Managing Troubled and Troubling Students in Crisis

1. Managing Troubled and Troubling Students in Crisis The Circle of Courage and Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

2. Managing Troubled and Troubling Students in Crisis Students seldom assume responsibility for changing their own behavior (as opposed to relying on outside authority and control for behavioral change) until they are psychologically empowered to make changes about their behavioral alternatives and are ready to accept the consequences of these choices. Nicholas Long, Mary Wood, Frank Fecser (2001) John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

3. Managing Troubled and Troubling Students in Crisis The Foundation – Core Values • Belonging • Mastery • Independence • Generosity John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

4. The circle is a sacred symbol of life…Individual parts within the circle connect with every other part; and what happens to one, or what one part does, affects all within the circle Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve Every child needs someone that is irrationally crazy about them. Uri Bronfenbrenner We can either smother the divine fire of youth, or we may feed it. Jane Addams Discouragement is courage denied. When the circle of courage is broken, the lives of our children are no longer in harmony and balance. Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

5. Belonging With opportunity for attachment a child learns, “I can trust.” “Be related, somehow, to everyone you know.” – Ella Deloria Ultimate test of kinship is behavior, not blood: you belong if you act like you belong Treating others as related is a powerful social value that can transform human relationships Drawing other’s into one’s circle provides motivation to show respect and concern John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

6. Belonging John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

7. With an opportunity for achievement, a child learns, “I have talent.” Children and adults strive for mastery of their environments – Competence Motivation When need for competence is satisfied, motivation for further achievement is enhanced When deprived of opportunities for success, young people express their frustration through troubled behavior or by retreating in helplessness and inferiority Cognitive, physical, social, and spiritual competencies Mastery John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

8. Mastery John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

9. With an opportunity for autonomy, a child learns, “I have power.” We are not free. We do not make choices. Our choices are made for us. – Clyde Warrior Without a sense of autonomy, we see ourselves as pawns in a world where others control our destiny. Children who lack a sense of power over their behavior and environment are developmental causalities who have been labeled as: learned helplessness, absence of an internal locus of control, and/or lack of intrinsic motivation These youth are often scarred by alienation and school failure, and often seek alternative sources of power through chemicals or membership in a youth counterculture. Purpose of external discipline is to build internal discipline Grounding assumption is that all persons have the right to control their own destiny and the belief that children will respond to positive nurturance and cannot be made responsible by imposing our own will upon them Independence John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

10. Independence John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

11. With an opportunity for altruism, a child learns, “My life has purpose.” Grandma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go. – Little Tree Troubled young people increase their sense of self-worth as they become committed to the positive value of caring for others. (Brendtro & Ness) Helping others improves self-esteem, and increased self-esteem allows young people to “de-center” and contribute to others. (Elkind) Altruism is the ultimate resource for coping with life’s conflicts, for in reaching out to help one another, one breaks free from preoccupation with the self. (Selye) Generosity John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

12. Generosity John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

13. “What began as a quest to understand the extraordinary has revealed the power of the ordinary. Resilience does not come from rare and special qualities, but from the everyday magic of ordinary, normative human resources in the minds, brains, and bodies of children, in their families, and relationships, and in their communities” Ann Masten John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

14. Our findings…investigators with a life-span perspective suggest that these buffers [protective factors] make a more profound impact on the life course of children who grow up under adverse conditions than do specific risk factors or life events. They [also] appear to transcend ethnic, social, class, geographical, and historical boundaries. Most of all, they offer us a more optimistic outlook than the perspective that can be gleaned from the literature on the negative consequences of perinatal trauma, care giving deficits, and chronic poverty. Werner & Smith (1992) Resiliency John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

15. Personal strengths or manifestations of resilience: Social competence Problem-solving Autonomy Sense of Purpose Fostering Resiliency in Kids (Bonnie Benard, 1991) Resilience Outcomes: Personal Strengths John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

16. Includes characteristics, skills, and attitudes essential to forming relationships and positive attachments to others Components Responsiveness Communication Empathy and caring Compassion, altruism, and forgiveness Personal Strengths: Social Competence John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

17. Problem-solving skills encompass many abilities from planning and flexibility through resourcefulness, critical thinking, and insight. The glue that connects these and holds them together is a “figuring things out” quality Components Planning Flexibility Resourcefulness Critical thinking and insight Personal Strengths: Problem-solving Skills John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

18. “In my own life, although my mother kept telling me that my brother was the smart one in the family, my teachers reflected back another image of myself. Where my mother was rejecting, they were kind and accepting; where she told me I wasn’t smart, they let me know I was. It didn’t take the sting of my mother’s rejection away, but it did open up the possibility of another way of seeing myself that I could take comfort in.” Lillian Rubin Insight John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

19. Autonomy involves an ability to act independently and to feel a sense of control over one’s environment. Deci and Ryan documented autonomy as the critical personal strength underlying other strengths and intrinsic motivation. They state that feelings of competence in any skill or task will not enhance intrinsic motivation unless accompanied by a sense of autonomy. To be autonomous means to act in accord with one’s self – it means feeling free and volitional in one’s actions. When autonomous, people are fully willing to do what they are doing, and they embrace the activity with a sense of interest and commitment. Their actions emanate from a true sense of self. Personal Strengths: Autonomy John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

