Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Bibliography



BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Berg, Insoo Kim and Dolan, Yvonne. (2001) Tales of Solutions: A collection of Hope-inspiring Stories, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, New York.

Bowlby, J. (1988) A Secure Base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development.
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Curran, Linda A., BCPC, LPC, CCDP, CAC-D. (2013) 101 Trauma-Informed Interventions: Activities, Exercises and Assignments to Move the Client and Therapy Forward, PESI Publishing and Media, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Curtis, Jamie Lee. (1998) Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, Joanna Cotler Books, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, New York.

Danziger, Paula. (2004) Barfburger Baby, I Was Here First, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, New York.

Dickson, Donald T. (1998) Confidentiality and Privacy in Social Work A Guide to the Law for Practitioners and Students, The Free Press, New York, New York.

Erikson, Erik H. and Erikson, Joan M. (1997)  The Life Cycle Completed, Rikan Enterprises Ltd., New York, New York.

Forbes, Heather T., LCSW. (2012) Help for Billy: A Beyond Consequences Approach to Helping Challenging Children in the Classroom, Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC, Orlando, Florida.

Forbes, Heather T., LCSW and Post, B. Bryan, LCSW. (2006) Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control: A Love-Based Approach to Helping Children with Severe Behaviors, Beyond Consequences Institute, LLC, Orlando, Florida.

Grosso, Federico C. (2009) Advanced Applications of Law and Ethics for California Clinical Social Workers.

Grosso, Federico C. (2008) Managing High-Risk Clients: Protecting the Mental Health Clinician.

Hughes, Daniel A. Ph.D. (2007) Attachment-Focused Family Therapy, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, New York.

Hughes, Daniel A., Ph.D. (1998) Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Oxford, England.

Hughes, Daniel A., Ph.D. (2004) Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Oxford, England.

Houston-Vega, Mary Kay, Nuehring, Elane M. and Daguio, Elizabeth. (1997) Prudent Practice: A Guide for Managing Malpractice Risk, NASW Press, Washington, D.C.

Johnson, Sue Ph.D. (2008) Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love,

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Karst, Patrice. (2000) The Invisible String, DeVorss Publications, Camarillo, California.

Keck, Gregory C., Ph.D. and Kupecky, Regina M., LSW (1995) Adopting the Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special Needs Kids, A Guide for Parents and Professionals, Pinon Press, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Keck, Gregory C., Ph.D. and Kupecky, Regina M., LSW  (2002) Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow, Pinon Press, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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Epilogue



Epilogue
Lessons Learned
I have learned a few things about running a business and providing counseling, supervision, and training over ten years, and I expect to learn a lot more in the years ahead.  I expect never to achieve expert status, only competence.  That is why they do not call it private “perfect”.
·         In an attempt to build my private practice I joined several therapy directories, purchased advertising in various media, attended many professional forums to distribute business cards and brochures, and sent out e-mail appeals to referral sources.  Most of these investments had no returns.  I still receive most of my referrals from existing clients, attendants at my trainings, and directly from insurance companies.
·         As a social worker and therapist it is sometimes difficult to ask for and talk about money and payments.  However, in terms of professional practice it is unethical not to.  I have learned to make sure up front that I will be paid for each and every session.  I cannot stay in business providing services for free and allowing a client balance to grow interferes with therapy and results in lost income that cannot always be written off.
·         My practice model for working with parents and children includes an assessment of the parents’ trauma history and attachment styles.  Sometimes, when parents are in a hurry to see results, when they seem “too nice and normal” to ask, or when the child is in crisis, I have moved forward with family therapy.  Every time I have gone against my better judgment, it has come back to haunt me and to stall progress.  It becomes a sticking point I cannot ignore and must address, which I could have known up front.
·         While I would like to be on the cutting edge of new media with the use of texting, e-mail, and online counseling, it just does not work for me.  I have no desire to be constantly available to clients by texting.  I started with openness to e-mailing with clients but I quickly learned the hard way that I can misinterpret what a client is asking and clients have misinterpreted my comments in response.  So, while clients may feel the need to explain themselves in detail in an e-mail, I have learned to respond only in person so that I can clarify the client’s concerns and check and correct any misunderstandings.  Now, I tell clients I can make, change, and cancel appointments by e-mail and that I will read client e-mail, but that I will not respond by e-mail but only in person during our next session.
·         Sometimes, you just have to apologize for making mistakes or for not being able to help.  Therapists are human, too.  Despite consultation and supervision, sometimes personal issues interfere and cause a break or disconnection with a client.  It is therapeutic to own it and apologize.  It can even propel the process forward.  Other times, in an effort to be helpful I have accepted clients I could not help and needed to send them on to another therapist.  The quicker I can figure that out and make the appropriate referral, the better.
·         To that end, while, at first, I was anxious to have clients and schedule appointments, I have learned that it saves a lot of time and frustration to conduct a more comprehensive intake interview over the telephone or even an initial consultation before scheduling a first session.  Some of the questions I need to answer during the intake: who is the client and is that person willing to participate.  Sometimes a spouse or parent will try to make an appointment for an adult who is not seeking therapy on their own.  If the client is a child, who has physical and legal custody, who will participate with the child in therapy, who has the legal right to consent to treatment with the child.  I have had step parents and grandparents seek therapy for children for whom they do not have custody or legal rights.  Finally, is the issue or concern something for which I have training and experience.
·         When I started I was intent on being as open and helpful to clients as possible.  And, so I would tolerate clients for therapy and supervision not keeping appointments, cancelling at the last minute, and showing up late.  I rescheduled them time and again, even calling and reminding clients to make and keep appointments.  Then, I decided I needed to keep better boundaries in this regard.  And, so now I do not call clients to remind them or follow up after no shows, do not reschedule clients after two no shows, and collect no show fees before scheduling any more appointments.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Evaluation and Termination



