Overview

REBOUND is a cognitive skills program for youth that was established in Sarnia Ontario in 1984. The underlying purpose of REBOUND is to help youth who are at risk and who are motivated to make positive changes in their lives. The aim of the REBOUND method is to teach and reinforce basic life skills, social skills, and cognitive skills that will enable young people to get started on sound decision making, the development of a sense of personal responsibility, goal setting and the building of a healthy self image.

The REBOUND program consists of ten weekly, evening sessions with the participants and an additional two sessions with their parents. Parental participation in the program is strongly encouraged, but is not a requirement. The sessions with parental participation are the week prior and following each ten week core session.

Each of the ten week sessions focuses on a different theme:

Week 1: Communication
The goal is to reinforce the basics of effective communicationsuch as how to listen effectively and that all messages must be clear, concise, and complete.

Week 2: Decision Making
Two types of decisions are discussed, conscious and unconscious and that there are positive and negative outcomes to each decision. The REBOUND STAR (Stop, Think, Act, and Review) is introduced and will be used on a regular basis for the remaining sessions.

Week 3: Goal Setting
This lesson demonstrates the reasons for, and the benefits of setting and achieving goals. The focus will be on goals that are Simple, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bounded. Young people will continue to set goals from this point until the end of the program.

Week 4: Teamwork
This lesson provides an overview and an opportunity to practice the skills from the first three lessons. The young people participate in "Tower Building". This is a fun exercise which demonstrates the importance of teamwork.

Week 5: Freedom and Responsibility
The purpose of this lesson is to help the youth understand the relationship between freedom and responsibility and to recognize that all decisions and actions have positive or negative consequences. The youth learn that they must be responsible for the decisions they make and the actions they carry out.

Week 6: Anger Management and Conflict Resolution
This lesson illustrates the importance of dealing effectively with conflict in the young person's life, such as how to control anger and positive ways of resolving conflict.

Week 7: You, the Law and Justice
This assists youth in learning about how laws are made and how a police record impacts their future.

Week 8: Reputation / Respect
This lesson raises issues regarding good and bad reputations, such as: Why should I care?; How do others see me?; or, What am I known for? Generally, youth find it difficult to understand that what they do now affects them later.

Week 9: Self Image
This lesson helps the youth to recognize their unique qualities, to identify positive and realistic changes they can make and to improve their self image. Youth are encouraged to work towards goals that improve their effectiveness and which help them to feel better about themselves.

Week 10: Graduation (where do I go from here?)
The final session pulls the ten sessions together. This lesson includes a final summary of the REBOUND lessons and how to use them. There is also a graduation celebration.

During each session, there are three main objectives: goal setting, communication and team work. This is accomplished through a structured evening which includes a lecture/discussion, role-playing, group activities and a guest speaker or video on the evening's topic.

Role of the Volunteer

The program is staffed by trained community volunteer coaches who are expected to make a time commitment for the entire twelve week session. The success of the program depends largely upon the degree of respect and trust that the coaches are able to generate between themselves and the group participants. An initial weekend training session will instruct all volunteers in the guidelines and techniques involved in the coaching role. A REBOUND lesson requires ten trained volunteers and two lead coaches to facilitate the lesson. Eight table coaches focus and encourage the youth as well as serve as positive role models.

Where the Youth Come From

The youth who participate in REBOUND are generally doing so voluntarily. Referrals can be made by schools, teachers, parents, agencies, police, courts etc. The youth range in age from 12-17 years. The REBOUND program is committed to providing a nonjudgmental nonthreatening environment for the youth. A group of five young people and two table coaches makes one complete table, and there are four to five tables per REBOUND session. The youth and volunteers are matched according to their likes, dislikes and personalities.

Evaluation

Under a grant from the Trillium Foundation, the REBOUND program commissioned the expertise of Dr. Gary Bernfeld (clinical and consulting psychologist) to conduct an intensive evaluation on the merit of the program. With the help of volunteers, Dr. Bernfeld collected data on 59 youths who were offered the service in three different REBOUND groups. Of those 59 young people 39 completed the programs -- a two-thirds retention rate. The reasons that 20 youths did not finish the program include: youth refusal (30%); youth non-attendance or inappropriate behaviour in the sessions (30%); family moved (20%); and youth criminal charges (10%). The outcome of the evaluation showed:

• The percentage of youth falling into the clinical range on the Child Behavior Checklist (measures deviancy) decreased from 93% to 70% overall, with specific reductions for the delinquency, anxious depressed, aggression, attention problems and withdrawn syndromes;
• Parent-rated social skills, as measured by the Social Skills Rating System improved overall from a score of 84.3 to 91.6; particular improvements were noted in the youths' self-control and responsibility, with a trend suggesting an improvement in assertion;
• youth-rated social skills, using the same measure, showed a slight improvement overall from a score of 94.6 to 99.6; a slight improvement was noted in their self-control;
• youth-rated delinquent behaviour, measured by the Modified Self-Report Early Delinquency Instrument showed substantial improvements, reflecting a 63% reduction in overall delinquency as well as similar reductions for all specific types of delinquent behavior: interpersonal/aggressive, theft, drug/alcohol, and destructive/vandalism; and
• consumers (parents, youths, and staff from other agencies) were more than satisfied with the REBOUND program.

Dr. Bernfeld recommended that the Youth Diversion Program continue to operate the REBOUND program and that the program's capacity be expanded in the Kingston area, targeted at low risk young offenders. Dr. Bernfeld also recommends that a more rigorous evaluation of REBOUND be conducted in the future, to more comprehensively explore the program's impact on recidivism and residential placements.

What Participants/Agencies Say About REBOUND:

• Very grateful to all volunteers and leaders for all your help and time you put into the program.
• Great program and I like the people that run it.
• very helpful and I'm glad I came here.
• I had fun and learned a lot.
• It's a fun place to go and learn what to do and what not to do.
• It was fun and interesting.
• Hats off to all coaches! A job well done!
• It improved her ways and attitudes, so that is great.
• I have learned a lot from this program and I have met some cool people. At first I thought that I was going to have a bad time here but I was wrong. I've learned from my mistakes.

Funding

The REBOUND program falls under the umbrella of the Youth Diversion Program, which is a charitable organization. It was initially funded through a one time grant from the Trillium Foundation. However, today the program relies heavily on the generosity of the community. Money raised is used for supplies, administration, training of volunteers, fees, salaries, and miscellaneous items needed to make REBOUND successful. The Youth Diversion Program is currently attempting to secure long term funding for the REBOUND program.

Conclusion

REBOUND is a remedial and preventative program for youth and their families which strives to develop social skills, self esteem and a sense of personal responsibility. The people at REBOUND believe that the challenges of youth are not just a youth problem but a community responsibility as well. The REBOUND program is an opportunity for the community to connect with youth in order to say we care and we want to help. With the continuing support from our community, the REBOUND program will thrive and improve the lives of all young people involved in REBOUND.