Thursday, May 27, 2010

Beginnings...

I am nearing the end of my third week of the Fellowship. The majority of this time has been devoted to research; for that reason, I have not posted until this point...as I did not feel it would be quite that interesting for others to read. On the other hand, I was fascinated by the work, loving every minute, and probably talking this topic to death among family and friends. 40 plus hours of research and 5 online trainings from the Center for Child and Family Health: Child and Domestic Violence Series has culminated into the restructuring and creation of a new children's program for the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County.

Forgotten Voices is based upon the Wilder Foundation’s Children Domestic Abuse Program (1985). Although never empirically tested, this coping skills program has received large client satisfaction ratings over the past 20 years. The North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence recommends the use of this program for non-trained clinicians. In striving to create the best coping skills program possible, additional empirical sources have been incorporated. While Forgotten Voices is NOT a therapy group, it does contain psycho-education and coping skills components from Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2006), Group Treatment for Children Who Witness Woman Abuse (Loosley, Bentley, Lehman, Marshall, Rabenstein, & Sudermann, 1997), Structured Psychotherapy for Adolescents Responding to Chronic Stress (DeRosa, Habib, Pelcovitz, Rathus, Sonnenklar, Ford, et al., 2006), and Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Kolko, 2002). All additions from these various psychotherapeutic methods are either psycho-education or general coping skill activities, both of which can be administered by non-licensed clinicians. The decision to incorporate these materials was due to the large amount of empirical support that the programs have received, which we believe will serve to ensure more success outcomes for participants.

This program has been structured to instill coping skills in children, as a way to increase resiliency factors and support children exposed to violence. It is important to note that not all children exposed to domestic violence suffer from negative consequences. A child may demonstrate resiliency, thereby buffering the negative consequences of domestic violence. Research indicates that the best predictor for a child’s healthy recovery from intimate partner violence is having an emotionally responsive and caregiving parent. Other factors include: child’s positive self esteem, child’s beliefs that his/her actions can change the outcome of his/her situation, average to above average cognitive, language, and coping abilities, external attribution of blame for violence, family cohesion, extra-familial support, and mother’s warmth/emotional ability (Center for Child and Family Health, 2009). Through various psycho-education measures, parental involvement, and workshops pertaining to self esteem and emotion regulation, the group hopes to instill and foster various resiliency factors in these children, thereby working to buffer the negative effects of their home environment.

Today, I received official word that we have a placement site. We will be working at a transitional housing facility for women and children in Chapel Hill. I am very excited about this placement, given that we just completed a group there in the spring of this year. Many of the initial barriers have already been confronted with this population of women and children, laying the base for a good, working relationship. I think this will also be a wonderful opportunity for this community to partake in, given that we have drastically changed our old program by incorporating empirically supported methods and encouraging parent participation.

Pre-interviews with both the mother and the child are scheduled to happen within the next two weeks. During this time, mothers will complete the Strengths and Difficulties Questionaire, a 25 questions assessment of a child's emotional difficulties, conduct displays, hyperactivity levels, social skills, and prosocial behaviors. A post followup of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionaire will be conducted at the end of the group, along with an exit interview. This will allow us to measure the group's overall success and each child's individual improvement. The group is projected to start Monday, June 14th and will run until Monday, August 2nd. Each session will be one hour in length. Topics will include: introduction to group, self esteem, emotions, families, abuse, safety, anger, and choices. Half-way through there will be a information and parenting skills session for mothers. My co-facilitator will be Stephanie Jones (UNC Greensboro Social Work Graduate Student 2012). Stephanie helped me to lead the group at this transitional home in the spring. She has great experience working with children who display conduct and hyperactivity tendencies. I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks!