Counseling Services
Providing healing-centered, bi-lingual individual and group counseling sessions to support individuals impacted by trauma and violence free of charge.
About Counseling Services
Youth Alive mental health counselors take their therapeutic services into the field, meeting wherever survivors feel safe and comfortable. They provide community-based services in collaboration with our Intervention Specialists, who are trained in recognizing the symptoms of trauma that occur in survivors of violence. Youth Alive counselors assist each client in creating their own road map to healing.
All of our clients are eligible for this crucial and free service in their quest to heal their trauma after violence. However, for people who have grown up in violent neighborhoods, the traditional 50-minute therapy session is not always the best approach.
By bringing therapy out of the clinic and into the community, Youth Alive has seen an increase in the number of clients engaged in active therapy from 3% to over 35%.
Counseling Impact
Counseling Services Resources
START (Screening & Tool for Awareness & Relief of Trauma) is a tool Youth Alive developed with a group of young men recovering from their own gunshot wounds, to help identify often-missed symptoms of trauma and to offer some relief. START isn’t just for gunshot survivors. Young people experience all kinds of trauma and may benefit from the exercises START recommends.
Not a replacement for counseling, START interviews are brief, guided conversations lasting 20 to 30 minutes and conducted by a trained, caring adult. The goal is to identify possible symptoms of trauma and to give people with symptoms tools for coping. START is free of charge to Youth Alive clients and partner agencies as well. Take a look at the START website, START2HEAL, to learn more.