Police support unit helps at-risk youths change their ways

Aisha Corbie, manager of the Victim and Witness Support Unit of the TTPS speaking at the Who’s Writing Your Story – Victim to Victor workshop for young men at the Beetham Gardens Community Centre on February 11. PHOTO COURTESY THE TTPS -
Aisha Corbie, manager of the Victim and Witness Support Unit of the TTPS speaking at the Who’s Writing Your Story – Victim to Victor workshop for young men at the Beetham Gardens Community Centre on February 11. PHOTO COURTESY THE TTPS -

Some men have difficulty dealing with failure and rejection. They feel boxed in, like they have no options and it sometimes causes them to make unhealthy choices.

Aisha Corbie, manager of the police Victim and Witness Support Unit, said that is the reason her unit was leading a workshop with young men – to show them their options and equip them to change their behaviours and their stories.

The second instalment of the five-part workshop, Who’s Writing Your Story – Victim to Victor, took place at the Beetham Gardens Community Centre on February 11. The participants were young men, aged 14-18, from the Morvant/Laventille Secondary School and the Russell Latapy Secondary School.

The first session took place in March 2020, with a total of 80 youths, and was led by mostly male presenters. The sessions were designed to be in-person and interactive, so virtual sessions were not considered. Now, they are being set up in smaller groups that follow covid19 protocols.

Corbie explained, “The objective is to provide healthy alternatives for young males residing in at-risk areas. They need to know that there are options available for them to cope with the effect of crime."

After all, the unit’s focus is to help crime victims or people affected by crime.

“We’re hoping that, at the end of this there is an overall improvement in well-being. That they are able to live more functional and successful lives, that they are deterred from criminal activity, and, more so, that officials and policy-makers gain an awareness and understanding of their experiences. It is important that, as we plan programmes or workshops, we get real information from the individuals who are in the middle of writing their stories.”

Corbie also hopes young men will learn the value of failure as well as rejection so it will be easier for them to bounce back from disappointments and make healthy choices. If they do not have a sense of possibility, if they feel the walls are closing in on them, it is difficult to make those positive choices. Instead they might feel the need to fight, be aggressive, or that they have to do something illegal to get out of a situation.

She explained that the workshop lets them know where they can get emotional support if affected by crime, and that they are not expected to be stoic. It works on expanding their “inner strength” and qualities such as commitment, determination, perseverance, honesty, creativity, and interpersonal skills. It provides a safe space for them to work on changing society’s narrative about them, and gives them the tools and power to write their own stories.

She said the unit is holding the workshops because of the large number of people it engages with very year. A minimum of 2,000 new people are affected by crime every year, approximately 700 people per quarter.

In 2020, the unit had 3,400 new clients, with a 70:30 female-to-male ratio. Most of the cases were domestic violence and family disputes, followed by homicide-related cases.

Since both sexes are victims, they should be of equal concern. Corbie noted that some young men are victims of sexual abuse or are put in the difficult position of physically protecting their mothers or siblings. These situations affect how they manage conflict now and in their adult relationships.

“We have done programmes for females, but we felt the need to do something that specifically targets young men. A lot has been said about men on the whole over the past year, so we felt the need to start with the young men, because this is where you can have more sustainable behaviour change. And because we believe their stories have not been told or may not have been appreciated.

“We want to plant those seeds of resilience so that when they become adults and are confronted with those types of crises, they will be able to deal with it. It will improve their chances of dealing with it in a different manner.”

In the next session, the unit will focus on gender-based violence in time for International Women’s Day on Monday. The unit intends to have “meaningful dialogue on the situation that is impacting the country.”

In the last session, she said the young men expressed their views and denounced the way women have been treated in TT society.

After each interactive session, the unit does evaluations so it can be better equipped to help more people in the future, especially as it intends to take the workshop to different schools and communities.

It also plans to have more programmes to reach out to the average person over the next year and help them to cope during the pandemic.

Corbie said it is important to have these programmes to help deal with life, finances, confinement, changes in social infrastructure, increasing tendencies toward depression and more, as the pandemic is making people more susceptible to life crises.

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"Police support unit helps at-risk youths change their ways"

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