July 23, 2008
Coaching the Parents of Oppositional Youth
Presenter: Jim Keim, M.S.W. LCSW
This workshop presents a highly effective, four-step intervention for oppositional behavior that works in part by reviving the adults in the system to respond in more soothing, warm, and effective ways. An unusual aspect of the therapy is its focus on the different perceptions of power that oppositional youth and adults have. The concepts of process orientation, tagging, two-tiered consequences, and a reinterpretation of hierarchy are reviewed in detail.
Why is it that discipline techniques that work well with the majority of youth seem only to escalate confrontations with oppositional ones? This workshop answers this question and provides non-confrontational techniques proven to work in homes, school, institutions, and other settings. A central part of the intervention is understanding the authority styles of the adults interacting with oppositional youth. When these adults have been abused by authority themselves, they seem to have particular difficulty and pain in dealing with oppositional youth and especially with therapists that fail to take such experiences into account. Another central part of this intervention is the exploration of the world of the oppositional youth. We will review the different manner with which oppositional youth view confrontation and the way this viewpoint serves to escalate confrontation with well-meaning adults. We will also look into the interplay of anxiety, information processing differences, and attachment issues. This workshop is especially interested in how to motivate tired, angry parents, teachers and others to use soothing techniques with oppositional youth.
The concepts of process orientation, tagging, two-tiered consequences, and a reinterpretation of hierarchy are reviewed in detail.
Goals and Objectives
- to be able to identify the three major diagnostic criteria of oppositional behavior
- to be able to employ a four step intervention to treat oppositional behavior
- to be able to join therapeutically with an oppositional youth without creating coalitions against other adults
- to be able to coach adults in backing off from unhelpful confrontations
- to be able to coach adults in the reworking of rules and consequences so that they fit the needs of oppositional youth
- to be able to differentiate between high and low hierarchy youth and to tailor therapy accordingly
- to be able to tailor therapy to the authority style of the adult that one is coaching
- to be able to identify process and outcome orientations in interactional style
- to be able to differentiate between cooperative consequences, non-cooperative consequences, and tagging
Course Outline
9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Redefining oppositional behavior from a therapist's perspective, Video
of 10 year old child
10:30 - 10:40 a.m.
Break
10:40 - 11:00 a.m.
Small Group Exercises
11:00 - 12:00 p.m.
The Four Step Intervention, Steps One and Two of Intervention
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Steps Three and Four of Intervention
2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Small Group Exercises
2:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Break
2:45 - 4:00 p.m.
Video Examples of intervention, discussion
Continuing Education Hours
6 Continuing Education Units approved for MFT's, LCSWs, as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider #PCE 14, & by the California Board of Registered Nurses, BRN #2062. This course has been approved for 6 hours of MCEP credit by the California Psychological Association Accrediting Agency. Course number: MEN006-0091-000
Cost: $125
