1st Edition

Justice-Involved Youth Healing Through Trauma with Creativity and Community Regeneration + Peer-Support Workbook

By Carol Cross Copyright 2025
152 Pages 7 Color & 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

152 Pages 7 Color & 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

152 Pages 7 Color & 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Including a peer-support workbook with exercises, this book demonstrates the therapeutic value of art practice, both inside and outside institutions, as a more humane approach for children and adolescents affected by mass incarceration. The author discusses how a trauma-informed approach can heal marginalized and ignored citizens and refutes the notion that severe punishment for repeat offenders... Read more

Chapter 1 – Setting the Stage

Chapter 2 – Social Justice: Shifting Powers

Chapter 3 – Community Regeneration: Making the Connection

Chapter 4 – Community as a Place to Begin

Chapter 5 – The Projects 

Chapter 6 – Collaborative Projects 

Postscript – Moving Forward 

Appendix A:  A Reflective Letter by Patrick (Pat) R.

Appendix B:  A Reflective Letter by Rafael Fuentes

Appendix C:  A Reflective Letter by Tye S.

PART II: Peer-Support Workbook: Words from the Inside-Out

Index

Biography

Carol Cross, PhD, has professional experience that includes introducing arts experiences in nontraditional settings, working with adults and adolescents experiencing homelessness or incarceration, and with at-risk and high-risk youth. She has also taught at the university level. A visual artist and educator, Cross holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, British Columbia. Her Master’s thesis focused on the social benefits of establishing sustainable community programs, and education as social intervention for youths at risk. In her efforts to build positive social change and early intervention in schools, and raise awareness of violence as a social problem, she set up a free, after-school photography and writing program for teens at risk in Vancouver with the support of Provincial and Government of Canada funding. Awarded a Government of Canada contract, she began working with incarcerated male and female teens in British Columbia. Her doctoral research, a qualitative study, examined critical pedagogy, adolescent development, and research into the governance and policies surrounding incarcerated male and female youth. She is the author of Juvenile Justice and Expressive Arts: Creative Disruptions through Art Programs for and with Teens in a Correctional Institution. She holds a PhD from the University of Victoria.