Video Addresses Youth Violence

by Chris Rheaume

The video, entitled Aftershocks: Voices and Visions of Youth in a Violent World, was sponsored by the task force and filmed locally by Fall River-based Fire City Pictures. It is a sequel to Aftershocks, a Southcoast-commissioned film that won national acclaim when it was released in 1996.

“Youth violence is a very serious issue and one that is acknowledged by our task force representatives, many of whom work in the schools or whose children attend school,” said Ellen Banach, Vice President of Hospital Systems Integrations at Southcoast. “The videos are one tool among a menu of community resources available for teachers and youth agencies. And we offer these videos free of charge to the schools and youth programs.”

Cinematographer Paul Martin of Fire City Pictures said the first Aftershocks “was way ahead of its time.”

“In 1996, when people thought about violence, they thought only of big city violence,” Martin said. “Verbal or everyday schoolyard violence was condoned as just part of growing up.”

The film’s writer and director, Kathleen Girouard-Martin, also of Fire City Pictures, created sequences about these very issues.

During the Aftershocks project, Girouard- Martin observed that most people in small towns did not admit they had a youth violence problem. And urban activists didn’t believe that verbal and emotional abuse really fit the definition of “violence.”

“After 1996 — and in the aftermath of suburban school violence that occurred across the country — people are now catching up to the messages in Aftershocks,” Girouard-Martin said. “Now they want to talk about bullying and verbal violence and how it can be a precursor to more serious things. It can be so devastating for self-image when you’re growing up.”

The newest video takes a closer look at these issues. “It is not easy to talk about violence, but Southcoast had the courage to ask us to make this film,” Martin said. “Violence truly is a health care issue. It’s all about getting injured, emotionally and physically.”

Girouard-Martin developed the concepts for each scene, cast local youth from diverse backgrounds to take part and worked intimately with them to convey the film’s message.

	Matt Hotte, in glasses, and brother, Nick, enact a bullying scenario in Southcoast’s latest youth violence video.

The proof of the first film’s success was its reviews. One such review by Karen Pehrson, RN, psychiatric clinical nurse specialist at Southcoast, called Aftershocks “a critically important film on the subject of violence. Kids can’t stop talking about it and they want to see it again and again.”

Southcoast’s Youth Risk Behavior Task Force is comprised of representatives from the community, hospitals, school systems, health and human service agencies, youth activity groups and youths themselves. The group was formed in response to Southcoast’s extensive assessment of the health care priorities in the region it serves.

“We recognized that there was already some good work being done in the community to address the issue of youth violence,” said Kerry Mello, Marketing Coordinator at Southcoast and a task force member. “We have tried to build on those programs. We want to bring together coalitions of people who can help each other meet their common goals.”

A recurring theme that surfaced in talks between the task force and members of the community — health care providers, parents and youths — was the need for better communication between all of these groups, Mello said. One way this issue is being addressed is through a program called Teen Link.

“Teen Link is a communication-focused program that builds on youth projects that were already underway in New Bedford,” Mello said. “Our hope is to regionalize these efforts.”

Part of this program is known as Teen Talk Line. From anywhere in the South Coast region, callers will be able to dial in and speak to a teen on a range of issues that concern them. Teen volunteers are needed to staff the Teen Talk Line and will receive extensive training for the role. Those interested in volunteering should contact Catherine Bourassa at the YWCA in New Bedford at 508-993-5858.

Both installments of Aftershocks are part of a series of films that address topics relevant to young people, such as AIDS, and overcoming life’s obstacles. Southcoast Health Systems distributes copies, free of charge, to local libraries, school departments and area youth agencies. For more information on how to obtain a copy, call 508-679-7115.

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