Organized into several series, this podcast focuses on:

• understanding the territory of personal psychology,
• tools and techniques for counseling others in how to develop a centered and balanced life, and
• tools and techniques for navigating your own emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and self-regulation challenges.

If you prefer to simply access the podcasts in publication order you can go to the archive on The Becoming Centered Podcast hosting site: Archive of Published Episodes

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Series:

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Residential Counselor Orientation Series

Residential 101 Series

Residential Tools and Techniques Series

Residential Treatment Issues Series

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Series Guide:

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Residential Counselor Orientation

Consisting of Episodes 1 through 6 of The Becoming Centered Podcast, the Residential Counselor Orientation Series is designed for the new Residential Counselor. It introduces a way to understand your role, your relationship with clients and other counselors, and introduces some basic tools for becoming a skilled Residential Counselor.

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Residential 101

The Residential Counselor 101 Series is designed for direct care staff working in a residential treatment program. It approaches the material from the perspective that listeners don’t have a formal education in psychology, social work, early education, or some related field. Rather, it focuses on the training needs of people who are new to the field of residential treatment. It provides some grounding in the science behind the tools and techniques that make up the craft of providing a treatment experience to troubled children and youth. However, the stronger focus, over the course of the entire series, is on the practical tools and techniques that are the craft behind the art of providing kids with a positive transformational experience.

Episode 34 presents a way to understand the complex role of a Residential Counselor. It introduces the Seven Directions Meta-Compass Model as a way to distinguish between caring for kids in placement and providing treatment to those kids. Within this model, some basics of how the brain works are presented and the practice-effect and the concept of co-regulation is introduced.

Episode 35 expands on the Meta-Compass Model and introduces The Aspect Compass. This part of the Meta-Compass is used to describe four aspects of how the brain, and psyche, operate. The Artist represents the parts of the brain and psyche that only process information and communicate in terms of emotions. The Scout represents the parts of the brain and psyche that possess the cognitive abilities needed to explore the world, try to make sense of it, and report back its analysis to the rest of the brain. The Warrior represents the parts of the brain and psyche that are responsible for external observable actions and internal physiological actions. The Chief represents the parts of the brain and psyche that regulate the other aspects.

Episode 36 introduces three important tools for helping kids in residential treatment.  The first is helping clients to become more aware of, and to improve, their posture.  This impacts their emotional state-of-mind.  The second is co-regulating with clients.  The better clients get at co-regulating, the easier it will become for them to self-regulate.  The third is a technique called Empathic Listening which helps the emotional parts of kids’ brains feel heard and understood.

Episode 37 expands on the treatment perspective behind the Empathic Listening technique. It challenges direct care staff to avoid the trap of trying to “fix” or “change” kids’ feelings, rather than providing child-clients with the treatment experience of feeling heard and understood. This episode also introduces the single most used tool for a residential counselor – Labeling. Although the most common use of Labeling is to increase clients’ awareness of their own behaviors, it can be combined with praise, can be used to promote social skills and character development, and can also be used to increase kids’ awareness of their own feelings. Finally, Labeling can be used in place of giving directives to inspire thoughtful cooperation rather than mindless compliance.

Episode 38 moves the focus from helping kids become emotionally centered to helping kids become cognitively centered. Listening Checks are used to teach Accurate Listening. Helping kids report on various situations in a calm fashion, and recounting things in the proper chronological sequence, teaches kids to be Accurate Reporters. Identifying More Than One Possible Explanation for other people’s actions teaches them to be more Flexible thinkers. Processing after kids have calmed down from displaying problem behaviors further develops their ability to take Responsibility for their own actions. This develops the parts of their brain and psyche that are tasked with regulating their behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. There are different steps to Processing, depending on the developmental abilities of the client.

Episode 39 goes a bit deeper into understanding the similarities and differences between Empathic Listening and Cognitive Processing. It clarifies the counselors role in exploring the “how” of feelings and leaving the “why” for therapists to explore. In other words, counselors focus on helping their child-clients to understand their feelings, especially feelings that drive problem-behaviors, as a symptom. “How often do your feel that way? How powerful is that feeling? How do you experience that feeling in your body? How do you think those feelings impact your life?” In contrast, questions like “Why do you feel that way?” make it harder for kids to think, to talk, and to learn strategies for coping with overwhelming feelings. Those “why” questions can also trigger trauma-reactions that are best addressed in a therapist’s office, not during residential hours. Eight categories of Coping Activities and seven categories of Negative Coping Actions are then presented as ways that children and youth can use various behaviors to help them tolerate their overwhelming feelings.