Chapter Twelve
Evaluation and Termination
            Every session could be the last session, so every session encompasses some elements of evaluation and termination.  Right from the first session I remind clients that based on my professional philosophy and practice model therapy has a beginning, middle, and an end.  The evaluation process is not just part of every session but the essential intervention of therapy itself.  What is working?  What is not working?  What have you tried?  What would you like to try? How can I help?  In addition to following a specific treatment plan that includes exploring trauma, practicing coping skills, and increasing emotional management, I often start each session with, “What would you like to work on today?” or “What would make this session worthwhile?”  The idea that we are always measuring progress in a time-limited process brings energy, motivation, and urgency to therapy, just as assignments, tests, grades, and a semester end bring focus to a class or course.
            Each of the following questions has a purpose as an intervention in and of itself.  What have we accomplished?  In the daily struggle of life and the routine of weekly sessions, clients sometimes do not see how much has changed since they started.  I return to the initial assessment paperwork, the client’s description of their concerns, and the scores they gave specific symptoms.  It is often surprising and gratifying for the client to hear, “Your child’s tantrums have decreased from daily to rare.  How did that happen?”  What is left to do?  Having resolved their most critical and persistent concerns, clients will often turn to higher functioning desires or, having experienced success in smaller ways are now ready to tackle more serious problems.  How might that be accomplished?  If clients have learned new skills, like communication, they may feel more competent to try resolving issues on their own or in another format, like group therapy.  If the client has seen little or no improvement in their situation, the answer may be to change the treatment plan, change the therapist, or try again at a later date.
            The process of therapy is often more important than the content.  The understanding, knowledge, and skills clients learn in session are applicable to many life challenges.  The purpose of therapy is at least two fold, to address current concerns and teach skills to apply to future issues.  The skills I try to teach and model are empathic and reflective listening, keeping boundaries and setting limits, and problem solving that respects individuals and relationships.  What has worked?  The question is meant to prompt the client to identify the specific skills and interventions, to consolidate the gains from the therapeutic process.  What has not worked?  This question is just as important as clients assemble a toolbox of life skills.  The two questions posed together illustrate the very practice of problem-solving; identifying issues, listing possibilities, evaluating options, making choices, trying solutions, measuring progress.
            Evaluating the therapist is not just about rating their work or collecting success stories.  What worked with the therapist?  This question invites the client to give the therapist feedback.  Giving feedback is another communication skill clients may use in the future.  What did not work with the therapist?  The client gets the chance to provide perhaps negative feedback in a positive way, yet another skill applicable to life in general.  More specifically, these questions put the client in the empowering position of being the customer of a service.  They ask the client to consider the nature of that service and what works for them.  In a parallel process, the client learns how to solve their problems and how to shop for services to help them in the future.  The questions allow the therapist to adjust the treatment plan and interventions if the client keeps them engaged or to make a referral if the client decides to hire another service provider.
            Having participated in the therapeutic process the client may have uneven progress in the future and experience setbacks both simple and serious.  What are anticipated challenges?  This question helps clients expect, normalize, and prepare for such challenges.  In the case of mental illness, substance abuse, and trauma, there are stressors, triggers, and relapses.  For couples and parents, families enter different life cycles and children grow into subsequent developmental stages.  Issues like adoption and learning disabilities are life-long.  When to return or seek help?  Clients often seek therapy when they are in crisis or when everything else they have tried to solve their problems has not seemed to work.  This question helps clients specify what circumstances would warrant returning to therapy to avoid a crisis.  A person with mental illness may want to return if they have had a major loss like a death in the family.  A person who relapses on drugs or alcohol may need a quick intervention.  A couple may return before they decide to adopt or have another child.  An adoption family may want to return as the child becomes an adolescent.  I specifically encourage parents and children to return when things are going well to celebrate success normalizing therapy as a support to well-functioning families.
