Community Court SChools
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CEC began its highly successful counseling program for at-risk teens in San Mateo County in 1993. CEC clinicians assign Ph.D. psychology students to one of nine community schools and provide ongoing training and supervision to them as they offer individual and group therapy and contribute to their graduate internship credit. The program, a collaborative effort with the San Mateo County Department of Education, the Juvenile Probation Department, and the Wright Institute of Psychology, provides exceptional clinical training. The Wright Institute has lauded it as one of their finest practicum placements.

Through counseling, students realize possibilities for new directions and life goals. In ongoing group therapy sessions, students learn empathy and become more tolerant and respectful of one another's differences. Improved attendance and classroom behavior are just a few of the benefits that schools report in their students as a result of this enduring and valuable program.

Intended Outcomes

The benefits of our program are seen throughout the community. Teachers report that students involved with our program show:

  1. increased cooperative behaviors at school,
  2. increased attention for school work,
  3. increased ability to resolve conflicts non-violently and
  4. decreased "acting out" behaviors in the classroom all resulting in fewer student suspensions or students leaving school.

Students themselves report an:

  1. increased sense of community in the classroom,
  2. fewer angry outbursts,
  3. increased sense of trust,
  4. improved peer relationships and
  5. an increased ability to problem-solve.

Our desired outcomes for students are:

  1. improved academic performance and school attendance
  2. reduced gang involvement, repeat offenses, and drug and alcohol use and,
  3. improved student future-goal orientation and belief in personal achievement