Episode 40 concludes the 7-part Residential Counselor 101 series. The focus of this session moves to the center of the treatment compass – representing yourself, the residential counselor. Just as caring for the kids requires attending to your own self-care needs, providing treatment to traumatized children and youth requires attending to your own resilience to traumatic-stress. The consistent use of Psychological Debriefing is an effective way to reduce the impact of traumatic-stress on yourself and on your colleagues. Likewise, various physiologically-centering techniques such as Relaxation Exercises, Meditation, and Mindfulness Exercises can greatly enhance your resilience to the stress caused by counseling traumatized children and youth.

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Residential Tools and Techniques

This series focuses on concrete methods for teaching clients how to improve their self-regulation, become emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally centered, and techniques for managing groups of children and youth.

Episodes 11 – 16 cover Neurological Co-regulation, Structure & Structural Interventions, Setting Firm Limits, Time Outs, Processing Feelings, and The Aspect Compass & Meeting Kids’ Needs.

Episode 20, released during a major holiday week, departs a bit from the usual episodes and presents the power of storytelling, along with the first three parts of the Bear Clan Origin Story.

Episode 21 focuses on tools and techniques for helping kids become physiologically centered.

Episodes 22 and 23 focus on a way to understand and ways to develop four different styles of reasoning that different parts of the brain use to make sense of the world.

Episode 24 takes a more wholistic view and discusses how kids in residential treatment need to see themselves as the hero of their own life story. The crucial quality to nurture is courage, which can only exist in the face of fear. The Eight-Fears-of-All-Human-Beings is presented.

Episode 25 presents The Eight-Gifts-of-The-Elders, a values system largely based on traditional Native American teachings. Values clarification is a high-level intervention that like executive skills development results in clients gaining more self-control of their behaviors.

Episode 26 runs through 13 different Executive Skills, dividing them into methods of self-control of one’s own emotions, one’s thoughts, and one’s behaviors. Various ways that residential staff serve in the role of providing clients with executive functions are explored, and ways for staff to develop the clients’ executive skills through requiring their practiced use.

Episode 27 returns to the concept of the Aspect Compass and explores how to use it to look at, and work with, the phenomenon of Self-Talk.

Episode 28 presents Twelve Transformational Beliefs that empower people to lead successful lives of self-determination. A method for how to adopt these beliefs is presented.

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Residential Treatment Issues

This series focuses on various treatment issues that are part of the challenge of being a professional residential counselor and running a residential treatment program.

This series starts with Episodes 7 through 10 of The Becoming Centered Podcast, focusing on the use of physical interventions such as physical restraint, mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and seclusion. While exploring issues around the use of physical interventions, the listener will gain a basic understanding of the causes, prevention, and mitigation of psychological trauma.

Episodes 17 and 18 present strategies, tools, and techniques for intervening in suicidal ideation. This is discussed specifically from the perspective of residential staff who find themselves having to counsel clients, typically late at night when the clinicians have already gone home.

Episode 19 takes a bit of a different look at issues within residential treatment programs by focusing on the need for management training. It covers some basic management principles and a structured approach to successfully delegating.

Episode 29 presents a system for managing problem behaviors that uses a series of interconnected tools and techniques such that unbalanced behavior results in having to practice becoming centered. This system uses Pattern Interrupts, a Code of Conduct, clear Major and Minor Code Violations, Structured Centering Breaks, Independent Centering Breaks, Resets, and Processing and Privilege Restrictions designed to help clients take responsibility for their own actions and for how those behaviors impact their peers and staff team.

Episodes 30, 31, and 32 are a three-part mini-series that provides a basic orientation for new Residential Supervisors. These are direct care staff who serve as shift supervisors and as individual supervisors for residential counselors. These three episodes look at the supervisor role from Seven different perspectives. The Eastern perspective focuses on the importance of supportive supervision. The Southern perspective shifts to the supervisor’s role as a teacher. The Western perspective captures the supervisor’s role as a coach, focusing on the professional development of their supervisees. The Northern perspective emphasizes the importance of focusing on teamwork and team development. The Upward perspective explores the relationship between supervisor and supervisee, especially on professional boundaries. The Downward perspective looks at all the tasks involved in being a supervisor, the importance of effective delegating, and the importance of recognizing and appropriately addressing any personnel issues. The Inward perspective looks at the supervisor’s role in supporting self-care and self-management, for both supervisees and for themselves.

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