Corrections Community

I am working on a research grant in collaboration with Barry and Jack to develop an adolescent version of T4C.  I would welcome input from those of you who use or supervise the program with adolescents regarding your experiences of what you think works well and modifications to be considered.

 I am also interested in collecting any research or evaluation studies on T4C.  I understand that some evaluations have been conducted.  This information, based either on adult or juvenile populations would be helpful.

If the grant is funded,  I will keep the listserv informed of opportunities to participate in grant activities.

Juliana Taymans

Juliana, many of these are on our website at www.nicic.org

http://www.cor.state.pa.us/doc/lib/stats/RIR/Volume%206%20-%202003/RIRV6N2.pdf

This is one example.

Juliana, I have been working for the State of Idaho for about 18 years. We helped with the development of the t4c lessons and have them as part of our dept. from the begining. Our work is with juveniles. We have a lot of experance with not only general population but have developed programs for sex offenders and d/a groups. If I can help by sharing some of what we have done please let me know. Neal

Neal-

I tried to e-mail you directly through this discussion board, but the e-mail was returned to me.  I would like to contact you directly.  Perhaps you could use the e-mail function and contact me directly via e-mail and give me your phone and e-mail contact.  Thank you.

Hi there Juliana,

I also work with juveniles, and am willing to help in any way that I can, I would like to discuss some of our adolescent participant feedback with you. feel free to e-mail me here or at gevans327@yahoo.com

I look forward to the conversation,

George

Juliana -

There are a few of us in the State of Colorado that have been using T4C strictly for juveniles. I have run T4C for around 5 years now and have kept records on the progam in hopes of one day looking at T4c's impact on recidivism. Due to resources we haven't gotten there yet. I know of 2 seperate juvenile only T4C programs run strictly through Probation here in Colorado. Let me know if this nfo will be helpful.  -Steve

Hello from the frooozen north! Thought I would follow up on the reseach project. Were you able to get a grant? Can I do anything to help you? 208-339-1232 Thanks, Neal

Hello from the frooozen north! Thought I would follow up on the reseach project. Were you able to get a grant? Can I do anything to help you? 208-339-1232 Thanks, Neal

Juliana,

I have been working w/Juveniles and training our officer to be facilitators out of Fresno, California. I am willing to help you in any way I can if you're still in need of any information/feedback. You can contact me at (559) 495-3826 or (559) 495-3630 or email at regpallares@sbcglobal.net

I was wondering if you developed a adolescent version of T4C?  We are currently using the original version with youth after making some modifications of our own.  It seems to work better with the youth who are locked up.  When we facilitate groups with youth who are not, it feels like we are trying to cram a lot of information at them in a short amount of time.  We typically hold groups 2x a week, 1-1.5 hours each session for about 10 weeks.  Any suggestions on how to maybe shorten the curriculum or is this not possible?

 

Do you feel pressed with all three components of the program with the youth?  We have a draft of a revision of T4C.  We have made changes to the problem solving so that their are youth oriented examples.

Hi everyone, Neal Jenkins here from the Idaho dept. of Juvenile Corrections. I have lost touch  but am still deeply involved in T4C here in Idaho and have been a trainer and train trainers since the beginnings. In fact we here in Idaho had the opportunity to meet with many of the authors and researce folks and provided a lot of research and input for the lesson material as we transitioned from CSC. It is thrilling to hear about updates  in the problem solving for juveniles. My concern is not so much about the time needed to teach but the volume and length of the material. I also have come to believe that one of the most important thing we teach is the stop and think. Out of all the manuel young people talk most about stop and think and taking a three step. I have been asking " when you stop to think, what are you thinking about?" You get some pretty funny answers to that! We teach that they should be thinking about 1) What are my thoughts and feelings 2) what are the risk in those thoughts and feelings 3) how can I lower the risk and have a positive outcome. I have come to believe that if they stop and think they can measure the effectiveness of those effort by noting that the three step automatical happens for them. While they are thinking they should notice that they have become quiet and that gives them some space and they calm down. One great advantage to this method  is I no longer have kids demanding to have some space so they can calm down. This is a big issue in treatment where you are looking for personal accountablity and in group work, security and safety can be compomised by kids leaving the session or manuplating T4C to isolate.

I would very much like to see  the revisions, are they available?

Neal

It does feel pressed when we do our community groups.  It feels like too much information packed into a short timeline.  I wonder how much the youth are retaining.  In our treatment program where the youth reside for 30-90 days, they get a chance to have groups 5xs a week. T4C works really well in this environment. In our community group, we meet 2xs a week and it just feels like too much information.  We modified all of the scenarios/examples so that they are youth oriented, so this isn't an issue. I am curious to see your modifications.  Are they available?  In your opinion could T4C be broken apart or shortened?  Maybe going with only 2 of the components.  I am not really sure how to shorten it for our community group.  Maybe there isn't a way and we need to lengthen our timeline.  I am also curious as to the frequency other places use to conduct their groups.  What do you think the average frequency of lessons taught/week is for a community (youth not locked up) group is?  Thanks for your input and help.

