For the times, they are a ’changin’.

This theme holds particular relevance for therapeutic facilities…inpatient psychiatry units, residential facilities, group homes, therapeutic schools, and juvenile detention facilities.

Leadership and staff in many such facilities have come to recognize that contingency management programs – points, demerits, levels, and the like – don’t meet the therapeutic needs of their residents, aren’t useful for reducing recidivism, often interfere with assessment (by causing residents to look “artificially good” or “artificially bad”), and frequently precipitate the most extreme resident behaviors, setting the stage for high rates of chemical, physical, and mechanical restraint and locked-door seclusion. They’ve also recognized that helping a kid “look good” inside the facility is the easy part…setting the stage for the resident to be successful after discharge is the hard part. And this requires that a facility focus less on motivating kids to look good and focus more on identifying and teaching the skills that have been making it so difficult for kids to handle life’s social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

Moving things in a more productive direction often requires major shifts…in perspective, culture, roles, focus, mission, staff training and supervision, and communication structures. Doing the right thing is very hard work.

Many facilities and systems have found the Collaborative Problem Solving approach to be the missing link. And that’s where Think:Kids can help.