REBOUND Program

Brief Description

The REBOUND Program is part of the Youth Diversion Program which was established in 1984. REBOUND works in partnership with the community to deliver quality programs to assist youth to make positive changes in their lives and take responsibility for their actions.

The program is centered on community mobilization; conflict resolution; leadership and youth development; peer counselling and mediation; skills training; and social emotional learning.

Goals

The main goals of the REBOUND program are to:

• Help youth who are at risk and who are motivated to make positive changes in their lives; and
• 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.

Clientele

The appropriate clientele for the REBOUND program are youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who show signs of being at-risk of dropping out of school, being in trouble with the law, or having difficulties with parent/teen interactions.

Participants can be referred by schools, teachers, parents, community organizations and agencies, police, and the courts.

To participate in the program, youth must be committed to certain roles while in the program. For instance, youth must have good attendance and be committed to attending REBOUND. Participants must also come to REBOUND with an open mind and be ready to participate.

Core Components

The REBOUND program consists of 10 weekly sessions which run in schools during the day and in the community during the evening. Each week consists of the following:

• Week 1 – Communication: The goal is to reinforce the basics of effective communication such as how to listen effectively;
• Week 2 – True colours: True colours is a simple and fun way to help youth develop a better understanding of their personality and how they prefer to deal with situations in their life. True colours aims to improve participants’ communication and understanding of each other through recognition of their true character. Utilizing the colours of orange, green, blue, and gold to differentiate four basic personality types, True colours becomes an uncomplicated language for everyone to convey complex ideas very simply;
• Weeks 3 – Goal setting: This lesson demonstrates the reasons for, and the benefits of, setting and achieving goals. The main focus is on goals that are simple, manageable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Young people will continue to set goals from this point until the end of the program;
• Week 4 – Decision making: This lesson introduces the program’s REBOUND S.T.A.R. (Stop, Think, Act, Review). During this week, there is also a guest speaker from the YMCA Youth Gambling and Youth Diversion-KAIROS who speaks to the youth about the dangers of gambling, as well as doing certain activities such as gaming and using technology too much and how to stay safe;
• Week 5 – Teamwork: This lesson provides an overview and an opportunity to practice the first three lessons in fun team exercises that each youth can participate in;
• Week 6 – Freedom and responsibility: This lesson teaches youth the difference between our freedoms and our responsibilities and how the two are combined. There are also special guest speakers from Frontenac Institution that come in and tell youth about their stories and experiences about the loss of their freedom;
• Week 7 – Exploring emotions/relationships: This lesson illustrates the importance of dealing effectively with emotions and understanding the different types of emotions. The goal is to provide youth with different techniques to deal with their emotions effectively. This lesson also gives youth an opportunity to talk about their family dynamics. Parent/guardian roles and responsibilities within the home are also discussed. More specifically, youth learn how to deal with conflict in the home as well as with peers;
• Week 8 – Substance use: This lesson raises issues regarding substance use awareness. The youth discuss different types of drug use and how they can make an informative decision. Youth also learn about the effects of drugs and the impact on their future;
• Week 9 – Self image: This lesson helps youth recognize their unique qualities and identify positive and realistic changes they can make to improve their self-image. The goal is to have every youth leave the session feeling positive and special; and
• Week 10 – Graduation (where do I go from here?): The final session pulls the ten sessions together. The final week includes a summary of the REBOUND lessons and how to use them. There is also a graduation celebration which includes: certificates, prizes, food, and other fun activities to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments in REBOUND.

Implementation Information

Some of the critical elements for the implementation of this program or initiative include the following:

• Organizational requirements: The lead organization must mobilize existing resources, including help provided by volunteers, in order to meet the program’s needs and demands.
• Partnerships: The REBOUND program believes that the challenges of youth are also a community responsibility. Therefore, the success of the REBOUND program depends largely on its many partnerships with community-based organizations. With the continuing support from the community, the REBOUND program is better able to improve the lives of young people.
• Training and technical assistance: Limited information on this topic.
• Risk assessment tools: Limited information on this topic.
• Materials & resources: In order to deliver all components of the REBOUND program and assist youth in practicing the skills learned from each lesson, facilitators are required to implement large and small group discussions and hands on activities. Facilitators are also required to incorporate guest speakers and videos into their discussions.

International Endorsements

The most recognized classification systems of evidence-based crime prevention programs have classified this program or initiative as follows:

• Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development: Not applicable.
• Crime Solutions/OJJDP Model Program Guide: Not applicable.
• SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices: Not applicable.
• Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy: Not applicable.

Gathering Canadian Knowledge

Canadian Implementation Sites

The REBOUND program has been implemented in Sarnia, Ontario.

Main Findings from Canadian Outcome Evaluation Studies

An outcome evaluation study of the REBOUND program was conducted by Dr. Bernfeld (period is unknown)^Footnote1 with youth from Sarnia, Ontario. With the help of volunteers, Dr. Bernfeld collected data on 59 youth who were offered the service in three different REBOUND groups. Of those 59 young people, 39 completed the program, resulting in a two-thirds retention rate.

Results from this evaluation showed the following:

• The percentage of youth falling into the clinical range on the Child Behavior Checklist (which measures deviancy) decreased from 93% to 70% overall, with specific reductions for delinquency, anxiety, depression, 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;
• Youth-rated social skills showed a slight improvement overall from a score of 94.6 to 99.6; and
• 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 behaviour: interpersonal/aggressive, theft, drug/alcohol, and destructive/vandalism.

For more information, refer to the Youth Diversion Program’s (2015) publication. 

Cost Information

No information available.

References

Youth Diversion Program. (2015). Program Details. Available from: http://www.youthdiversion.org/index.cfm/programs/rebound/program-details/

For more information on this program, contact:

Victoria Cadue
REBOUND Coordinator
Telephone: (613) 548-4535, ext. 223
E-mail: vcadue@youthdiversion.org
Website: http://www.youthdiversion.org/index.cfm/programs/rebound/