Santa Fe Adolescent Services in Fort Worth, Texas

Violence is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 11-19.

At Santa Fe Adolescent Services’ Second Step Violence Prevention Program in Fort Worth, TX kids learn empathy, impulse control, anger management, and problem solving.

Second Step is a series of lessons which addresses the problem of violence among teenagers.

The goal and objective of the program is to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior, learn skills to get along with others, and develop new skills.

Empathy describes how to identify and understand their own emotions and those of others, impulse control describes how to control impulse and emphasizes skills for social problem solving, and anger management describes how to understand and control anger in a healthy way.

According to the agency empathy is important in developing positive behaviors and decreases the use of violent behaviors as a means of problem solving.

Seventeen schools participate in the program.

The large majority of victims (85 percent) are related to or acquainted with their assailant and while the attackers are most often boys, girls are just as likely to be victims as boys.

According to Santa Fe violence is usually preceded by an argument; it is not usually planned and just as young people learn to drive safely they need to learn how to avoid violent confrontations.

Mathias, who is in sixth grade, likes the program.

“I have learned not to fight when I get angry because it not only affects me but my family,” he said.

Located at 6815 Manhattan Boulevard #320 they may be contacted at 817-492-HOPE.

Santa Fe is a non-profit agency that has provided drug and alcohol prevention, intervention, and counseling services to teenagers and their families since 1994.

The agency is a 501c (3) organization and all donations are tax deductible.

Alexander Volokh, a scholar who studies public schools, said the key is not to stop violence in school but to prevent it.

“We have to remember that school violence has been around ever since youth has been around,” he said. “So this is a very long-standing phenomenon.”