            Because the client-therapist relationship continues in perpetuity after services have ended, it is important to restate the legal and ethical requirements at least during the last session.  I nearly repeat everything I said during the first session with parents and the first session with children.  “I will always have the responsibility to protect your confidentiality because we will always have only this professional relationship.  That means I will still not acknowledge you in public or do other kinds of business with you.  For example, I will not be attending your family weddings and you will not be attending my funeral.”  My responsibility for protecting the client’s privilege and privacy does not end with the termination of services.  I keep files and records for 10 years after the end of services or until the child turns 28 years old.  If I have not heard from the client for 30 days I send a discharge letter offering further services or a referral to another therapist informing them that I will be closing their file to officially end my responsibility for their care.
            Because my practice philosophy is based on the social work value and ethical principle of the importance of human relationships, I try to spend some time in each session and particularly in the closing session to honor my relationship with the client.  The client, whether individual, couple, or family, has taken a chance to share very personal information, to open themselves to examination, and to try news ways of interacting.  They have made themselves vulnerable in an intimate relationship that is by its nature unequal, the therapist has more power and does not reveal themselves in the same way that clients do.  It makes the therapist more responsible.  That is why it requires a license and continuing education, consultation, supervision, and audit, and is subject to complaint, investigation, administrative sanction, and legal action.  At the very least I express my appreciation of the relationship acknowledging what we have done together.  Further, especially with children and families, marking endings is an important therapeutic intervention.  For clients, especially children, who have experienced abrupt changes as a result of their trauma; removal from biological family, moves from one foster home to another, little or no contact with important family members, closure is necessary.  For this, ritual is important.  This can include recalling shared memories; the fun, human, personal, silly moments, blowing bubbles, drawing pictures, playing games in therapy.  Returning routinely to a book, game, or toy in session may seem repetitive as if we are making no progress and should be focusing on something new.  However, these rituals are as important to the therapeutic process as they are to family life.  Of course, I encourage clients and families to return to therapy if crises, changes, or new challenges arise, but I also encourage clients, especially traumatized and adoptive clients, to return when things are going well.  This is also a therapeutic intervention to consolidate and celebrate gains and to reset the role of the therapist from rescue to support.  Especially with children, even adolescents and adults, I like to end the final “see you later” session by reading Dr. Seuss’s Oh The Places You Will Go! (1990), which has a realistic message predicting a positive future.  Reading it models and reinforces the nurturing and positive relationship.
Sticking Points
Particularly with families, and especially adopted families, when healing seems to stall four issues are most likely to be at the route.  Adult trauma: parents have not dealt with their own childhood experiences and they are being triggered in ways that keep them from being warm, nurturing, and consistent with their children.  This often requires putting the family work aside to address the parents’ issues either in consultation or with outside therapy.  Adult relationships: parents have deep unaddressed difficulties in their relationship, differences in their ideas about parenting, and inability or unwillingness to communicate about them.  This requires stopping conjoint parent-child work to avoid further damage to focus on these issues.  Adoption attitudes: due to unresolved infertility issues that make adoption seem shameful, parents are unable to appreciate, communicate, and facilitate relationships with biological family to benefit their children and family.  Theoretical differences: the client, despite adequate psychoeducation, cannot accept and does not agree with a relationship-based non-behavioral orientation.


