The Strengths Model
Principle # 1:
People with psychiatric disabilities can recover, reclaim and transform their lives. Strengths Model practitioners have an unwavering belief in people’s potential to recover. They hold a long-term view of what people can attain and do not lose sight of this potential in the midst of short-term crises, challenges, and barriers to growth.
Principle #2:
The focus is on an individual’s strengths rather than deficits. While Strengths Model practitioners do not ignore people’s experience of psychiatric distress or environmental or personal challenges, the person’s strengths are amplified in order to find creative solutions for moving forward in one’s life. People are seen as whole individuals, and all individuals possess strengths which include their skills, talents, personal qualities, environmental resources, interests and aspirations.
Principle #3:
The community is viewed as an oasis of resources. Just as all people have strengths, the person’s surrounding environment is filled with strengths. Strengths Model practitioners take the time to help people find niches in their community where they can flourish.
Principle #4:
The client is the director of the helping process. Strengths Model practitioners strive to understand what people are most passionate about and what brings value or meaning to their life. Goals for the helping relationship are based on what the person finds important, not what the practitioner views as most important. Practitioners help people explore and resolve decisional uncertainty and/or conflict and generate options based on their strengths to help them move forward in their recovery. Self-determination is highly respected.
Principle #5:
The relationship is primary and essential. In order to do recovery-oriented work, you must know the person with whom you are working. Strengths Model practitioners view engagement as essential to formulating client-centered goals. The role of a Strengths Model practitioner is often viewed more as a traveling companion rather than a travel agent. We become invested in the person’s recovery journey and view it as an honor to accompany them during the course of the working relationship.
Principle #6:
The primary setting for our work is in the community. Recovery doesn’t occur inside the walls of the mental health center. It occurs where people live, work, and play. The Strengths Model practitioner becomes a valuable resource to the person as they come to understand the person’s life setting and help them use or build upon their strengths as their achieve their goals.
Control
In the wake of all the violent and tragic shootings both in schools and other public facilities it seems the answer is GUN CONTROL. Really? I don’t own a gun (I have shot them) but last time I checked a gun is an inanimate object incapable of hurting anyone by itself. There are those tragic events where a parent leaves a loaded gun lying around their house and children kill or hurt them self or others. That is a totally avoidable tragedy with the use of a simple gunlock or even better, a gun safe.
Don’t worry. I don’t belong to the NRA and I’m not a “gun in every home” kind of guy. These weapons are just that. Weapons. One model, just to get an idea, is the MR762A1 manufactured by Heckler & Koch. Heckler & Koch makes weapons used by the U.S. Military and they all look the same except there is one notable difference. Civilian versions are semiautomatic while the militaries version is fully automatic.
Civilians in the U.S. Can’t own a fully automatic assault rifle. Really these weapons are called machine guns. A semi-auto gun needs you to pull the trigger to shoot every round in the magazine. Fully auto guns can be switched into a mode where one trigger press can fire a full magazine of bullets.
So as our government struggles to solve the problem of people going into schools or theatres with their “assault weapons” remember we can’t even buy or own a fully automatic weapons. We can’t convert a semi into a fully automatic because it’s already against the law to own one and you will go to jail for 20 years.
Really; think about it. If a bad person wants to get a weapon he will find a way to get one. He’s a criminal. All the hysteria about clip capacity really doesn’t mean anything. So I bring four clips not two so I can kill everyone.
Now…lets talk about the real issue here. The issue that is a difficult problem for the government and society so solve and the one we don’t want to face. That problem is access to quality mental heath treatment for the time needed to get things turned around right. We brand people with mental illness then deny them proper insurance coverage, life insurance, jobs you know the same stuff every other person expects to be available to them.
We use to shut the mentally ill away in asylums “for their own good.” That made it so we, “Out here,” didn’t have to deal with people like the ones “in there.” Did that system work? No. I’ve studied this issue for years and the history is clear. Before asylums we had almshouses and no treatment of any kind was offered. Then in the late 1800s society moved from almshouses to asylums. These asylums were massive college campus sized facilities. Often times they grew their own food, had their own power station and were really independent from the rest of society.
