Every quarter, we send out these newsletter with a tiny postage stamp ad (Yes, That's it! Right over there in the margin next to this paragraph) for one of THE best resources we have to offer. So this quarter, we're getting up in your face with The Journal of Child and Youth Care Work. 

Read About It Here

Take a Peek at the Table of Contents

Then ORDER IT! 

$20 

(That's like finding it!)

The next edition of the Journal of Child and Youth Care Work is due out in October 2014. It will be a special issue on Trauma-Informed Practice. A call for abstracts has gone out for anyone interested in having an article considered for publication in this prestigious journal. Further details here:  Call for Abstracts.

March

National Conference on Innovation and Excellence

Cocoa Beach, Florida --- March 11 through 14

wmgreenaway@gmail.com

Conference Website 

April

Youth Worker Training Day - April 9th

San Francisco, California Conference Info

& ACYCP Annual Meeting - April 10th

San Francisco, California 

TYCCWA Youth Worker Retreat

South Padre Island, TX

April 15th - 16th

cycinformation@aol.com 

May

WACYCP: Wisconsin Association Conference

Youthwork: Heart + Skills + Competence = Success 

May 8, 2014

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Request for Presenters/Proposals 

June

OACYC conference

Excellence in Child and Youth Care...Promoting the Profession  

Kingston Ontario

June 4 through 6, 2014

Call for Papers/Presenters -- Deadline extended

http://www.garthgoodwin.info/National_Conference.html

Somehow, the issue of point and level systems never dies.  While many programs have taken steps to eliminate them, and have done so successfully, still there are too many who revert to and perpetuate this destructive aspect of the "folk culture" of child and youth care programs. Without careful thought, practices are carried out because "this is the way we've always done it".

I have already given dozens of reasons in other venues of the reasons point and level systems are poor treatment, along with suggestions for programmatic and relational approaches that are more curative. Point and level systems are so ingrained that they are automatically installed as an automatic add-on in any program without much thought as to how they fit - or perpetuated if they are already in place - and too often, they are.

Just as an example of how pervasive point and level systems are, like kudzu vines on a southern brick wall, we can take a look at programs that claim they are implementing a Sanctuary model. This current, well-researched and deservedly respected model is designed to enable implementation of a "trauma-informed" philosophy and practices that respond to the reality of the traumas experienced by children such as abuse or loss of a parent, that are behind their entrance into care settings. The kinds of behaviors associated with having experienced trauma, to name just a few, are aggression, frustration, avoidance of eye contact, depression, and anxiety.  Interestingly, there have been programs that penalized with their point and level systems youngsters who did not make eye contact (even though their culture had taught them that it is polite not to do so.)

While many of you may be familiar with the Sanctuary model as it is increasingly being adopted, there are pitfalls. The danger is not with the model itself - in fact far from it ! To me it's the best  approach I've seen yet.   The Sanctuary model is the most comprehensive and the one that truly embraces and addresses the needs of the children and youth to whom it is offered.  Unfortunately, with whatever model- if any- that may be utilized in a particular setting, there is always "model drift'. This occurs when over time fidelity to the model is eroded sometimes by unwittingly poor decisions, which  either haven't eliminated a practice that is not congruent with the model's intent when it was initiated, or has simply added it on. Point and level systems are an example.

What is the message point and level systems give?   It is,  "We are in control.  We can give - or take away - as we see fit" ( Contrary to common belief, point and level systems are notoriously un-objective).  "We do not understand, nor are we interested in, what little you may have been given in the past the traumatic experiences that brought you here, how they affect your behavior, and how we should adapt our practices to address these.  We aren't going to guide you towards what you want to work on to enhance your strengths. Rather we are simply going to impose what we want on you so that life is easier for us.   For example, if you compile too many negative points, you are going to have to go to bed early".   (I can never rant enough against that practice.  The trauma-based care philosophy gives me more good reason:  extra time for those disturbing memories to break through).

If your setting claims to have a Sanctuary model and if it includes a point and level system - then think a bit.  Why?  What kind of sanctuary takes away treatment  (e.g. activities) if it isn't 'earned', posts tabulations of everybody's status and levels on a board for the world to see, focuses staff efforts on tabulating rather than interacting, promotes anger and mistrust  among both staff and children... all of the reasons that have been given already.

We can decide now. Are we going to be mindful, thinking about what we are doing, or mindless, simply perpetuating the status quo? Do we want to raise or care for youngsters in a way that prevents them from developing the altruism and empathy that enable the development of harmonious relationships, who distrust the very adults whom they should view as supportive, and who are ridden with anxiety and relationship problems ?  Or do we want to give them the opportunity to feel secure and connected to adults who become meaningful and true agents of positive change? 