       
           

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Problem Solving



Chapter Eleven
Problem Solving            
     Sometimes the therapeutic process seems to stall.  The client sees no progress, and the therapist feels frustrated.  The therapist begins to feel the client’s hopelessness in facing nagging persistent problems.  We feel like blaming the client for not trying.  The client feels like blaming us for not helping.  We feel stuck together.  Sometimes it is about goodness of fit.  I may have reached the limits of my knowledge and skills.  Another therapist may bring a new perspective, a new start, and new skills to meet the challenge.  If, however, we can work through this period together the results can be quite satisfying.        
     After assessment, psychoeducation, and treatment planning, after identifying trauma, expressing emotions, and practicing coping skills and sometime between the first and tenth session specific problem behaviors come to light that require individual attention.  Children have difficulty going to sleep and adults have difficulty staying asleep, children take food and adults overeat, and children have tantrums and adults have conflict.  These issues are of central concern and deserve to be the focus of work.  Some further investigation is in order: What comes before the behavior?  What do people do during the behavior?  What is the result of the behavior?  What has been tried to resolve the behavior?  What seems to have worked to reduce the behavior or its impact?  What does the client believe about the cause of the behavior?  What is the client willing to do to resolve the behavior?Some attention needs to be given to the understanding of problem behaviors.  First, some problem behaviors are symptoms of the condition itself.  Problems with functioning; sleeping, eating, elimination, sex, energy, mood, pain, conflict, thinking, socializing are symptoms of diagnoses like depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress.  Second, other problem behaviors are attempts at coping with the condition; alcohol, drugs, fighting, isolation, poor hygiene, spending, stealing, and self-harm.  Third, other problems are the result of either the condition or attempts to cope with it; employment, financial, social and legal issues.  Understanding behavior goes back to beliefs about humans themselves.  Interpretations of behavior as good or bad, positive or negative, appropriate or inappropriate, are meant for punishment not for healing.  Behavior is need driven.  It is either helpful or unhelpful.  Behavior is purposeful, but not always for the purpose we think.  We do things to increase our pleasure and decrease our pain.  The underlying needs according to Maslow (1943) are, and the order is important, survival, safety, love, and belonging.  The more sophisticated attachment needs described by Johnson (2008) are safety, attention, value, validation, respect, and love.  To these I would add sovereignty, the individual right to one’s own body, mind, and spirit.  Given this understanding, trying to stop, start, or replace a behavior without looking at underlying needs will have limited success.  We must be proactive in meeting the need not reactive in focusing on behavior.  The big four behaviors that parents are most concerned about are lying, stealing, aggression, and manipulation.  I will take them one at a time. 
Lying is a developmental defense that we all use as we grow.  A securely attached five year old will lie to avoid the consequences, an eight year old to avoid interrupting their plans, a teenager to avoid letting down parents, and a securely attached adult will not lie because of a well-developed conscience that says, “I am a person who tells the truth.”   Lying is also a socially acceptable way to avoid hurting people’s feelings as when we are asked, “Do I look fat in this?”   Or, “How do you like my dinner?”  For people with attachment trauma lying is not so much a learned behavior as a defense.  Lying to an abusive parent may be a moral imperative.  So, telling the truth is about safety.  A child, or an adult, tells a lie because it does not feel safe to tell the truth.  Their subjective sense of safety in the place, with the person, in the relationship is about perspective.  Punishing a traumatized child increases anxiety and jeopardizes safety.  The onus is not on the child to tell the truth but on the adult to make themselves safe enough to hear the truth.  It starts with not setting up the child to lie by asking questions.  The parent who asks, “Did you clean your room?” when they know the answer is no is laying a trap to catch the child in a lie and cannot be trusted.  This is not focusing on safety, the first of human needs.  If a child or person has developed the habit of lying to figuratively or literally save face, it will take some time to build or repair the relationship.  We can be sad about that.  We will not be able to believe them.  We can practice, “trust but verified.”  But, we must be ready to hear sometimes harsh “truths” without reacting and rejecting.  It does not mean ignoring the facts.  If the room is dirty, it needs to be cleaned.  When the partner says, “No, I do not like your cooking,” the response needs to be, “Thanks for your honesty.”   Focusing on compliance over connection leads only to more stress for both parties.  Prioritizing relationship over power leads to healing.
