Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Angry & Resistant Children & Adolescents: Strategies to Nurture Resilience & Manage Resistance

Angry and resistant behaviors in youngsters pose significant challenges for parents and professionals. Typically, these behaviors elicit punitive reactions from others, which add to a negative cycle and greater defiance. We will examine these behaviors from a strength-based model that focuses on the concepts of hope, resilience, self-discipline, self-esteem, and mindsets. The interventions that are rooted in this model can be applied in therapy, residential programs, schools, and homes to decrease anger and defiance while reinforcing self-control and cooperation.

The importance of empathy in understanding and responding to these youth as well as strategies to promote empathy will be discussed. In addition, you will learn techniques to handle your own stress and pressure to be more effective in working with challenging youth and will be able to:

• Develop strategies for enhancing a youngster's self-esteem, self-discipline, motivation, and resilience
• Obtain practical strategies to become more empathic with challenging youth
• Learn techniques to help youth deal more effectively with anger and failure
• Recognize the characteristics of a resilient "mindset"
• Identify factors that increase your own "stress hardiness" and lessen feelings of burnout

Workshop format includes lecture, discussion, and case material.

Instructor

Read "Angry & Difficult Children & Adolescents: Strategies to Nurture Resilience & Manage Resistance" - an article by Robert B. Brooks, Ph.D. ( PDF document, Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader )

Robert Brooks, Ph.D., is an inspirational and motivational presenter who trains internationally and who has appeared on numerous television shows. He is the author of The Self-Esteem Teacher and co-author of Raising Resilient Children; Nurturing Resilience in Our Children; The Power of Resilience; Angry Children, Worried Parents: Seven Steps to Help Families Manage Anger; and Raising A Self-Disciplined Child. Dr. Brooks is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and is the former Director of the Department of Psychology at McLean Hospital.