20. Components Positive identity Internal locus of control and initiative Self-efficacy and mastery Adaptive distancing and resistance Self-awareness and mindfulness Humor Personal Strengths: Autonomy John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

21. This category ranges from goal direction to optimism to creativity to a sense of meaning and coherence – the deep belief that one’s life has meaning and that one has a place in the universe Components Goal direction, achievement motivation, and educational aspirations Special interests, creativity, and imagination Optimism and hope Faith, spirituality, and sense of meaning Personal Strengths: Sense of Purpose John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

22. Personal Strengths John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

23. A language of strengths is required in strength-based approaches because personal strength emerges from family, school, and community working together A language of strengths helps practitioners and parents begin to look for and find strengths in their young people and then to name and reflect back to youth the strengths they have witnessed This is a critical component of strength-based practice A Perspective on Strengths #1 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

24. Positive, strength-based language helps parents, teachers, and other caregivers start to reframe how they see their young people, to begin to shift from seeing only risk to also seeing the incredible resilience of young people, especially those facing a whole range of challenges Is it possible to reframe “at-risk” to “at-promise”? Researchers and practitioners must have a language for the human qualities that far too often remain invisible, unrecognized, unnamed, and unacknowledged A Language of Strengths… John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

25. Strengths are not fixed personality traits Resilience perspective acknowledges the dynamic, adaptational quality of resilience strengths, recognizing that they are not fixed personality characteristics that one either has or does not have Viewing resilience not as a fixed trait but as dynamic and contextual process, recognizes that these internal “assets” can also be deficits if they are out of balance A Perspective on Strengths #2 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

26. Contrary to common misunderstanding, strengths are not special qualities that cause resilience Research suggests that human beings are biologically prepared to develop these strengths and to use them for survival (Watson & Ecken, 2003) Human beings are intrinsically motivated to meet basic psychological needs, including needs for belonging and affiliation, a sense of competence, feelings of autonomy, safety, and meaning All human beings are compelled to meet these needs throughout the lifespan A Perspective on Strengths #3 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

27. Because strengths are dynamic, contextual, and culturally expressed, and arise from our intrinsic motivation to meet basic psychological needs, they are not learned for the most part or in a lasting way, through a social skills program or a life skills curriculum that attempts to directly teach them A Perspective on Strengths #4 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

28. Were we to work with children and youth from a developmental perspective, we would understand that the deeper issue when a child doesn’t express these critical skills – let’s say for empathy – is not that the child has no drive to be empathic, it’s that in the child’s environment, expression of empathy is not valued and models of empathy are absent. If we truly want youth to develop their propensity to behave with empathy, then we must have people who model empathy and who create a climate in which empathy is the norm. If we want youth to have good problem-solving and decision-making skills, then we must provide them with opportunities to actively engage in problem-solving and to make real and valued decisions about things they care about. Bonnie Bernard John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

29. Adults who are respectful of children are not just modeling a skill or behavior, they are meeting the emotional needs of those children, thereby helping to create the psychological conditions for children to treat others respectfully. (Kohn, 1997; Watson & Ecken, 2003). John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

30. Empowerment and Self-regulation Emerge from: • Understanding people and events in their environment • Acknowledgement of the part personal behavior and feelings contribute • Awareness of reactions of others • Social perception about the sequence of consequences that follow • Recognition of alternatives that can modify a chain of events • Motivation to change unpleasant circumstances • Desire to improve existing conditions • Belief that change for the better is possible • Sufficient self-esteem to believe that improvement is deserved • Confident to try something different • Trust in adults • Confidence in adults’ respect for students’ feelings • Conviction that adults value students • Belief that adults recognize students’ attributes • Belief that adults use power and authority wisely • Confidence that adults can solve problems in satisfactory ways • Willingness to accept adult guidance John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

31. Sacred Cows • Punishment…fallacious assumptions • Teaches challenging youth an appropriate way of behaving. • Teaches youth that their internal feelings, attitudes, and beliefs drive their behavioral choices • Making youth suffer, feel bad about themselves, or manipulate through short-term material reinforcers creates responsibility, a sense of purpose and hope, and a contributing member of the community. John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

32. Punishment is highly overrated and unlikely to result in meaningful growth and change, especially for troubled youth. Mark Freado – 2006 When behavior problems persist despite efforts at intervention, a sensible solution would seem to be to discard the intervention instead of the student. Nicholas Long, Mary Wood, Frank Fecser – 2001 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

33. Sacred Cows • Overly prescriptive or rigid systems of discipline • School wide policies and procedures that invest precious human and material resources on reaction and intervention rather than pro-action and prevention. • Practicing strategies that many times are punitive and disrespectful, that rely on taking something away while employing humiliation and exclusion. • Fostering an obedience-oriented ethos that stresses arbitrarily developed and adopted rules of behavior is fueled by fear and reward and teaches students to be responsive to the most persuasive voice (antithesis of critical and creative thinking). John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

