Bill asks:
Whose goals are they?
If we are to understand the resident's/student's actions in a particular
incident, we must take the viewpoint of the student. An incident report is
written up by the staff person which gives the staff person's view. We have a
status/point system in which the expectations are stated clearly including the
penalty for violations. For the most part, these expectations are what is
common in most communities. For example, a person should not assault another
person. A person should not have inappropriate sexual contact with another
person in public.
In step 1, a resident will be asked to describe all of the facts from his/her
viewpoint. What happened? Where, when did it happen? Who was present? What
happened before and after the resident's action? What was the resident
thinking, feeling?
From doing a number of these Post-Critical Incident Counseling sessions, I have
learned that it is important to get the resident to give as much detail as
possible so that I can experience what the resident was experiencing. I find
that paying attention to the mood/feeling of the resident is very important. If
it is done right, there is no sense of being judged communicated.
In step 2, the resident is asked to state what were the good and bad results of
the action. This helps to suggest the reference perception. Residents are
ready to say what was bad about what they did. They often find it hard to
identify what was accomplished by what they did. I ask them if the incident
which happened has any connection to why they have to be in a residential
treatment center. In most cases it does and this helps them see the importance
of learning some different ways of handling things. I also ask them if the way
they were in the incident is the kind of person they want to be. All of these
questions help the resident to look at the incident from a higher level.
I will skip over steps 3 and 4 for now. Of course you are correct about the
loop gain business. The staff person can only encourage the resident to work on
changing. The resident has to decide that it is important to change in some
specific way, for example, to stop hitting others.
The basic philosophy at our center is to return the residents to the least
restrictive community setting after they leave us. We don't try to change the
residents into perfect human beings (as if we could) but try to get them to the
point where they can function in a less restrictive setting.
As you guessed, interpersonal conflicts are a major area of learning. The
point/status system may have faults, but a resident who can reach and keep the
highest level has learned how to deal with one set of adults and their rules.
This is a major accomplishment for the residents. Group therapy is another tool
for addressing interpersonal conflicts.
Many of the residents have internal conflicts. These are addressed in
individual therapy. Trust versus mistrust of others is a big one. All of our
residents come from a background of being abused and/or neglected.
Psychopharmacology may play a role in reducing the feeling/mood problems to a
tolerable level so that talking therapy can proceed.
Many of our staff would object to being placed on an equal level with the
residents. I think this is implied in your goal statement: How to bring
everyone closer to a state of being satisfied with the way everyone is behaving.
The residents, of course, always want to be equal or better than equal. A
clear understanding of roles which recognizes the differences between staff and
residents coupled with the goal of mutual respect might be accepted by both.
···
From: David Goldstein
Subject: Bill Powers (950817.0700 MDT)
Date: 08/18/95;22:40)