45. Supervision1 - Unit Coordinator Roles
Becoming Centered
In residential treatment programs by far the most effective way to train direct-care staff in how to effectively care for the kids and to provide counseling is through on-the-job coaching and individual supervision. However, there's a lot of very real barriers to providing quality supervision. The nature of the work, especially at more intensive programs, means that there is a high frequency of behavior-problems on the residential unit. This drives staff toward a short-term focus on getting through the shift, or perhaps through the week, with as few safety issues as possible. ...
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44. Processing3 - Chaining
Becoming Centered
Episode 44 of the Becoming Centered podcast presents the third installment of the Processing Pathway, covering the technique known as "chaining." Chaining is a great way to add a visual element to cognitive processing. It lays out a series of links representing a chain of behaviors and feelings that led to a child or youth having to be separated from their peers. Once the sequence of links has been clarified, the key link that represents a realistic "choice point" is identified. This link represents the point in the sequence where the client could have made a different...
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43. Processing2 - Basic Cognitive Processing
Becoming Centered
Episode 43 of The Becoming Centered Podcast is the second episode in the Processing Pathway series. This episode introduces a 4-question outline for formal cognitive processing. Basically, the four parts include helping the child or youth to take responsibility for the behaviors that resulted in their being separated from their peers; identify at least some of the feelings that drove the probelm-behaviors; identify how those behaviors might have impacted peers and staff around them; and identify a possible plan for how to handle things better in the future. One size doesn't...
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42. Processing1 - Introduction to Processing
Becoming Centered
Episode 42 of the Becoming Centered Podcast is the first episode on the Processing Pathway. Processing involves a structured approach to helping children and youth to mentally process their incidents of problem-behaviors. This episode introduces the concept of there being different ways that different parts of the brain process sensory data, personal experience, and the communications received from the other parts of the brain. This can result in various parts of the brain experiencing different types of confusion after a significant incident of problem-behaviors. ...
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41. Season 2 - Overview
Becoming Centered
Episode 41 of the Becoming Centered Podcast kicks off season 2 of this effort to spread knowledge about professional residential treatment of children and youth. This season is organized into two different educational pathways, mirroring consulting work being done. The Processing pathway is all about how to help kids process their own use of problem-behaviors. Typically, their own incidents and experiences leave parts of their brains confused about what has happened. They will come up with some way to understand, but often times their framing of what led to their misbehaviors...
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40. Residential Counselor 101 Pt. 7 - Resilience to Traumatic Stress
Becoming Centered
Psychological Debriefing is a technique for reducing the impact of traumatic stress after a neurologically intense experience. On a neuropsychological level that experience could be anything that triggers a release of certain hormones such as cortisol (known as “the stress hormone”) and adrenaline. On a behavioral level that typically includes situations such as being involved in a physical intervention, being exposed to aggressive posturing, being yelled at, or really any situation that triggers significant danger signals in your body. Exactly what moves a person...
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39. Residential Counselor 101 Pt. 6 - Empathy vs. Processing & Coping Activities
Becoming Centered
Coping Activities Diversions – any hobby or activity that engages your attention. Writing, drawing, painting, crafts Listening to music, playing an instrument, singing, dancing, acting Gardening Taking a walk, or going for a drive Watching television or a movie Guided Imagery Meditations Playing a game Shopping Reading ...
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38. Residential Counselor 101 Pt. 5 - Scout Skills & Processing
Becoming Centered
The Aspect Compass, part of the Meta-Compass Model, divides areas of the brain and aspects of the psyche into four parts called: The Artist, The Scout, The Warrior, and The Chief. The Artist represents those parts of the brain and psyche that understand the world in terms of emotions. The Artist communicates, in terms of feelings and moods, to the rest of the brain. Helping The Artist feel centered involves making The Artist feel heard and seen. Creative arts activities can be emotionally centering activities. Co-Regulating with others and Experiencing empathy...
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37. Residential Counselor 101 Pt. 4 - Executive Skills & Labeling
Becoming Centered
Executive Skills are abilities that part of the brain can develop that used to regulate other parts of the brain. There’s two Executive Skills that describe ways that the emotional parts of the brain are regulated. Reaction Inhibition is the ability to stop yourself from automatically reacting. More specifically, it’s the ability to stop the action-focused parts of the brain, what I call the inner Warrior, from mindlessly reacting to the emotions being communicated by the parts of the brain I call the inner Artist. Your body will have internal behaviors in reaction to...
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36. Residential Counselor 101 pt. 3 - Co-Regulation & Empathic Listening
Becoming Centered
Posture: The parts of the brain that control the physical body (the inner Warrior) and the parts of the brain that operate in terms of emotions (the inner Artist) are tightly linked in the brain. Changes in one automatically trigger changes in the other. So, getting kids to become more aware of their posture, and to habitually adopt good posture, supports being in a positive emotionally state-of-mind. The art is being able to frequently help kids improve their posture without it becoming obnoxious. Co-Regulation: When you synchronize your nervous system...
info_outlineIn this podcast episode, the focus is on aiding children and youth in residential treatment to develop executive skills, which are crucial for regulating emotions, thinking, and behavior. Developing residents executive skills is essential because it’s their deficits in being able to regulate their own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that accounts for why they need to live at a treatment program in order to receive services, instead of living in the community / with their families.
Executive skills begin developing in childhood but can be delayed or overwhelmed by environmental challenges, trauma, deprivation, insufficient parenting, or neurological conditions. The key to improving executive skills lies in practice, with the brain becoming more adept at whatever skills it regularly engages in.
The podcast introduces 13 executive skills, two of which are primarily focused on regulating emotions, eight of which are primarily focused on regulating thinking, and 3 of which are focused on regulating behaviors.
Strategies are presented for developing reaction inhibition and stress tolerance, crucial for emotional regulation, include labeling and check-ins. Stress tolerance is further fostered through empathic listening, creative arts, journaling, and coping activities.
Cognitive executive skills such as planning, prioritizing, organizing, sustained attention, time management, task initiation, working memory, and flexibility are explored. Practical techniques involve fostering autonomy in planning, using a choice model for prioritization, engaging in organizing tasks, and employing coping activities to enhance stress tolerance and several cognitive executive skills.
Coping activities are divided into eight categories, including diversions, tension releasers, organizing tasks, cognitive coping skills, social coping skills, physical maintenance strategies, limit setting, and spiritually fulfilling activities. The podcast emphasizes the importance of teaching children positive coping activities while being aware of negative coping actions.
Negative coping actions do work, in-the-moment, to help a person tolerate stress, however, they have longer-term self-destructive effects. These are things such as drug use, self-injurious behaviors, over-eating, and blaming people and yourself.
Lastly, the podcast touches on additional executive skills such as goal-directed persistence, self-awareness, and meta-cognition. It highlights the role of residential staff in supporting children to stick to goals, improve self-awareness through labeling, and encourage meta-cognitive thinking by exploring motivations and intentions. Overall, the episode provides a comprehensive guide to helping children in residential treatment enhance their executive skills through intentional and practical interventions.