Starting in the late 1970s and through out the 1980s asylums were systematically closed, The population released back into society and most of these campus sized facilities were leveled leaving no trace of the tragically horrific job they had done in helping the mentally ill. Where did the patients go? Some went to homes, family but a large portion of them ended up living on the streets, homeless and hopeless.
Come on people. We are making all this noise about gay marriage where are all the people fighting for the rights of folks that suffer with a mental illness they never asked for. I have way more to say on this than what will fit in one blog so hold on. The people responsible for the recent tragedies and mass murders weren’t driven to do it because they could buy a gun. They did it because our system, us, won’t take the treatment of mental illness seriously and bring the resources to bare and help the afflicted.
Next time I’ll talk about a simple tool to use at home with your children called The Grump Meter. It’s in the home where we have the chance to teach and equip our kids to deal with this crazy world in a positive and healthy way. We all have a responsibility to society to force the government and insurance companies to treat folks with mental illness like just the people they are. Wow. Discrimination is alive and well in the 21st century.
If you question the decline of America…
If you question the idea that the USA is in decline just watch this video. Karen Huff Klein (more) was the subject of this weeks viral video. This video is a graphic example of the out of control nature of a lot of our youth. These smart teens show the world that if they can’t pass chemistry it doesn’t matter because they’ll just bully their way into a job and to the top.
There is outrage over this as there should be but I guess I have to ask, if Karen is the bus monitor why doesn’t she have any authority to ‘do’ something about these kids. Who is she protecting if she can’t even protect herself? This is no indictment of Karen but of the society that would allow this. What investigation needs to be done? The evidence is all on the video. I’m sure she didn’t incite these teens into being bullies.
My wife taught school at North Highschool in the Kansas City, Missouri school district. She quite after being struck by an out of control teen who was strangling one of his classmates. My wife thought for sure this boy was going to murder the boy he was fighting with. She tried to intervene and was the object of a kids elbow to her head. At this same school a seasoned and accomplished teacher was fired for “strong arming” a boy in his class who was becoming violent. That is a classic example of the heart of the problem.
Schools in the Kansas City Missouri school district have lost accreditation and the state is threatening a take control from the elected school board due to their lack of leadership. Fire good teachers, have other good teachers leave, expel kids that are causing the problems and tell me what do you get? I’ll tell you, shamed teachers that have spent a lifetime at their profession and teens on the street who now have time to deal drugs, fight in gangs and murder people. They keep the Black Community in fear of their lives so no one rats them out. These teens either end up dead or worse. The communities they live in are in terror of them and society has failed in its mission to be the village that can raise a boy up into a productive and honorable man. Same goes for the girls.
No amount of money, welfare, government housing or food-stamps will fix this. Government does not hold the answers to this problem. They help to create it. Our government will pay off the student loans of college grads that are willing to teach in the urban core for two years. Sounds good. Here’s what the website says:
Teach For America
As a corps member, you will be a full-time teacher and receive a full salary and comprehensive health benefits from your school district. Additional benefits, such as funding for relocation and help with student loans will ease your transition and allow you to be financially stable as a corps member.
Snapshot of Corps Member Compensation
- Salary ranging from $30,000 to $51,000 »
- Health insurance »
- Retirement benefits »
- AmeriCorps education award of $10,700* »
- Loan forbearance and paid interest for two years »
- $1,000 – $6,000 of no-interest loans or grants for relocation and transition »
- Educator discounts »
- Exclusive scholarships and benefits from grad schools and employers »
The unintended consequences of this program results in the firing of seasoned and qualified teachers who are replaced by green and untested (and unprepared) teachers who cost the district a lot less money. These teachers leave the urban school setting as soon as they’ve done their time leaving the community at a loss for qualified teachers.