34. Challenging behaviors of all kinds derive from unmet needs, most prominently the Circle of Courage needs for belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern, 2002 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

35. The use of consequences and the development of behavior plans that focus only on stopping the behavior may be effective in the short term, but they are not an invitation to the type of growth that connotes student self-discipline, responsibility, and the building of a sense of community. Jones & Jones, 1998 If whipping or sympathy were all that was required, these kids would have been cured long ago. Brendtro & Long, 2005 If what we are doing for children is so good for them, why do they fight us so much? Roderick Durkin, 1998 John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

36. The Reclaiming Environment To be reclaimed is to be restored to value, to experience attachment, achievement, autonomy, and altruism – the four well-springs of courage. Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

37. We fail to see the child, just as one time we were unable to see the woman, the peasant, the oppressed social strata and oppressed peoples. We have arranged things for ourselves so that children should be in our way as little as possible…A child’s primary and irrefutable right is the right to voice his thoughts, to actively participate in our verdicts concerning him. Janusz Korczak (1967) John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

38. Belonging – Strategies • Relationship is an action, not a feeling • Crisis is opportunity • Loving the unlovable * • Disengaging from the conflict cycle • Earning the trust of youth • Relationship building is an endurance event • Conducting therapy on the hoof • Respect begets respect • Teaching joy • The invitation to belong John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

39. Mastery – Strategies for Brain-friendly Learning Practices that encourage/discourage achievement motivation (McClelland) • Adult Domination • When adults prescribe what a youth is to do and how it is to be done, the child may remain dependent and does not learn to set and pursue personal goals • Obedience • Adults who stress obedience and conformity in order to develop polite and manageable children inadvertently lower achievement motivation • Affection • Adult expressions of genuine interest, pleasure, and affection can increase measured achievement • Expectations • Low expectations and over-indulgence both lower achievement, while realistic challenges with a high ratio of success to failure raises motivation • Independence • Autonomy must be planfully nourished from early childhood, but aloof adults who “push the child from the nest” too early do not foster achievement John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

40. Mastery – Strategies for Brain-friendly Learning • Brain-friendly learning is pattern making • Brain-friendly learning is non-threatening • Brain-friendly learning is experiential • Brain-friendly learning is social John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

41. Independence – Discipline for Responsibility Obedience is demanded to achieve a person with discipline. But this is a discipline that comes from the outside and works only when one is afraid of someone who is stronger than oneself. We do need discipline, an inner discipline to order our life. What is inner discipline? To my thinking it is the opposite of blind obedience. It is the development of a sense of values. Gisela Konopka John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

42. Independence – Resilient Youth Resilient Youth….. • Build bonds with adults and peers based on care and mutual concern • Thinks for him/herself and can solve problems creatively • Can tolerate frustration and manage emotions • Avoids making other people’s problems one’s own • Shows optimism and persistence in the face of failure • Resists being put down and sheds negative labels • Has a sense of humor and can “forgive and forget” John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

43. Independence – Instilling Responsible Freedom • Discipline replaces punishment • Demanding greatness instead of obedience • Making caring fashionable • Tapping the spirit of adventure • Mobilizing the power of peers John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

44. Generosity – The Courage to Care • Pseudo-altruism • Used to gain rewards or avoid punishment • Seeking personal gain • Wishing to avoid shame or guilt • Reduce feelings of distress • Genuine altruism • Evoked by empathy with another person • Empathy allows one to understand the perspective of another • Empathy motivates helping behavior • Empathy is the linchpin in the concept of altruism John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

45. Generosity – Pseudo Altruism vs. Genuine Altruism If we seek to be loved – if we expect to be loved – this cannot be accomplished; we will be dependent and grasping, not genuinely loving. But when we nurture ourselves and others without a primary concern of finding reward, then we will have become lovable, and the reward of being loved, which we have not sought, will find us. M. Scott Peck (1978) John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

46. Generosity – A Curriculum for Caring • Young people must be empowered to care and contribute to the betterment of their families, friends, schools, and communities • Service learning • Motivates youth who are bored with school by linking academic learning with real human needs • Increases achievement of youth who work as volunteer peer tutors • Increases problem-solving abilities of youth • Develops more complex patterns of thinking John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

47. Four Ways to Make a Difference • Relationships • Advocacy • Discretion • Courage John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

48. Life Space Crisis Intervention Life space crisis intervention is a therapeutic, verbal strategy for intervention with students in crisis. It is conducted at the time the crisis occurs or as soon after as possible. John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

49. Life Space Crisis Intervention A therapeutic skill which enables us to make the best out of stressful student incident when we get the worst of it. John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor

50. Life Space Crisis Intervention The skill of processing a student’s verbal abuse, distorted thinking, and defensive statements without losing one’s professional direction, temper, and self-confidence. John H. Faust and Ed O'Connor