Showing posts with label Therapeutic Community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Therapeutic Community. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Creed

THE MEANING OF CREED (DAYTOP PHILOSOPHY)

Abdullah Baniyameen
baniyameen@aol.com
June 24, 2009



THE DAYTOP PHILOSOPHY:
I AM HERE BECAUSE THERE IS NO REFUGE. FINALLY, FROM MYSELF. UNTIL I CONFRONT MYSELF IN THE EYES AND HEARTS OF OTHERS, I AM RUNNING. UNTIL I SUFFER THEM TO SHARE MY SECRETS, I HAVE NO SAFETY FROM THEM. AFRAID TO BE KNOWN, I CAN KNOW NEITHER MYSELF NOR ANY OTHER, I WILL BE ALONE. WHERE ELSE BUT IN OUR COMMON GROUND, CAN I FIND SUCH A MIRROR? HERE, TOGETHER, I CAN AT LAST APPEAR CLEARLY TO MYSELF NOT AS THE GIANT OF MY DREAMS NOR THE DWARF OF MY FEARS, BUT AS A PERSON, PART OF A WHOLE, WITH MY SHARE IN ITS PURPOSE. IN THIS GROUND, I CAN TAKE ROOT AND GROW, NOT ALONE ANYMORE AS IN DEATH, BUT ALIVE TO MYSELF AND TO OTHERS.
– Richard Beauvais 1965 –

WHO ARE WE?
A loser is a person who makes everything good in to something bad.
BECAUSE THERE IS NO REFUGE:
Refuge means to look for relief or shelter from our bad feelings from ourselves. We do this by getting high, which makes us think we feel good. When we think we feel good from drugs, we have found refuge or relief from feeling bad about ourselves. But getting high will not turn off our bad feelings forever and in the end, we must face them.
FINALLY:
This means in the end, after getting high so many times, we get used to it and it no longer takes away our bad feelings. Even though we are high we still feel our bad feelings about ourselves, that is why there is no refuge or relief from our bad feelings finally or in the end.
FROM MYSELF:
When we look to run away from our emotional pains we find they are inside us. We cannot get away from ourselves because we are the sources of our pain and we will go on making more pain for ourselves and for others until we change our behavior and begin to do things that will make us proud of ourselves.
UNTIL I CONFRONT MYSELF:
To confront means to look at something to find out what it really is. When a person confronts himself, he sees the truth about himself. When he does this, he might say things like, “I stole my mother’s money and even though she cried, I did it again because I have no courage.”
IN THE EYES AND HEARTS OF OTHERS:
When a person confronts himself truthfully while he is in front of other people and they see him crying because it hurts him to admit what he did and why he is ashamed, they will feel him and they will see themselves in him. Since every person in our house did almost the same things, they were also ready to take any chance in order to find refuge from their own bad feelings about themselves.
I AM RUNNING:
Only when a person finally confronts himself in this way does he stop running to find refuge from his bad feelings. He says, “I cannot confront myself because I am too ashamed or because it hurts me to much.” He is acting off his fears. This is cutting corners and all who try to run away from themselves in this or any self confrontation, this means that if you do not truthfully and completely change you will not be able to change no matter how hard you try.
UNTIL I SUFFER THEM TO SHARE MY SECRETS:
But when she does face the truth about herself and her brothers and sisters see her doing this, when they see how she cries because she feels her pain they will also cry. And when she shares her pain with them, she is suffering them and they cry for her the tears of acceptance.
I HAVE NO SAFETY FROM THEM:
When a person does not share his inner feelings and keeps them secret, he shows no proof that he is like everyone else and they cannot accept him. He will then be alone and this aloneness will make his pain stronger, as long as he is not accepted he cannot have relief or safety from his bad feelings about himself. However, when he does confront himself and sees other people accepting him, crying for him to be accepted by others like him who is also trying to change.
AFRAID TO BE KNOWN:
A person who allows her fears to control what she does is making stronger the behavior that made her fall in the past. Letting other people know about her weakness and inadequacy shows her trust and her belief in her environment and in doing this she will become worthy of the respect and admiration of others.
I CAN KNOW NEITHER MYSELF NOR ANY OTHER:
In order for one to work on himself and fail, one must believe things about himself that are not true, expect judgment from others and be taken advantage of by others. A person can make this true by acting off negative thoughts or ideas and will begin to work against him and others, remaining closed to the truth.
I WILL BE ALONE:
If a person does not really know you, it is almost impossible for them to be your friend. After all, how can these people comfort you if they do not really know what really hurts you? Therefore, without proof by self – confrontation that a person is like everyone else, no one can accept him and his or aloneness will cause even more pain than before.
WHERE ELSE BUT IN OUR COMMON GROUNDS:
What is commonly owned by all and belongs to one as much as the other. Either we hit bottom or we were headed that way. Since the reason for being here is the same for each one of us, it forms our common ground.
CAN I FIND SUCH A MIRROR?
You have found a person who is your mirror. If when he or she speaks, you find yourself saying, “That person sounds just like me.”
HERE:
We have already learned that here is a behavior learning school where losers can learn to change their behavior so that they can become winners. Since DAYTOP is the best behavior, changing school there is no other place like it. After all, where else can you find a school that is also our home?
TOGETHER:
After a person shows proof that he is like others he is accepted and he becomes a part of the whole group. After this is done, he is together with everyone.
I CAN AT LAST:
It is true that even though we always worked against ourselves and resisted change we secretly wanted to be good and respectable. Nevertheless, because we were controlled by both our hostility, which made us want to get back at others and by our fear of success, which made us, resist change. Most of us were never aware that we were secretly looking to stop doing bad. Now that we are on our way to change our past behavior, we are finally starting to grow up at last, after all our pain.
APPEAR CEARLY TO MYSELF:
When a person no longer believes false things about themselves, they no longer have to pretend that they are not scared when they are terrified. They no longer need their image to protect than because they can now handle the situations that in the past made them feel inadequate.
NOT AS THE GIANT OF MY DREAMS:
A person no longer has to create fantasies about themselves to feel good.
NOR THE DWARF OF MY FEARS:
A dwarf is a human being who is smaller than the rest. When a person acts off their fears they feel that way. When they grow, they are no longer controlled by their fears and they begin to feel equal.
BUT AS A PERSON:
A person is first equal. They feel equal because they can handle that once made them afraid. They feel equal because they worked for their equality by growing up through their great pains.
PART OF THE WHOLE:
A person is now an equal member of a group because they have worked for their position by growing consistent with their behavior. Good for now and for all the future.
WITH MY SHARE IN ITS PURPOSE:
My share because I worked for it with consistently good behavior, DAYTOP's purpose is to give people the knowledge of how to rely on themselves alone and no longer have to depend on others. Now he will no longer have to be jealous of those who are making it. Now he can be one of them.
IN THIS GROUND:
In this ground means in this situation or setting.
I CAN:
This is every person who is a part of ‘We’.
TAKE ROOT:
To take root is to commit yourself to stay grow and to pass our knowledge to help others become successful in life just like us.
AND GROW:
This mean to keep growing, always learning, always correcting our mistakes and always giving our knowledge to our younger brothers and sisters.
NOT ALONE ANYMORE:
Now that we have shown proof that we are just like everybody else, that we should believe we should be part of the whole because we learned it honestly, we no longer need to separate ourselves from others. We are no longer afraid to be together because we can now feel the acceptance of others.
AS IN DEATH:
Being alone in our pain is frightening and embarrassing in that it kills us a little bit each day.
BUT ALIVE TO MYSELF:
When a person who is a loser tries to do well, they turn into bad. However, when they learn DAYTOP’s teachings, they can do something good and it will remain good.
This is proof to them that they can make it and that they can rise above the indignities and embarrassment of being a loser. They are sure that they can really be happy and that when they do good things will happen. They are alive to themselves because they have what they have always wanted: SELF CONFIDENCE.
AND TO OTHERS:
When a person has self – confidence, others can see and feel it. Therefore, they are alive not only to themselves but also to all others who can see and feel their happiness. They are now a role model and they can give back to others.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Counseling theory & practice in the Therapeutic Community program