The discipline issue is left on the way back burner. It’s time we as a nation pull together regardless of sex, race, political affiliations or social class and get serious about finding a true solution to these problems. What we are doing now isn’t working and to keep applying the same solution over and over gaining the same result is the definition of insanity.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein
The issues of bullying, teen suicide, and societal displacement are huge yet we do nothing. It’s time for change.
Can do better…about the apology.
This Will Make Some Mad
Two things that concern me are underage drinking and bullying. Both of these topic get lip-service in the media and social groups like PTA and attention from school administrations.
I have been a parent for 31 years now and my youngest is 16. That’s 31 years of parenting 8 children. I have 1 graduating from High School this year and heading to college in the fall and my last still in High School. These issues have become epidemic over the last 31 years.
Last fall as High School started I was exposed to the same kind of underage drinking materials that I’d seen for the last 11 years. In 2001 I got behind an effort to create a new program in hopes that it might prove more effective than the current D.A.R.E. program that was in use by local law enforcement.
I looked at the issue as one of hope. Teens don’t feel hopeful about their future and nothing about that has changed in the last 11 years. Really things have gotten worse. Now unemployment is out of control and government spending is creating a situation where kids soon will be born owing $50,000 against the government debt.
I don’t want to get into politics here. I just want to help the youth of America become tangibly more hopeful and less prone to high risk taking activities. After getting Kansas Family Partners on board along with course development headed by KU I had the program development and training set along with distribution through out the state of Kansas with hopes to network with other states to build a national effort.
What I couldn’t find was funding for this project. Even though I had a professional fund-raising organization working for me no one came forward. That left me stunned and puzzled.
After a few years had passed I realized something that I’m sure will make many people angry. There was really no will to solve this problem. People gave great lip-service to the horrors of underage drinking but when it came to doing something about it the will just wasn’t there.
I could speculate on the reasons for this but I won’t. I’ll just leave it at this; if and that’s a big if, we (society) want to really help our youth by curbing underage drinking and stopping bullying then we have to DO something. To do nothing is to say, the status quo is what we want and all efforts are unimportant. I put some resources and statistic HERE.
No matter what the program is, who creates it and where it’s delivered I know if we as parents aren’t committed to change, these issues will continue to get worse. The toll on our youth and those they affect will expand destroying families and creating untold crisis in our homes and community. Any ideas?
Communications Disappear
One very important fact is being neglected today. The children today actually believe everything they read on the internet, learn in school, read on FACEBOOK and watch on TV.
We view the world through a haze of propaganda. Almost every message sent to us is some form of propaganda. The most basic form is commercials. Advertising is purposeful propaganda created to motivate us toward a specific action (buy a new car). There’s nothing wrong with that. We know that anything in an advertisement is suspect and to be a wise consumer we need to check things out.
It is other messages that disturb me. For example, I recently saw a government sponsored (I guess you’d call it a public service announcement) ad about heath screenings for the elderly and how it can save lives. That statement is true for all of us but in the PSA the actor says, “The health care law lets those of us on Medicare now get most preventive care for free.”
First off this is a poorly written sentence and maybe written that way to create a little confusion as your listening but for sure you take away ‘the health care law,’ ‘preventive,’ and ‘free.’ This gives the impression that the “new” healthcare law (not in force yet) provides free “preventative” care. But that’s not true. What the actor is really telling the elderly is, “some preventitve healthcare screenings are covered under the current Medicare laws. As you can see a subtle yet very different message. To see the ad go to http://youtu.be/Z5bjUYgfqhw.
When Allen and Green developed “The Propaganda Game” they based it on George Henry Moulds book Thinking Straighter. This book is out of print but the game is available from WFF ‘N PROOF at http://wffnproof.com/inc/sdetail/127. I suggest everyone buy a copy and play it with your teenagers.
For example a very common form of propaganda used by the press is “Quotation out of context.” In this case the press uses only the part of a quote to support their particular agenda. The best recent example is the way NBC News edited George Zimmerman’s 911 call prior to him shooting Trayvon Martin. Now the issue about should he/should’t he have shot isn’t the issue. As important as that event is even more important is the actions of NBC NEWS in altering the story to help create specific actions by the public and impact opinions formed.