By: Michael Burns M.Ed., CYC (Cert.)

So often we conduct self-esteem groups and focus our activities on self-esteem with troubled children and youth believing that we can actually have an effect on their self-esteem in a session, two weeks, or even six weeks. Yet most of the children we work with have such a damaged view of themselves that to alter this perception in any substantial way would take a significant emotional life event or a great deal of time. We do know that a focus on skill acquisition and improving social skills is the most effective way to build self-esteem yet these too require in some cases a long time to accomplish. When we focus directly on self-esteem we often do more damage to children and youth than good. When we ask them to write down or list their strengths, their abilities, or what they like about themselves, their lists most often are made up of negatives, or things they were told were strengths, or more often than not the page is blank.
 
Self-esteem, self-concept, and even self-awareness are abstract concepts, which most children and the greater percentage of youth we work with do not understand or appreciate at a cognitive level. The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem is the positive or negative evaluation of the self ..." (Smith & Mackie, 2007, p. 107). Self-awareness, although an abstract concept, can be more easily understood as learning about what we do, what we think, and how we feel (sensations & emotions). Focusing on self-awareness allows children/youth an opportunity to get to know them selves more fully. It is in this experience of knowing who they are that children and youth can better appreciate their strengths, weaknesses, and abilities.
 
The entire human system (mind, brain, body) is programmed for survival. Thus children and youth pay more attention and use up more energy and memory focusing on and remembering the negative events in their lives (Hanson, 2009). This allows them to anticipate danger and to avoid dangerous or life threatening experiences. It also provides information as to how they managed a serious episode in their past. Did they successfully avoid or manage the stressful event or did they handle it poorly? With this information they can adapt their survival behaviours to be as effective as possible. This allows them to survive and in the case of a troubled child/youth--a most necessary skill. This preoccupation with survival however leaves them with a great deal of negative information, which often clouds or covers up their memory of positive experiences. Without bringing their positive events and experiences to their consciousness children and youth are often left with more vivid memories of negative experiences about themselves and their lives. Recollection and heightened awareness of positive life experiences, how they felt, how they behaved, and what they were thinking can begin to build an equally important bank of positive memories. When children/youth have a rich awareness of the positive and meaningful events in their lives they can counteract the effect of their survival mentality.
 
Self-awareness can assist them to appreciate more accurately their sense of Self and highlight the positive aspects of their personalities. Fritz Pearls (1969) and Carl Jung (1969) emphasized that self-awareness was the key to understanding and accurately assessing self-esteem. Pearls believed that the body was the key to understanding the Self. Sensory stimulation, body awareness, dance, movement, art, drama, and music can provide a variety of opportunities to get in touch with the affirming aspects of life. Jung believed in the universal consciousness with its plethora of positive and affirming memories. Tapping into the collective consciousness through, relaxation, meditation, guided fantasy, and centering/grounding exercises brings children/youth to a heightened awareness of goodness. Self-awareness, and in particular sensory awareness, lights up areas of their lives and experiences that cause them to act, feel, and think positively about themselves. Awareness of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that are either implicit or shrouded by the negative survival experiences can be brought to their awareness and made explicit, clear, and memorable. With these new awareness' comes a greater sense of well-being and a stronger more accurate evaluation of the Self.
 
Siegel (2012) defines the state of well-being as an integration of the coherent mind and the integrated brain, within an empathic and intimate relationship. Child and youth workers enter the children's life-space by means of an empathic relationship with the intention of assisting them in achieving a state of balance (homeostasis) and to be able to create that state/space within the various living spaces they inhabit. Self-awareness can be a powerful tool for the CYW to incorporate into the life-space intervention. An integrated brain, which in Siegel's definition includes the body, " ... creates a balanced and coordinated nervous system. In turn, an integrated brain permits empathic relationships" (Siegel, 2012, p. 3-3).
 
Awareness of sensory, behavioural, and intellectual positive experiences can begin the process of shedding light into the dark areas of the experience of Self in children and youth and will assist them to better appreciate themselves. It can also allow them to explore the darkness and to shine the light of awareness to assist them to make changes, adaptations, and corrections to feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that until now have limited their appreciation of themselves. A focus on self-affirming experiences and events that assisted in making them resilient beings confirms not only their value and worth but also asserts their right to happiness, loving relationships, and a meaningful life.
 
Bibliography
 
Hanson, R. (2009). Buddha's brain: The practical neuroscience of happiness, love, & wisdom. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications Inc.
 
Jung, C. (1969). The archetypes and the collective unconsciousness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
 
Pearls, F. (1969). In and out of the garbage pail. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.
 
Siegel, D. (2012). Pocket guide to interpersonal neurobiology: An integrative handbook of the mind. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.