Safe Space Offers New Program for At-Risk Youth

Safe Space

The Jamaica-based agency Safe Space has launched a new treatment program called Redirections. The program will offer juvenile offenders between the ages of 12-17 an opportunity to seek therapeutic support and adult encouragement, which Safe Space hopes will help them to make better life choices and prevent repeat offenses. Although Safe Space provides services to all Queens’ neighborhoods, it will be running Redirections from its Jamaica Headquarters due to the neighborhood’s high amount of youth felony arrests.

Redirections is a program based on Multisystemic Therapy (MST), a specialized treatment that focuses on rehabilitating repeat juvenile offenders and works to improve their relationships with family, friends, teachers, and schools. When repeat offenders return to their troubled communities, they are likely to fall back into familiar patterns-so to help ward off such an outcome, the MST program works to strengthen the child’s existing support network. In this initiative, Safe Space will work exclusively with youth from the NYC Administration for Children’s Services.

In addition to the Redirections program, Safe Space offers a number of services that strive to provide a healthy environment for at-risk youth and disadvantaged families, including mental and community health care, violence prevention, and school-based education enrichment. Safe Space is located at 89-74 162nd Street in Jamaica. For more information, call 718-526-2400 or visit www.safespacenyc.org.