In the same way, stealing or “taking” is best viewed as a survival skill.  If you are in a war zone needing to feed a child, breaking into a store to take food to keep the child alive is the moral thing to do.  This is a rather stark example that does not seem to fit with the everyday behavior of a child who hoards food in their room or takes toys, electronics, or cash from friends and parents.  In order to address this problem we must take the person’s perspective.  For an infant or small child, abandonment, hunger, and violence are life-threatening experiences.  This trauma is stored in the pre-verbal, pre-conscious amygdala or limbic brain and drives these fight/flight/freeze responses.  That is why traumatized children seem to take issues around bathroom habits, eating, and sleeping to the extremes.  The person with a negative core belief system simply does not believe that their needs will be met.  They are on their own in the world.
Tackling stealing starts with making sure basic needs are met and doing so in a very dramatic nurturing way.  Parents make sure children with food and other neglect issues always have access to food; a designated drawer in the refrigerator full of nutritious food, a stash of non-perishable food in their backpacks and rooms, and frequent snack breaks throughout the day.   No locks on refrigerators and cabinets.  If it is not meant to be eaten, do not buy it.  The same goes for items that are not basic needs.  Leaving cash, electronics, and valuables within reach and expecting a traumatized child not to touch them is setting them up to fail, and that is the way they see it.  We have no trouble “babyproofing” a home for an infant so why is creating an environment safe from temptation for an older child so different?  Expecting a person with sticky fingers to make it through a store without taking something is an unrealistic expectation.  When is the last time you left the big box store with only the item you went in for, or only ate the recommended serving size from a bag of chips or quart of ice cream?  Can a traumatized child or adult stop stealing?  Yes, if they feel that their basic needs will be met, if they feel safe in their home.  An older child may not be able to go to a friend’s home or to a store or out in public without close supervision.  A parent may need to help the child return, replace, or repair the stolen items as restitution using allowance or extra chores.  Ultimately, the community may weigh in with arrest, charges, and sentencing the parent needs to support without rescuing the child from the consequences.
            The same may be true for aggression especially if it goes beyond verbal assaults and tantrums.  We have to acknowledge that our society has a strange attitude toward aggression.  We condone it in many areas; in physical discipline, in sports, and in war.  Similar to lying and stealing there are times when aggression may be morally necessary to save our lives.  This again is often the perspective of traumatized people who have faced truly life-threatening attack in the form of rape and other violence.  So, again, while we wish for everyone in the family to feel safe, it is the person who uses aggression who does not.  Often, what starts as a minor irritation escalates to complete dysregulation, the person is out of control, they have “lost their mind”.  Back to the hand/brain demonstration from Siegel (2003), the sympathetic nerve system is activated, releasing adrenaline and cortisol, and the cortex, neo-cortex, and pre-frontal lobes all but shut down.  If the brain of a traumatized person is always producing these hormones, and the body’s set point for stress is always high, then preventive measures to burn off the excess are necessary in the form of both vigorous exercise and intense soothing practices.  We recall the “vents” of the “angry volcano”.  These are coping skills.  They cannot be assigned to the child but need to be lead and shared by the parent.  The parent or another adult lends the dysregulated person their self-control.  In session, this means teaching, modeling, coaching, and role playing de-escalation skills through the use of reflective listening and therapeutic joining.  In practice, it means administering large doses of empathy, to the aggressive person.  We check in briefly with the injured party and move quickly to attend to the aggressive child.  It does not mean keeping a calm voice.  Two year old tantrums require soothing.  You take the child out of the situation and sit with them until they settle.  The initial non-violent intervention with aggression needs to match the intensity of the situation, “Stop!  What’s happening here?” followed with controlled, intentional, low, slow language that addresses the emotion and engages the left brain, “You are really upset.  I would like us to sit down and talk about this.  Would you like to start or do you need my help?”  The parent or partner who loses control focusing on blame or broken furniture adds fuel to the fire.  It may take back up.  In these extreme situations a safety plan is necessary including early warning coping skills, supportive people to engage, hotlines and other resources,
Emergency Services
Sometimes a parent simply cannot keep the child, themselves, and others safe without engaging emergency services including police, hospital, and residential care.  But taking these extreme measures can be risky for the future of the relationship.  The way in which parents ask for and explain the assistance can make all the difference.  First, we do not call the police, hospitalize a child, or place them in care because we cannot handle them and have given up and need others to parent them or to punish them for their behavior.  That is a cliff from which it is difficult to step back.  We literally employ the services of law enforcement, hospital staff, and residential caregivers to help us keep the child and others safe.  Second, it is a mistake to believe that anything but first aid is being offered to stabilize the situation and to offer parents respite and space to regroup.  Then, having separated the child from the family  it makes a repeat more possible in the minds of the child and the parents thus increasing traumatic stress while parents are attempting to repair the rupture.

