71. (Archival) Ep18 After Processing Suicidal Ideation
Becoming Centered
Today’s episode is from the archives that are available at . It’s a re-cast of Episode 18, addressing how counselors can stabilize kids after an incident involving suicidal ideation or gestures. The role of a counselor is fundamentally different than the role of a therapist in these situations. The counselor’s focus is on helping the client see the suicidal ideation or gesture as a symptom and then helping the client cope with that symptom. It’s not about understanding where the symptom comes from – leave that for the individual sessions with a therapist. ...
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70. (Archival) Ep17 Suicidal Ideation
Becoming Centered
This is an archival episode that re-releases Episode 17 on Suicidal Ideation. Episodes 17 and 18 explore how to counsel residents who experience suicidal ideation. Residential children and youth are part of a high-risk group for having thoughts of suicide and, often times, it will fall upon residential staff to provide effective counseling, typically late at night. Learn how to effectively process suicidal ideation with your clients and what sort of follow-up interventions can help keep your clients safe.
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69. Expectation Systems & Contracts
Becoming Centered
Episode 69 of the Becoming Centered Podcast, building off of the previous two episodes, presents listeners with a powerful tool for residential treatment programs – Expectation Contracts. Episode 67 presented the underlying conceptual difference between using point systems, behavior contracts, and other “behavioral” change techniques to impact performative surface behaviors versus impacting inner systemic change. Both have their place. Episode 68 expanded on these distinctions by introducing the idea of a “behavior-management” system versus a...
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68. Behavior-Management vs Feedback-Incentive Systems
Becoming Centered
Episode 68 of the Becoming Centered Podcast expands on the topic of how to design interventions targeted at changing performative surface behaviors versus interventions designed to inspire inner systemic changes in how kids manage their emotions, adopt self-regulating beliefs and values, and consciously manage relationships with others. The key design difference is whether or not a point system, coupon system, token economy, or other forms of behavior contracts track observable behaviors or try to track the kids’ efforts at self-directed change. This episode examines the profound...
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67. Performative vs Systemic Change
Becoming Centered
Becoming Centered Podcast 67, “Performative vs Systemic Change” lays the groundwork for understanding how to design effective behavior-focused program structures that are intended to shape the behaviors of children and youth in residential treatment programs. The key to effective design of these structures is understanding when and how to focus on performative behaviors versus when and how to focus on inner systemic change. “Performative behavioral change” are changes in the kids’ surface behaviors while they are at the treatment program. “Inner systemic change”...
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66. House Meeting6 - Parts & Treatment Objectives
Becoming Centered
This episode of the Becoming Centered Podcast presents four major parts to a residential treatment program’s House Meetings (a regularly scheduled meeting of staff and clients). Each part, (1) check-ins, (2) announcements, (3) group discussions / agenda items, and (4) wrap-up provides a forum for promoting resilience, self-regulation, social skills, and team-building. Regardless of the specific content of any single meeting, staff focus on four aspects of resilience, four aspects of self-regulation, and four aspects of “meeting behaviors” or social skills. Resilience is...
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65. House Meeting5 - Storming and Purpose
Becoming Centered
Skillful facilitation of House Meetings is one of the most challenging, but also most impactful, aspects of providing a treatment experience. Developing a group of troubled kids into a high-performing team, that absorbs each other’s misbehaviors and promotes maturation, is a difficult task. Storming behaviors are common among kids in residential treatment. In House Meetings, a significant number of kids will deeply struggle with inappropriate meeting behaviors – ranging from aggressively menacing the whole room to simply not paying attention or actively distracting...
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64. House Meeting4 - Emotional Sensitivity
Becoming Centered
Running a residential unit for children and youth that goes beyond providing quality Care to also delivering an impactful Treatment experience requires staff to constantly focus on team-building. It’s as a high-performing team that the kids develop their own self-regulation and resiliency; through helping their team-mates manage their daily emotional, cognitive, and behavioral challenges. One of the best structures in which to develop a residential unit into a team is the, at least weekly, House Meeting. House Meetings have several parts, such as announcements, group...
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63. House Meeting3 - Check-ins
Becoming Centered
Episode 63 of the Becoming Centered Podcast focuses on how to facilitate Check-ins as part of a residential treatment program’s House Meetings. Check-ins are an excellent way to start House Meetings. Literally, people take turns giving a brief report on how they are doing that day. Structured effectively, the practice of conducting Check-ins can become a foundational technique for a program providing a treatment experience for the kids. When used in a group setting, Check-ins are steered by the facilitator to focus not so much on the kid doing the check-in, but on how everyone...
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62. House Meeting2 - Phases of Team Development
Becoming Centered
Episode 62 of the Becoming Centered podcast is the second episode in an arc focused on House Meetings. In my experience, House Meetings are the single most effective group structure in the residential week for promoting team-building and for developing the kids into a high-performance team. When that happens the entire residential experience shifts from having to spend an excessive amount of time on behavior management to a treatment environment that promotes mental health. Developing that kind of positive peer and staff culture takes time. It also takes solid strategy...
info_outlineIn 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. The kids needs are essentially infinite and supervisory staff easily get pulled into intervening with the children and youth and just trying to provide all the care they need.
The first managerial challenge to providing quality supervision involves carving out the time for a supervisor and a direct care staff person to regularly meet in an office, away from the kids. I advocate for staff responsible for unit supervision to devote at least four hours per week to providing individual supervision. The best way to do that is to delegate as many routine administrative tasks to direct care staff as is possible. The best way to achieve that level of delegation is to clearly define unit coordinator and other roles.
This approach both frees up time for unit supervisors to provide coaching and supervision, and provides real training to direct care counselors in how to organize and implement various components of the residential program, from keeping track of hygiene supplies, to designing and scheduling activities, to planning birthday celebrations, and hundreds of other necessary parts to running a quality residential treatment unit.