Anger Management for At-Risk Youth

This paper focuses on the development of a counseling intervention for use with youth in managing their anger. The anger-management materials described combine elements of a cognitive-behavioral approach with a process orientation to help at-risk youth maintain a career. It is noted that students are taught a strategy for dealing with anger and that, through a series of activities, students move from a controlled situation with scaffolding provided by the teacher to an internalization of the strategy. The strategy presented is called CALMER, with each letter of the name representing a step for students in managing their anger: (1) C stands for Check that there is a problem; (2) A means Assess the problem; (3) L is for Listing the possible solutions; (4) M means Make a choice; (5) E represents Evaluate; and (6) R stands for Repeat-if-necessary. Student activities that involve the strateg