Question: "I have a high school principal asking me, as a School Social Worker, to provide Anger Management groups next school year. Could you tell me any effective curriculums or structured group interventions that would be applicable to high school students? We discussed the possibilities of doing a 6 week group, or 9 week, and/or an ongoing group for those that need it, so those are the time frames I'm considering. (This high school is in a Midwestern town, previously predominantly Caucasian, and now is more Caucasian/Latino mixed with a growing Latino population due to three packing plants in the town. Racial issues "sometimes" prompt fights, but not always.) "

Response: You might want to visit the Center's Quick Find page on Anger Management at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/p2108_06.htm.

For a broader context take a look at the Quick Find page on Safe Schools and Violence Prevention at Http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/p2108_03.htm.

In addition to these resources see:

• School Conflict Management, Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management (http://disputeresolution.ohio.gov/schools/resourcescm.htm)

• Managing Anger lesson plans (http://www.pbs.org/inthemix/educators/lessons/schoolviol3/)

• Anger and aggression management techniques (http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/AngerManagement.pdf)

• Anger Management Resources (http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/resources_anger.html)

• Anger Management (http://www.wsd1.org/pc_lms/pf/Angermgnt.htm)

• Anger Management for Youth Program (http://www.csmp.org/programs/anger_mgt.htm)

• Productive Conflict Resolution Program (http://www.schoolmediationcenter.org)
• Peace Works (http://www.peaceeducation.com)
• Community of Caring (http://www.communityofcaring.org)
• Tribes TLC: A new way of learning and being together (http://www.tribes.com)
• Learning for Life (http://www.learning-for-life.org)

"In response to the question about anger management, we attempted to develop one group this year at our school. The school wanted it a lot, and wanted a structured group format. We found that kids at first rejected strongly the idea that they needed help in managing their anger; referrals to the group and extensive outreach did not bring in many kids. The students were concerned about "who was in the group," or would agree to it with school officials but not follow through. By midyear, however, after lots of advertising, some students who knew the social worker and who were able to admit to angry feeling and actions they regretted later, did starting coming and the group appears to be a less threatening intervention than it did earlier in the year. I hear many more kids, even who are not in the group, talk about their anger and "what they did" more easily than they did before. Sometimes they will come in and say they need "anger management." I think teens are quite defensive, guilty, and unnerved by their moods and feelings, and their actions that follow with the moods, and it is very scary to address those feelings directly. Next year we would like to try using an attendance certificate for kids who are required to go to anger management after some incident at the school.

A major component of the group then becomes acknowledging, normalizing, and channeling those feelings and moods in different ways.

In contrast, we also did a group for student who had "hazed" some other students, and the mandated sessions in which attendance was followed up on by administrator was much more effective. These kids came to this group after school as an alternative to suspension, and they ended up requesting that the group go on longer than required. This group was less scary as well because all the students were friends and knew each other."

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UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools
Dept. of Psychology, P.O.Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
tel: (310)825-3634
email: Linda Taylor ~ web: https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu