Observational StudyTrauma-Informed Peer Aggression and Dating Violence Prevention for Preteens Receiving Intensive Mental Health Services

Participants assigned to this arm will receive SPARE in the form of group therapy in addition to treatment as usual at a child partial program.

Arm Description: Participants assigned to this arm will receive treatment as usual at a child partial program.

5 components: (1) Social skills training, including selecting healthy friends and partners, (2) Problem solving with emphasis on positive outcomes of nonaggressive solutions, (3) Awareness of domineering behavior in self and conflict resolution skills, (4) emotion Regulation, and (5) psycho-education on ACEs and trauma. Each session will include 30 minutes of didactic instruction on the component with developmentally engaging activities to illustrate concepts and an individually tailored 15-minute narrative and mindfulness activity, which may address a traumatic memory depending on youth need and receptivity.

Treatment As Usual consists of individual, family, occupational, and art therapy, social skills and emotion regulation groups, and therapeutic milieu. All staff and clinicians are trained in the Incredible Years Parenting Program, which aims reduce behavioral problems, enhance children's social and emotional competence, and improve child-parent interactions. Children also receive individualized treatment tailored for their needs (e.g., sleep interventions). Behavioral health needs staff (BHS) facilitate children's skill acquisition and generalization, implement individualized behavior contingency programs, and assist caregivers with parenting strategies via daily check-ins