REBOUND PROGRAM

Rebound & Life Skills Programming

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 sessions. 

The REBOUND program runs in schools during the day for 1.5 hours. 

Life Skills Programming was designed in-house at Youth Diversion by a variety of staff and community volunteers. Life Skills Programming is research based and created to fill the gap of services for in-person and virtual open community sessions. Life Skills Programming breaks down into two age-groups to better target the needs of our clients. This program is between 5 and 10 weeks and is provided in weekly meetings. All supplies are provided for this program.  

School Sessions:

We are not currently offering school sessions at this time. 

There are 10 Weeks of Topics for our school sessions. The first 5 weeks are as follows in each school session:

• Week 1: Communication
• Week 2: Decision Making
• Week 3: Goal Setting
• Week 4: Teamwork
• Week 5: Emotional Intelligence

The remaining 5 weeks are chosen by the teacher based on the class’ particular interests & needs. Topics are chosen from the following list: Healthy Relationships, Family Relationships, Resiliency, Responsibility, Substance Awareness, Youth & The Law, Social Media & Internet Safety, Reputation, Self-Respect, Risk Taking, Sexting, Mental Health, Coping & Self Care, Sexuality, and Leadership & Confidence.

During each 1.5 hour session, students will go through the following activities:

• Warm Up Activity: A fun activity that the entire group shares at the beginning of the session to get comfortable.
• Introduction to Topic & Goals for the current session
• Positives & Thankfuls: Each youth and adult volunteer shares a positive or thankful from their week.
• One Minute Talks: Each youth has an opportunity to speak about a topic/question for one minute. Throughout the 10 weeks we ask that each youth speak at least 1-2 times.
• Knowledge/Information about the Topic: Direct Instruction, Video’s, Discussions, Guest Speakers
• Activities and Opportunities to Practice the Skills: Role playing, case scenarios, group discussions.
• Relaxation Strategies: Youth have an opportunity to learn a new relaxation strategy that they can put to use in their every day life.
• Journal Writing: An opportunity for the youth to correspond directly with the program coordinator and engage in a conversation.

To refer your classroom to the Rebound Program please email rebound@youthdiversion.org and a Prevention Team staff member will get back to you.

Community Sessions:

We are not currently running community sessions at this time. 

Community sessions are hosted at Youth Diversion for Kingston, or in other service agencies in the KFL&A. Community sessions are flexible to meet the needs of the diverse group of clients. Clients are consulted in the selection of topics through the intake process with a Prevention Team staff member. Community sessions run in the evening for 1.5 hours.

The typical weekly community session looks like:

• Warm Up: Snacks, free time to get to know and catching up with your table-mates
• Introduction: table leads introduce what the topic is by providing a general definition and applications in real life.
• A blend of discussion and activities: discussion and activities are based on the topic and promote skill and knowledge acquisition. 
• Conclusion: The topic is summarized and youth are encouraged to talk about the skills and knowledge they learned and how they plan on using it in life outside of the program.
• Journals: Youth are provided 1-3 questions to reflect on for the last ten minutes of the program. 

To self refer or refer a youth you know please download the referral form and a Prevention Team staff member will reach out. 

To refer your agency or youth group please email rebound@youthdiversion.org and a Prevention Team staff member will get back to you. 

Role of the Volunteer

Role of the Volunteer
The program is staffed by trained community volunteer coaches who are expected to make a time commitment for the entire 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 training session will instruct all volunteers in the guidelines and techniques involved in the coaching role. A REBOUND/Life Skills Programming lesson requires trained volunteers and a lead coach to facilitate the lesson. Students are divided into groups of 4-7 with 1-2 table coaches per group dependant on the amount of participants. Volunteers are there to encourage the youth as well as serve as positive role models.

Youth Participants
The youth who participate in the Community Sessions are generally doing so voluntarily. Referrals can be made by schools, teachers, parents, agencies, police, courts etc. for the community program, and directly from the schools in the school-based programs. The youth range in age from 8-18 years depending on the program they are attending. Youth who are participating in the School Program are registered through their school, and a permission form will be sent home. Typically, a full class participates in the School program.

The REBOUND and Life Skills Program is committed to providing a nonjudgmental nonthreatening environment for the youth. A group of 4-7 young people and up to two table coaches makes one complete table, and there can be up to four tables per REBOUND/Life Skills Program session.

Evaluation of the Rebound Program
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 Behaviour 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
• 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:

– “I’m 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.”.
– “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:
Rebound is proudly supported by our local United Way and generous donations from our community.

Conclusion:
REBOUND and Life Skills Program 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 staff at Youth Diversion believe that the challenges of youth are not just a youth problem but a community responsibility as well. These programs are 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 and Life Skills Program will thrive and improve the lives of all young people involved.