Author: Laura Godenick, TICN Program Coordinator
Armon Hurst is a student at Castlemont High School in Oakland, CA. He is the vice president of the student body, has a 4.0 GPA, loves to play baseball, and is set up to go to college next year. But, he wasn’t always so successful. A few years ago in 2016, Hurst was exposed to gun violence and for a while afterwards, he was having trouble sleeping, eating consistently, and concentrating in school. It wasn’t until Hurst had a conversation with a staff member of YouthAlive!, a nonprofit focused on developing youth leadership as well as preventing gun violence and helping to heal those who have been exposed to it, that he was able to recognize and begin to heal his own trauma.
The staff member used a screening tool called the Screening and Tool for Awareness and Relief of Trauma (START), which was developed by YouthAlive!, utilizing the research from the Center for Non-Violence and Social Justice at Drexel University in Philadelphia and the feedback from teens and youth. There are six questions which help to determine whether a youth has struggled with trauma and how it has affected their daily lives as well as tools for learning effective coping skills. Hurst discusses how he felt like he’d had a “cleanse” just for being asked these questions and being given the space to have his experience be heard.
To learn more about the START tool, how it was developed specifically, the kinds of questions on it, the coping skills it offers, and to read a poem that Hurst wrote about his daily life, you can read the full article here.