BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRESIDENT of Operation Future and Police Constable Lauston Percival, in an interview with SKNVibes, said that young persons need to learn how to walk away from conflict.
He said that a lot of incidents involving young people occur because they are easily angered from dealing with past issues or have poor anger management skills.
His organization is hoping to assist in that area when they host a two-day Anger Management Workshop at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel, starting tomorrow, August 22.
The persons that will be a part of the workshop are prison officers, prisoners, guidance counsellors, teachers, police officers and those who are intimately involved with young people on a day to day basis.
Percival said the knowledge they gain from the workshop they will be able to impart to the younger persons with whom they may come into contact.
He said that many young persons do not know how to handle certain situations.
“It is better to be called a punk than to be called a prisoner, or to be called a dead man, and that’s what I always tell them. It is always best to walk away from a situation and let people think you’re soft, instead of staying there and getting yourself in trouble. You might end up getting injured or killed.
“People always do things to please the crowd; they are not going to walk off because people wouldn’t like them if they do. But that is not the correct thing to do; it takes a bigger and more sensible person to walk away from a confrontation,” he said.
Operation Future is continuing its work in developing proactive solutions to the issues of youth, crime and violence in the Federation. The holding of this workshop on Anger Management is one of the proactive solutions being provided.
They are seeking to facilitate a programme to teach healthy, non-violent techniques of expressing anger.
According to a press release, this workshop is held in addition to their third Annual Conference on Youth, Crime and Violence, dubbed ‘A Community Based Approach to Desistance, Intervention and Rehabilitation in the Criminal Justice System which was held August 20 and 21.
One of Operation Future’s goals when hosting these conferences is to develop and implement positive initiatives in the Federation for the benefit of the people.
Laverda Thomas of John Howard Society, Toronto will be the facilitator of the workshop. The John Howard Society is a nonprofit organization in Canada that works within the justice system of Canada at many levels, offering programmes for incarcerated inmates in the Canadian Correctional Institutions in partnership with Corrections Services, Canada.
They offer integration programmes for inmates making the transition from correctional facilities back into society, and offering numerous programmes through early intervention programmes to those at risk. The organization is heavily dependent on its volunteers to successfully introduce its programmes, helping to reduce crime and recidivism rates in Canada.
This workshop being facilitated by Thomas will consist of introducing the Federation to The John Howard Society’s 10 Week Anger Management Programme.
The workshop will cover all aspects of the programme including implementation techniques. Those participating will be presented with the John Howard Society’s 95 page Anger Management Programme Manual including necessary handouts to conduct the programme.
They are hoping to train between 30 and 50 persons.
The press release added that participants in the workshop will include a number of staff and inmates from Her Majesty’s Prison, who once trained in how to facilitate the anger management course can then begin offering the programme to incarcerated inmates as part of their rehabilitation programmes.
“Most of those people incarcerated in Her Majesty’s Prison will eventually be returned to the community. If measures are not taken towards rehabilitation then we can expect recidivism and in most instances people will return having committed greater number offences than what they had originally been convicted of,” the release stated.
