From a very young age, Amir experienced instability and trauma in his house. This caused him to lash out at home and school with verbal and physical aggression. At 11 years old, Amir was involved in a gun incident which left his father paralyzed.

After this incident, Amir was placed with his grandmother, Judy. However, this became overwhelming for her.

Amir was struggling with trauma from the incident with his dad. There were complicated legal, medical and educational barriers, and Judy was learning how to build a stable home for her grandson.

Knowing they would benefit from support, Judy and Amir were referred to Youth Villages’ Intercept program, an evidence-based, comprehensive in-home services model that provides support to families to improve their stability and well-being.

Through Intercept, Amir and Judy were introduced to Dennis Cole, a family intervention specialist. Dennis began assisting the pair with their immediate needs. For Amir, that meant working through his trauma to reduce verbal and physical aggression. He was eventually given medication and attends outpatient counseling.

With Judy, that meant tackling the legal hurdles she was facing. Dennis focused on getting her the right resources and ensuring court dates were scheduled. He attended court dates when Judy needed extra support.

Once the immediate needs were addressed, Dennis helped Amir and Judy learn how to better live together.

“We touched on everything from A to Z,” Dennis said. “Once we addressed Amir’s basic anger management skills, we targeted how to communicate their needs to one another to be successful.”

Through developing better communication skills, Judy learned that Amir was really struggling in school and needed extra resources. Dennis worked with the school on getting an IEP and made sure he had the right support in place.

Looking back at his journey, Amir is thankful for his relationship with Dennis and knows he wouldn’t be where he is today without him.

“Sometimes, I didn’t have anyone to talk to, or I didn’t feel like talking to anybody,” Amir said. “But Mr. Dennis, he was there. He would come over three times a week, and he was someone I could talk to.”

Now 13 years old, Amir has learned to stabilize his behaviors and express his feelings. He is connecting with others and continues to work through his trauma. With Dennis’ support, Judy has gained confidence in advocating for her grandson and is working toward gaining custody. After almost a year of hard work, they were discharged from Intercept and feel prepared to move forward.

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