How To Help Children and Youth That Attend School With Gangs And Violence

Attending schools and living in communities with gang activity puts children & youth at great risk of being badly hurt in many ways. It also increases the risk that children & youth will become violent or join gangs in self-defense. Attending schools with gangs and violence can lead to death, permanent disability, imprisonment, addictions of all kinds, and being abused in many ways. Gangs and violence can be signs of families, schools and communities not meeting the children’s or youth’s needs for: meaningful skills; realistic, effective self-esteem; communication skills; effective alternatives; security/safety; success; social connection; and hope. Children & youth also join gangs for reasons of friendship in the face of loneliness and feeling useless/worthless. The existence of gangs and violence can also reflect alienation from the community, a lack of communication skills and poor nutrition. Too often the unresolved, unsupported pain and suffering of youth abnormalize the normal and normalize the abnormal. Children and youth become so desperate and alienated from society that gang life looks attractive. Society, so far, is not forgiving and compassionate when anyone makes a mistake or breaks the law. This lack of compassion condemns children & youth, who can come to think of themselves as “bad” forever. Gangs help kids feel normal and welcomed. Nutritional imbalances and exposure to environmental pollutants can also be involved in making children & youth anxious, angry and violent.

Without help, gang violence can be life threatening and can lead to dangerous and crippling lifetime habits. Changing to a safer school is not always possible, but still a good idea to explore. Being in such dangerous schools makes learning very difficult, due to the stress of fearing for personal safety. Violence and willingness to participate in gang life is often caused by survival needs (safer to be violent or in a gang because there are no alternative safe options). The violent behavior is often due to and complicated by a combination of: mental illness; unacknowledged fear; anger; low self-esteem; boredom; hopelessness; family modeling; loneliness. Drugs and alcohol can be involved in both violence and gang membership, as can alienation from society, insufficient communication and negotiation skills, a history of a lack of school funding and inappropriate school staffing. Nutritional imbalances and exposure to pollutants may also be factors.