Becoming Centered

Executive Skills are abilities that part of the brain can develop that used to regulate other parts of the brain.  There’s two Executive Skills that describe ways that the emotional parts of the brai…

Posture:  The parts of the brain that control the physical body (the inner Warrior) and the parts of the brain that operate in terms of emotions (the inner Artist) are tightly linked in the brain.  …

The vertical axis of the Seven-Directions Meta-Compass Model, represents the core functions involved in caring for children who are literally placed in the care of a residential treatment program.  …

The Role of a Residential Counselor:  Care and Treatment

CARE:

Relationships:  A core responsibility is to attend to the care, well-being, and safety of the clients.  This requires caring and resp…

Effective residential treatment for troubled children and youth depends upon teamwork among both staff and residents. The goal is to transform a group of struggling kids into a supportive team. Many …

This podcast mini-series aims to aid residential staff who find themselves supervising shifts and providing individual supervision for residential counselors. It explores various aspects of these rol…

In this podcast episode, looking at the role of the Residential Supervisor shifts to the perspective of the West cardinal direction in the Meta-Compass Model.  The West is the direction of behaviors,…

This podcast aims to guide residential staff taking on the role of supervising a shift, emphasizing the complexities involved in managing a group of kids and supporting a team of direct care staff. T…

This podcast episode presents a system for managing behavior problems, utilizing a variety of interconnected tools and techniques. 

The concept of contagion is introduced, explaining how behaviors, f…

This episode focuses on Beliefs as a powerful regulatory mechanism. Beliefs act as filters through which individuals perceive reality, and the host emphasizes the importance of consciously choosing b…

This podcast episode is intended to increase your awareness of Self-Talk and how you can coach your clients to use more effective and healthier Self-Talk.  It uses the Aspect Compass (part of the Met…

In this podcast episode, the focus is on aiding children and youth in residential treatment to develop executive skills, which are crucial for regulating emotions, thinking, and behavior. Developing …

This podcast presents a system of eight values and fits them within the Meta-Compass Model.  This podcast explores the interplay between executive functions, values, and emotional, cognitive, and beh…

This podcast builds off of the concept that, overall, our brains understand the totality of our life experiences as a story.  It’s crucial for our mental health, and overall sense of becoming centere…

This podcast episode builds off of the concept of four different types of reasoning simultaneously performed by distinct parts of the brain.

The inner Artist engages in Emotional-Reasoning, associati…

This podcast presents a way to understand the brain’s ability to use reasoning to become cognitively centered.  Emotional centering involves regulating the intensity and switching between emotional s…

This episode focuses on how to help child-clients become physiologically centered.  Previous episodes have focused on helping children become emotionally and  cognitively centered.

Emotional centerin…

This episode is a departure from the usual format by sharing original teaching stories.  Storytelling and stories are a fundamental modality for learning.  Our brains are wired to process experiences…

This podcast episode discusses the importance of management and delegation within residential treatment programs for children and youth. It highlights the different levels of management within such o…

This podcast episode is the second part of a series that addresses how to intervene when dealing with suicidal ideation in children and youth.

It emphasizes the importance of training for counselors …