COUNSELING THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THE THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY PROGRAM

Abdullah Baniyameen
baniyameen@aol.com
May 18, 2009


SCOPE OF COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY;

COUNSELING:

• Educational,
• Supportive,
• Situational & developmental,
• Problem-solving,
• Conscious awareness,
• Emphasis on “normal’s”,
• Focus on present.

PSYCHOTHERAPY:

• Reconstructive,
• Supportive (more focused),
• Depth emphasis,
• Analytic,
• Unconscious dynamics,
• Emphasis on “dysfunction” or severe emotional problems,
• Focus on past patterns.

COUNSELING THEORIES:

• Psychoanalytic Approach,
• Phenomenological Approaches,
– Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Therapy,
– Gestalt Therapy.
• Behavioral and Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches,
• Systems Approaches.

SOME HELPFUL CONCEPTS:

• Resistance (Denial),
• Confrontation,
• Identification,
• Projection,
• Projective Identification,
• Transference,
• Counter-transference,
• Corrective Emotional Experience.

COUNSELING ISSUES IN THE TC PROGRAM:

• Individual counseling within the context of “community as method”,
• Confidentiality issues in counseling within the TC,
– Individual needs vs. Community needs,
– Adolescent issues, family, developmental issues, etc.,
– Taboo behaviors and confidentiality,
– Ethical issues.
• Integrating other therapeutic approaches into the TC,
• Gender Issues,
• Counselor’s unresolved issues,
• Transference and counter-transference issues.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE--INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING IS PROVIDED IN THE TC TO:

• Ensure a constant source of client information and accountability,
• Provide a constant source of guidance and support to the client,
• Help surface complicated and troubled feelings,
• Provide direction and assist in problem solving,
• Address issues that need special attention i.e. learning problems, family issues, etc.

THE GOALS OF COUNSELING ARE:

• Establish rapport,
• Elicit information,
• Provide feedback,
• To implement interventions that promote insight, build self-esteem, provide support, increase self-help behavior, explore new behaviors or responses,
• Experience intimacy through therapeutic relationship,
• Coordinate treatment around unique client needs.

BASIC COUNSELING SKILLS:

• Establishing Rapport,
• Facilitating Insight,
• Increasing Motivation.

ESTABLISHING RAPPORT:

The three conditions counselor must establish:
Accurate Empathy,
Warmth,
Genuineness.

ACCURATE EMPATHY:

• Non-confrontational (personal attack),
• Skillful reflective listening.

WARMTH:

• Non-possessive warmth,
• Unconditional positive regard.

GENUINENESS:

• Honest feelings,
• Authentic responses.

FACILITATING INSIGHT:

• Establish trust,
• Reinforce self-disclosing behavior,
• Provide emotional support,
• Provide information.

INCREASE MOTIVATION:

• Bolster self-esteem,
• Create dissonance,
• Get commitment to try new behavior.

BOLSTER SELF-ESTEEM:

• Acknowledge past successes,
• Recognize strength,
• Challenge erroneous beliefs about lack of abilities or capacity to do better.

CREATE DISSONANCE:

• Contrast between verbalized goal and current behavior,
• Realistic and unrealistic expectations of self and others.

GET COMMITMENT TO TRY NEW BEHAVIORS:

• “Confrontation” (resolving discrepancy between expectation and actual behavior) and holding a person accountable,
• Create scenarios or images of possible outcome for a series of alternative behaviors,
• Provide feedback on how well the person is doing,
• Get commitment on what he/she will do different.

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