ART

GROUP Ministries, Inc. was awarded a grant, in 2022, by the City of Buffalo, to develop a program that helped reduce city-wide gun violence. Aggression Replacement Training (ART), an evidence-based intervention created by Dr. A. Goldstein in 1992, is geared toward changing behaviors in children, adolescents and adults. Our program, at GROUP, addresses the behavior of adolescents ages 14-21. This intervention, taught over a 10-week period, proven to have been very successful when taught to young gang members and youth with aggressive or violent behavior, is composed of three modules, Skill Streaming; Anger Control; and Moral Reasoning:

Skillstreaming:

• This session teaches adolescents social skills that inform them what they should do in any given situation. There are 50 skills to choose from but only 10 are utilized during the 10-week session. Skills address a variety of possible scenarios, and each are first defined by the facilitator and then modeled for the group. The next step is to have everyone in the group model the skill. The key to learning the skill is repetitiveness. Skillstreaming teaches the individual “what to do in conflict resolution.”

Anger Control:

• This session teaches adolescents the triggers, cues and reminders of the anger cycle. This permits the individual to recognize what causes his/her anger (triggers) and teaches how to identify the physical “cues” (rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, etc.) the indicate the onset of anger. This session then teaches the individual how to calm down with exercises such as counting backward, visualizing a happy place or circumstance (pleasant imagery) or deep breathing. Anger Control teaches the individual “what not to do in conflict situations.”

Moral Reasoning:

• Moral Reasoning is the only session that is not structured. It teaches the individual through group dialogue “why the individual should ‘do the right thing’” when in conflict situations and what the right thing looks like.

Individuals who complete the class are provided with a graduation ceremony and a certificate informing that they have completed Aggression Replacement Training (ART).