The family system from which a child comes has an impact on whether that child can mature in healthy ways and become successful and happy. Understanding dysfunctional family dynamics helps all of those involved with troubled kids, so adults are in a better position to manage, lead, intervene, mentor and support them. This course uses three family traumas: incest, domestic violence, and substance abuse, and focuses on the impact of these behaviors when they are embedded in the family system. Participants become very familiar with family roles and possible interventions. Community resources are identified, and skills needed to communicate with these families are taught and practiced.

This dynamic, interactive class combines vital counseling skills and strategies for daily interaction with kids using all the components of effective crisis diffusion. Participants learn the steps involved in an escalating crisis situation from the standpoint of the juvenile and the proper response from the staff member to effectively diffuse the crisis situation before the critical control phase (use of force) takes place. They learn to anticipate an impending crisis and avoid it. Participants also learn to effectively and strategically use their body, voice, attitude, bearing, and personality to gain and keep control of situations.

Building rapport with adolescents and using simple behavior modification strategies prepares juvenile facilities staff to interact and work with kids more safely and effectively. Staff identify challenges they experience with kids and practice specific skills to build and maintain relationships that promote bonding, trust, and behavior change while maintaining a “firm, fair, and friendly” stance. The importance of active listening is stressed and structured activities support and enhance the retention of listening skills. Participants explore the importance of teamwork among staff members in role modeling positive behaviors for the kids. This class is easily customized to focus on a particular identified issue, if necessary.

Time is limited to make an impact on youth, but it is possible if all staff members consistently use the same strategies to meet the challenge and deal with their charges in a firm, fair, and consistent manner. The need to cover shifts 24/7 (with a variety of staff) makes it crucial that everyone be “on the same page.” This course covers the absolute basics from de-escalation, to five-minute counseling sessions. The focus is on building a working relationship with a child that can motivate desire to change.

Confrontation doesn’t have to mean “getting in someone’s face.” Verbal skills are a safe and viable alternative to force, when you know how to use them. Designed for those who have the ability to use force but want only to use it as a last resort, Positive Confrontation defuses escalation and provides a safer environment for the officers and people with whom they interact. Use of force can create personal and organizational liability, injury, and mountains of paperwork. This is a great course with powerful tools!

This course is designed to facilitate staff at all levels to come together and reflect on how they work as a team. Since the Mission Statement of an organization drives programs and defines ways that staff is to be with clients and each other, discussion time is spent comparing your organization’s Mission Statement with the individual’s Personal Mission Statement. Teams analyze their problem-solving dynamics in carrying out projects and look for more efficient and effective ways to complete projects and/or assignments. Activities facilitate participants in more open communication, conflict resolution, and giving effective feedback to others.

This course prepares staff to become more effective by using short, focused verbal interventions as part of behavior modification. Participants become familiar with the psycho-social developmental tasks that are particular to adolescence and how to be empathetic to a child’s needs while still being firm and fair. Participants self-assess personal styles and come to understand how assertiveness with others is a valuable counseling tool which helps keep the workplace an emotionally healthy environment and lowers the probability of the need to use force with minors.

Sexually, adolescents mature about two years earlier than they did 100 years ago. Today’s culture has grown-up children whose psychosocial and cognitive skills are not as developed as their bodies. This course gives participants guidelines in relating to differing adolescent age groups. The twelve to fifteen year-old teen is very different from the sixteen to eighteen year-old teen. Drug and alcohol use, chaotic families, mental and learning disorders, and the experience(s) of trauma, all impact the adolescent’s ability to understand and comply with court-appointed and other living situation guidelines. Using the developmental data, learners acquire communication skills that are highly effective.

This course builds skills. Participants learn to identify and correct grammatical/mechanical errors and build powerful sentences through their ability to identify and correct the comma splice and the run-on. In addition to correcting writing errors, the course underscores the differences between formal and informal writing as well as the need to identify and write to the expectations of specific audiences. Writing with tact and sensitivity enables writers to more efficiently and effectively compose emails that are professional, productive, and get positive results! Templates are included and participants take away the Workplace Writing Skills booklet which is rich in resources for reference back on the job.