competent, risk factor-relevant, trauma-informed, school-wide, and evidence-based school violence prevention training programs for students, school staff and law enforcement officers to prevent students’ engagement in violent activities, to improve school staff’s awareness of mental health needs, and to ensure a safe and positive school climate. Adopting the Response to Intervention (RtI) violence prevention strategies (i.e., Primary Prevention, Secondary Prevention or Intervention, Tertiary Prevention or Response), the LSSV project will provide CBITS and GREAT to one hundred eighty high risk students, while offering tMHFA, Sandy Hook Promise’s Say Something program, and 2nd Step SEL with Anti-Bullying program to six hundred lower risk target students at six public schools (K-12) in three impoverished communities in Chicago for three years. In addition, the LSSV project provides Youth MHFA training to two hundred forty school staff and local law enforcement officers to improve their awareness and responses to mental health issues. Finally, the LSSV project aims to offer student-initiated and school-wide violence prevention programs to ensure a safe and positive school climate.