1st Edition

Adolescent Violence in the Home Restorative Approaches to Building Healthy, Respectful Family Relationships

By Gregory Routt, Lily Anderson Copyright 2015
    206 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    206 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Adolescent Violence in the Home examines a form of violence that has a profound impact on families but is often overlooked and frequently misunderstood: teen aggression and violence toward members of their family—especially parents. Violence in adolescents is often seen as the result of a mental-health diagnosis, delinquency, or as a response to dysfunctional parenting, and though understanding a youth’s mental-health status or a parenting style can be helpful, complete focus on either is misplaced. Adolescent Violence in the Home uses a restorative framework, developed by the authors and in use in court systems and organizations around the world, to situate violent behaviors in the context of power and the intergenerational cycle of violence. Readers will come away from this book with a profound understanding of the social and individual factors that lead youth to use violence and how adolescent violence affects parents, and they’ll also learn about a variety of interventions that specifically address teen violence against parents.

    Chapter 1: Adolescent Violence in the Home: An Uncharted Territory. Chapter 2: Physical Abuse. Chapter 3: Emotional Abuse. Chapter 4: Understanding Parents and Families. Chapter 5: Understanding Teens. Chapter 6: An Intervention Model for Youth Violence in the Home. Chapter 7: Foundation for Change: A Safe Environment. Chapter 8: A Restorative Practice Approach. Chapter 9: A Pathway to Nonviolence: Helping Youth Develop Skills for Success. Chapter 10: Helping Parents Restore Leadership in the Family.

    Biography

    Gregory Routt, MA, is codeveloper of Step Up, a counseling program in Seattle for teens that are violent with family members, and coauthor of the Step Up curriculum. The Step Up curriculum has been used in juvenile courts, family courts, and related agencies in the US, Canada, England, and Australia. Prior to working with Step Up, Mr. Routt worked with adult perpetrators of domestic violence at Family Services Domestic Violence Treatment Program in Seattle and was codirector of the program. He has also worked as a chemical dependency counselor with inmates in Seattle’s King County Jail.

    Lily Anderson, MSW, is codeveloper of Step Up and a coauthor of the Step Up curriculum. She has worked in the field of domestic violence since 1978. From 1986 to 1998 she developed and coordinated a parent education program for Family Services in Seattle, where she authored two parenting curriculums, Anger Management for Parents and Skills for Respectful Parenting. In 1997, she coauthored Helping Children Who Have Experienced Domestic Violence: A Guide for Parents, a curriculum for parents of children who have experienced domestic violence that is being used nationwide in perpetrator and survivor programs.

    "Adolescent Violence in the Home provides a compelling and comprehensive overview of the challenges inherent in addressing abuse by youth. Based on decades of hands-on, extraordinary work, Routt and Anderson offer specific intervention models proven to be highly effective. This enormously rich book will guide families and practitioners who seek to understand and help troubled, violent youth." —Sarah Buel, clinical professor of law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and domestic violence survivor

    "This is an excellent and original book that should be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand more about this form of family violence. Routt and Anderson are world-leading authorities on adolescent violence in the home, having co-developed the longest running and most established specific program. Here they share the depth and breadth of their experience, knowledge, and understanding to provide an outstanding text that offers powerful insights into how the problem might best be understood and addressed. Highly recommended for practitioners, policy makers, and academic audiences." —Rachel Condry, associate professor of criminology at the University of Oxford

    "This book is an important and highly readable addition to the growing library of work on adolescent violence in the home. I would recommend it to anyone interested in developing their knowledge further, whether as an academic or a practitioner in the field." —Helen Bonnick, Holes in the Wall blog