Teaching Holistic Responses and Information for Violence Elimination (THRIVE)

Odyssey Family Counseling Center (OFCC) and the community partners that will be involved in the Teaching Holistic Responses & Information for Violence Elimination (THRIVE) project are committed to encouraging students to “THRIVE” for violence prevention in schools and their surrounding communities throughout the City of Atlanta.  Atlanta experiences significant levels of violence that spills over into the schools attended by the children and youth being educated there.  The THRIVE project will serve the Atlanta Public Schools (APS), a large urban school system in North Georgia. On a survey collected for the 2019 school year on questions concerning the last 30 days, 55% of students reported being picked on or teased, and 55% said they were bullied or threatened.  On a question concerning having been in a physical fight on school property in the last 12 months, 72% confirmed 1-2 occasions, 15% said 3-5 occasions, and 13% confirmed 5 or more occasions.  The specific program objectives that will be implemented towards achieving program success will include:     Objective 1) To provide evidence-based violence prevention training for at least 300 middle and high school students during project year 1, and 450 each during years 2 and 3, for a total of at least 1,200 students over the life of the program, as assessed by a review of training attendance records.      Objective 2) To provide evidence-based violence prevention via mental health awareness training for at least 30 teachers each project year, for a total of at least 90 teachers over the life of the program, as assessed by a review of training attendance records.       Objective 3) To recruit, train or maintain at least 8 students as peer educators each project year to work within the schools and the community to reinforce and further disseminate the message of violence prevention each project year, as assessed by a review of peer educator training records.      Objective 4) To have all trained teachers and other adults in mental health awareness work through the schools to make referrals to mental health providers, as assessed via a quarterly review of the files of the Mental Health First Aid Trainer.