Just that easily a lie can be told, shrouded like truth and everyone is calling for Zimmerman’s arrest. For me, an apology from NBC won’t cut it. They have lost credibility as a new source. They promise “necessary steps” will be taken “to prevent this from happening in the future” but what are those actions? For me they would include cleaning house at NBC from the top down.
Related articles
Trouble Comin’ Every Day
I remember on June 27, 1966 Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention released their first record called ‘Freak Out!’ Its sophisticated music yet catchy tunes were funny while making social commentary. On the record was a song titled, “Trouble Every Day.”
.
.
Frank sang:
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day.
• To hear the song visit here: http://youtu.be/sOGydWBJ1mE
At the time we all were 60s flower children and the Vietnam War was raging but today I think this song is even more relevant. Here’s why. I have said for years that cell phones, instant messaging, texting, email and Facebook (among other electronic communications tools) is tearing the fabric of our society apart. I would always get blank stares upon saying this. Especially from teens.
Now I hate to report that things really are falling apart as I foresaw. Let me give just a few examples written about in the January/February 2012 issue of Psychotherapy Networker. Rob Waters wrote a great survey piece called “Mental Health Systems Under Stress.” To give you a few brief highlight he says that in Detroit, the county mental health program has lost $30 million in state funding over the past three years. Central City Community Mental Health attempts to prepare patients for transition from psychiatric hospitals and jails to the community. It has lost ¼ of its funding leading to the termination of 1/3 of the staff. A program called House that helps in the same way closed.
In California program cuts have drastically affected the elderly, putting them at risk. Throughout the country states have cut school budgets reducing the number of counselors, therapists and nurses at all levels.
As we all know the economy has caused tragic problems for families. The loss of jobs, bankruptcy, foreclosure on homes has led to a near epidemic of homelessness for a class of people who have never had to deal with it before. Kids suffer because they no longer have a home and with nowhere to turn for help we’ve seen the teen suicide rates explode in some communities. Along with suicide, child abuse, alcoholism, and drug abuse are climbing.
The numbers of therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists are not increasing to meet the current demand. Yup there’s trouble coming every day. I’ll continue to cover this topic over the next few weeks.
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Credit: All Frank Zappa material – ‘Trouble Every Day’ lyrics, artist names and images – copyright by their respective owners. All Frank Zappa “Trouble Every Day” song lyrics might be restricted for educational and personal use only. Reference – Psychotherapy Networker – January/February 2012 Vol. 36 No. 1 – “Clinician’s Digest” by Rob Waters p. 15-17 Copyright © 2012 by The Psychotherapy Networker – all rights reserved – USA.
Lyric Reference: http://www.lyricstime.com/frank-zappa-trouble-every-day-lyrics.html
Related articles
- Very Early Zappa… after the Watts Riots (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Frank Zappa: His last documentary from 1993 (dangerousminds.net)
I’m Just Sayin’ #2
I was at a meeting yesterday with a very good therapist friend of mine. She has spent a lot of time examining the teen suicide epidemic that we are currently experiencing. She asked a teen in the meeting why teens feel so hopeless. The teen at the meeting really could’t articulate the reason and considering the brain development in the teen years I wouldn’t expect them to.
But the fact remains, they do feel hopeless. I’d like to offer a couple of ideas that may point to an answer to this question. First if you look at the popular culture I think you get a read on the social fabric of our youth. The current slate of TV shows that are popular with the teens contain a great amount of disrespect towards people and makes this look like that attitude is fine. Sex is just part of life, mom get over it. In the political world the message is horrible. Our current president promised “Hope and Change” and the youth swarmed to him. Now the teens see there is no Hope with the current financial crisis. Obama has framed so many issues as a “crisis” that during the time he’s been president even I feel like I’m on a leaking submarine. I’m more than certain teens feel everything is truly in crisis and no hope in fixing it. I’m just sayin’.
