The Baltimore City Health Department is launching a new initiative in partnership with area hospitals to help reach out to youth victims and perpetrators of violence. As reported in The Baltimore Sun:

The campaign, called “Words Not Weapons,” will remind the hospital workers who often come in contact with the same troubled youths to get their facilities’ social workers in involved.

Those professionals can connect with existing resources in the community that can help the youths get back into school, or to work or just somewhere safe and learn about non-violent conflict resolution, said Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore’s health commissioner, and a former emergency room physician.

“In the ER you often see victims of violence; maybe they came in with a superficial stab wound, or they punched a wall or someone else and broke their hand,” she said. “So often providers don’t feel like they have a way to help break the cycle of violence.”

For more information read the full article in The Baltimore Sun.