up to and including use of emergency services. 
As aggravating and frightening as lying, stealing, and aggression, behaviors that seem to be about manipulation can be irritating and exasperating.  Children and some adults may talk incessantly to avoid the topic at hand, nag constantly until we give in, go slow or refuse to complete tasks, pretend not to hear what people say to them, or play one parent or sibling against another to find a way between them.  It happens at home, and it happens in therapy.  It is important not to take it personally because it is not personal.  If we understand that anxiety and stress are at play, we can better respond to the seeming manipulative behavior.  Like the negative core belief system of traumatized people, their higher baseline stress level never goes away.  Both are likely to persist well into adulthood and, without adequate treatment, lead to serious health consequences including heart attack, stroke, and early death.  Trauma and its associated adrenaline and cortisol are serious stuff.  It can be very difficult to accept that this higher stress level is always present even when the child or adult seems calm and relaxed.  The hypervigilance is always there.  To cope, the person attempts to take control of almost every situation.  We know these people.  We may be these people.  The “control freak” who needs everything to go their way and in perfect order is a very stressed-out person.   Accepting this employs the empathy needed to address it.
            A sense of humor helps.  After all, manipulation is just good sales, quite a skill.  But we do not have to buy.  As with the persistent cookie seller outside the grocery store we can politely say no or walk past with a smile until the person learns their pitch will not work with us.  It requires extreme patience which is not always possible.  However, the opposite reaction simply invites more.  That is, when we respond with repeated reminders, pleading, and anger, we increase the anxiety level and the attempts at control continue.  Having met basic needs, including affection and play, and set reasonable expectations, we must have the courage of our convictions.  We still must be aware of the person’s triggers; fear of bath and bed, hunger and pain, isolation and abandonment.  In session and out, this is about silently soothing, lending the person our self-control, and remaining consistent and safe.  In therapy it means sitting silently for 45 minutes with a child who is bouncing around the room rather than listening to adults, not offering other alternatives to please the child.  At home it means pulling to the side of the road immediately when a child begins to act out, not increasing the danger by raising our voices. Children with trauma need adults who are safe and in charge.  This is powerful parenting.  When we “lose it”, we have lost our power and contributed to the child’s already high stress level.  We have fed the fire.  It is not a battle, a test of wills, making parents and children winners and losers.  It is the difference between authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting styles.  The authoritarian rules by fear, increasing anxiety, impairing relationship.  The permissive parent gives in early to avoid an unhappy child only to wind up with an unhappy teenager who cannot be satisfied by anything.   Either situation is out of control and can become downright dangerous. The authoritative parent leads with confidence, able to admit mistakes and make mid-course corrections, offering children consultation and experiences in which to learn and grow.
            As Daniel Hughes (2007) suggests, when problem behaviors become the focus more structure and supervision may be required.  About the time we think we have all the routine and watchfulness we can stand, we probably need more.  At this point, if not before, I offer parents my family chart (Appendix)  with suggestions on how to organize the family’s schedule, needs, expectations, privileges, and consequences.  It may seem excessive to schedule every part of a family’s day from sun up to bedtime but it provides the kind of predictability that reduces anxiety and increases safety, just as it does in the military and in residential treatment centers.  Traumatized people do best with routine.  Think about running a bed and breakfast or cruise ship.  Both vacations start with clear orientations about the schedule, what is available to guests, what is off limits, what will cost extra, when meals are served, what services are offered, what to do in case of emergency.  Can you imagine what would happen if this information was not provided?  This kind of clear instruction allows the operation to run more smoothly.  The family chart makes for a good agenda item at regular family meetings.