Even commercials represent a pathetic life style being lived by our young adults the same as with teens including relentless social media creating isolation and emotionless communications. I hear about “Facebook Stalking” and races to accumulate huge numbers of “friends” even though you don’t know 98% of them.
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Creativity is spurned. The arts are the first thing to be cut out of school budgets. Yet creativity is what brings not only art, plays, and movies; it’s also the well where innovation lives. Innovation in products, services, medical advances, new drugs, our clothes…
Half our brain is devoted to creative thinking and when combined with the problem solving skills of the left brain we have a whole person. All we currently do is teach to tests in our schools and we don’t teach critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and the like. You don’t think our teens feel something major is wrong?
Teens may not be able to express the reason for their hopelessness but it’s there nonetheless and it is time for the responsible adults in the room to get a grip and start fixing this mess we have created. If we’d do that I truly believe hope would make a comeback.
A New Initiative
Patti and I have been helping other families for a very long time. We have 30+ years of experience in parenting (and we aren’t done yet) and in that time we have experienced some bumps and a lot of joy. We increased our knowledge by taking parenting programs, continuing education, keeping current with the literature and being involved in our community.
Currently I serve on the Advisory Board at Ozanam Home (a residential treatment facility) and I’ve worked with families and boys through the Boy Scouts for over 20 years. I have worked with Lone Scouts and as a Scoutmaster. Patti has spent years involved with the PTA. She worked with schools raising awareness of the homeless and has written an introspective book entitled Four Ordinary Women. She is a licensed educator and has taught K through 8th grade. Some of that time was spent teaching in schools in ethnic neighborhoods learning as much as she was teaching. Patti and I co-authored No Windows No Doors – On the Threshold of Homelessness. The book was created for the 20th anniversary of Uplift. We have spent many evenings riding in the back of a truck bringing meals to the homeless where they live. Currently Patti volunteers her time at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic.
I have an MA from TCU in Communications. Communication seems to be an issue that’s at the heart of family problems as well as a challenge for kids of this current generation. I have taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People since 1994 and worked with individual schools and school districts in implementation of this program. I’m developing a new workshop called HOPE based on a foundation developed by Dr. C. R. Snyder who was the leading expert on hope theory.
Experience is one of the best teachers. I think that’s why people “practice” law and medicine not just “work” in those fields. Society is in rapid change, destabilizing business, science, economics, politics and families. After helping other families I mentioned to Patti that we should formalize things. We have made contact with so many excellent resources (also called people!) and been a guide to so many families that it seems very natural to create what we now call The Family Crisis Group or FCG.
We had our first client family before we even announced this initiative. This family had a teen who was spiraling out of control. We walked them through the predictable feelings of grief, shame and heartache. We wanted them to know that a family can heal, marriages can be repaired and relationships restored. We can help you walk that road. FCG is composed of professionals from psychiatrists to addiction specialists and educational consultants.
Patti and I will stay with you as the point people in your effort to regain control. We will coach, teach, listen, recommend action then be there through the action so you know you can pick up the phone 24/7 and we will be there to help. As a matter of fact, you can call us now. We are non-judgmental, supportive, and objective. There’s no blame, no shame — only advocacy for parents and families. The out of control teen causing this maelstrom is a person crying for help.
We try very hard to bring an intensive therapeutic environment with us so residential treatment can be avoided. We can facilitate addiction intervention, and represent your plan to help your child in court. If residential treatment is the only option we work with an excellent educational consultant who will guide you through that maze and try to leave you with some money in your bank account.
The teen may not like us but that doesn’t matter. We have a great team that’s got our back so we can have yours. Parents are so often the forgotten piece in all this and if you are involved with the social services or juvenile justice system you know what I mean. You need an advocate for you with the goal being to repair your broken family.
Family is the most important thing we have. Call and we’ll talk. Together we can take steps toward better days. Until then, God be with you.
The Family Crisis Group - blog 