As police search for 15-year-old Tre’Vante Etienne’s killer and the Savan community plans for security cameras, a Virgin Islands therapy and counseling service hopes to quell violence before it starts with free conflict-resolution trainings for the territory’s young people.
Island Therapy Solutions has two free workshops prepared to teach how to deal with disagreements constructively, one for kindergarten to sixth grade children, and one for junior high and high schoolers, said Lindsy Wagner, the company’s CEO.
“That socio-learning component is a big part that’s really missing in our younger students and they can carry all that through adulthood,” Wagner said. “It also helps kids express their thoughts and express their feelings appropriately. It helps them listen to other people’s perspectives, which is a big part of conflict resolution — being able to see somebody else’s perspective.”
Empathy is the key component, she said. Seeing a situation from another person’s point of view is a primary element in resolving disputes.
“It also teaches them to use respectful language during disagreements, language that doesn’t escalate the situation,” Wagner said. “It also teaches them to ask for help when they need it.”
The skills learned — avoiding violence and bullying — don’t disappear when someone turns 18, and can lead to better outcomes for the students throughout their lives, she said.
Launched Monday, the Conflict Resolution Workshops will be available to summer camps, nonprofit organizations, youth and church groups, schools, after-school programs, and other community-based organizations throughout the year, Wagner said.
The message of the programs is roughly the same for the two age groups, she said, but how it is delivered is different: calming strategies, effective use of “I” statements, how to have respectful disagreements, emotional regulation techniques, real strategies for peer exclusion and friendship challenges, and how to navigate online conflict safely.
Workshops for older kids will lean heavily on the plague of digital bullying — which is rampant in social media pages used by adults as well.
More than half of teens have experienced online harassment and 53% said cyber bullying was a major problem in their community, according to Island Therapy Solutions. According to Wagner, with 46% of teens reporting being online “almost constantly,” it can be difficult to disengage from an unhealthy digital conflict.
One lesson, was “not using social media as a forum for expressing your emotions,” she said “You can’t see somebody’s perspective from an online presence.”
Wagner said the workshops had been planned for some time but the need became more urgent in recent weeks.
“Definitely more requests lately. The conflict resolution classes help kids solve problems, resolve things before they escalate. It helps them learn to actively listen and communicate respectfully to their peers, provide constructive feedback,” she said.
The session will be available Tuesdays and Thursdays on St. Croix, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays on St. Thomas.
Interested parties can reach out to Clinic Director Michele Warren at 340-719-7007.