As to as schedule, if one hour intervals leaves too much free unstructured time, then shorter timeframes may be needed.  Then, I place a major focus on meeting the needs of the members of the family with affection and play being at the top of the list followed by food, clothes, bed, hygiene, school, doctor, dentist.  Affection and play with parents, hugs and high fives, tossing a ball and board games, are essential to building attachment which provides the connection for parents to direct and teach children.  Basic needs do not include bags of chips, dessert, telephones, television, sleepovers, and shopping trips.  Now the expectations are meant for all members of the family, not just children.  The list should be achievable, positive, and short; everybody stays safe, do chores, return what you borrow, attend family meetings, accept no for an answer.  Avoid words like respect and manners, they are subjective.  Be specific, describe what you want to see, “use please, thank you, excuse me, I’m sorry”; “knock before entering, dress for dinner, hats are worn outside only”.  As opposed to taking away privileges, every day starts with no privileges and parents provide privileges as they see expectations met.  Privileges include electronics, sleep overs, shopping trips, and amusement parks.   Children can live until adulthood with no privileges at all and receive only what they can handle.  To make this work consistently, minimize reminders and the word no.  The child asks, “May I watch TV?”  The parent answers, “Yes, as soon as your room is clean.”  When handing out privileges it is a big mistake to yes.  Instead, “You may watch your show”, or “You may watch for 30 minutes.”  If the child cannot turn off the television, the parent does not remind but does not hand out the privilege the next day. 
            Now to consequences, discipline is about teaching not punishment.  We expect children (and ourselves) to miss the mark.  The message needs to be, “Mistakes are welcome here.”  Teaching takes the form of natural consequences, do overs, and making amends.  Some mistakes or poor choices require empathy and no consequences at all.  If a child breaks their toy by carelessness or on purpose say, “You must be sad about that,” but do not blame or ridicule the child with, “That’s what happens when you are reckless with your stuff.  Do you know how much that costs?”  No, do not replace it, let experience teach.   There are a few choices, per Daniel Hughes (2007), when a child does not meet expectations.    1. Ignore it because the child has had a bad day.  2. Do it for them because you love them. 3. Have the child pay someone else to do it.   4. Award privileges only when it is done.  Finally, when a child has hurt someone by word or deed, help them make it up to the person in a concrete way, and award privileges only when it is done.  You make brownies with the school bully to give to his classmates.  In another example, a mother empathized with a boy whose trauma tantrums at bedtime led to his kicking a hole in the closet door.  She did not berate him.  She gave him the telephone to call the home store.  He used adult language to order a new door and helped the handyman install it.  He did the math.  It cost him 20 weeks allowance.  He learned he could fix his problems and felt great about it.  His mother demonstrated her commitment to him while not damaging the relationship. 
            When these behaviors persist despite parents’ commitment to non-traditional parenting, I pull out Daniel Hughes’ (2007) hearts and walls exercise in session.  I deliberately draw a stick figure of the child as an infant as I tell their story, “You were born with a perfect healthy heart, and then stuff started to happen.”  Then, I draw a figure of the child at the age at which they were abused with a heart with some dark marks.  “Your parents were having problems with mental illness and drugs, and they did not feed you, hug you, and watch you.”  Arrows pointing at the heart indicate the abuse and neglect.  Then, I draw a figure of the child at the age at which they were adopted or when the behaviors started to appear, this time with a box around the heart labeled “yelling”, “tantrums”, “taking food”, “ignoring adults” and arrows pointing at the heart labeled, “love”, “play”, “safety”, “hugs”.  “You are a smart kid and you learned how to protect your heart by putting up walls.  Sometimes the walls keep out the good stuff.”  Lastly, I draw a figure of the child as an adult with a healed heart and question marks where the walls might be. Over several sessions I bring these drawings back, next roleplaying the child talking with themselves at different ages.  One parent plays the child as an infant.  Another parent portrays the child at the age they were hurt.  The child plays themselves as an adult.  Very importantly, I play the child with the defensive behaviors defending them as necessary because “you cannot trust adult to take care of you” and “you should keep the walls up when we’re grown up.”  The parents are able to identify with the innocent infant and to empathize with the abused child.  The child is also able to see themselves and their parents from different perspectives.  I end with a lingering question, “When do you think you’ll feel safe enough to let down the walls and let the good stuff in?”  Having taken time with this exercise, the child will usually say something like, “When I’m 8”, or after their next birthday.  Sometimes they say they will trust their parents when they are teenagers or as adults, but the seeds of change are planted, a positive future is in view.