 

It is my option that T4C can respond to group or even individual needs. As I see it there are three general componants to the manual: social skills, cognitive self change or thinking about our thinking, and problem solving. I am not sure if your community groups are court ordered, most are, so you have to be careful that you are responding to the order. This said, all groups are a collection of individuals with individual needs. If you treatment team feels the most important thing for the group, or if you are doing individual treatment then that individual, is social skills then you may concider forming a social skills group. Even that can be refined. If your kids have an immediate problem such as problems paying attention in school then you might want to teach the active listening skills and the asking questions skills so the have tools to start suceeding right away. I remember one group we taught the active listening skills to over and over for several weeks until they were using that skill, then we were able to move on and build on that. Many times folks get way more worried about getting though the manuel then they are about making sure the skills are understood and in practice before moving on. It is just me talking but I feel we are looking for internal value change not lessons attended. You may need to overcome some roadblocks to get you treatment team all on the same page but if you can get everyone and the courts to agree that quality trumps getting all the lesson taught in one meeting then you are well on your way to relieving the stress and returning to helping the group members change thier life. I spend a lot of time on the three steps of cognitive self change. I want each member to be able to think about there thinking by identifing there thoughts and feelings, finding the risk in those thoughts and feelings and then finding alternative thoughts to lower that risk because that way they will stop getting into so much trouble and heartach. However, if I am dealing with someone who has problems hurting others I will go right to lessons 10,11and12 and teach them about empathy for others. The other day I was ask to teach a family relations class and all I taught them was getting to know the feelings of others and how to give feedback. Most groups I work with in the community meet twice a week but there is no set time frame. I teach a lot of once a week groups. Hope this helps, Neal

Just a quick update on the status of the Thinking for a Change program revision.

 As you know,  NIC is currently working with the T4C authors on a "new and improved" version of the T4C program. The "draft" rewrite is completed and we are working on edits.  This is a timely process.  Unfortunately, with busy schedules and competing priorities, we have not been able to complete this process in as timely a fashion as we originally planned.  At this point I can not project a completion date but rest assured when completed NIC will be marketing it and providing online training (virtual instructor led) for experienced facilitators to be able to effectively incorporate modifications in the program.  This training will not be mandatory....since we think the changes in the program will be fairly easy to comprehend/implement....but only a resource for those who want to have additional guidance/support.

 I promise that when the program and training are launched everyone in the Forum will get a notice.

Our staff at our facility is being pressed to incorporate T4C to all our minors in custody; our new facility's population, if at full capacity holds up to 390 juveniles, who are still going through court proceedings and/or committed to our facility for 4 months to a year. Our schedule for minors limits the staff in teaching the lessons properly, especially when the juveniles are not given the opportunity (time) to complete the homework assignments, nor are they in-custody long enough for those minors not sentenced yet. Our administrators our wanting groups to be 3 times a week, with minors who are unwilling to participate versus a group of kids who really like to properly do the program. Does this make a difference? There are times our staff are required to instruct 30 minors with one facilitator. Do you have any suggestions that would benefit minors who are in custody less than 30 days and for those more than 30+ days. Can T4C being deviated from its original set up to make some impact on our youths without hurting its integrity?

Have you started this yet?

We, (LA County), have started implementing T4C.  It is on the ground and
starting to run.  We are training staff to be facilitators and are
running groups in a few of the 17 camp placement facilities.  Since it
is in its infancy, I'll have to let you know more later.

Hey Probie........thanks for the response. What setting are you using this in? Is this in a secure setting and are you keeping this as a closed sessions or have you found a way to have an open format?? This is our problem.......we are a big agency with several secure facilities trying to implement T4C...but we have youth coming and going all the time and are trying to figure out how we can make this a continuous (open intake) program. Any advice would be welcomed!!! Thanks.

  At the present time, we are using it in a Camp Placement facilities that house approximately 60-110 minors per.  We have close-ended groups.  As I said, it is in its infancy.  Since we have camp placement orders ranging from 3-6-9-12 months, closed-ended is the only way to go for us at the present time.  As of July 2008, they tell us all camp orders will be for a minimum of 9-months, so closed ended will be our format.

Considering your issues and need to run open-ended groups, it is a blessing to be working with the same curriculum.  Having the youth attend open-ended small groups shouldn't be that much of a problem, in that there is the understanding that there will always be the need to restructure to group expectations.  This is doable.  After all, the MATERIAL and the teaching to problem-solving skill development is the evidence-based practice, yes?  

I would suggest you break down your "monster" into bite-sized chunks (AKA bodies).  You can keep that small group together and add to it as bodies come and go.  You may have some that make it all the way through three months of lessons.