Do you work in a Residential Treatment Center?
Residential treatment centers can offer a unique environment to incorporate The 5 Needs materials. Teaching The 5 Needs concepts and ways of seeing and thinking across the campus have the potential to make a lasting impact. Showing staff how to use The 5 Needs and maintaining consistency for the children and teens can have tremendous benefits for their lives, as well as support the staff in their work.
How?
- Repetition is a key in learning most things in life. The 5 Needs can be taught and discussed across the campus: in the group homes, in school classrooms, in therapy sessions, and with families.
- The children, teens and family members can learn the same materials in different settings, making it authentic, real, manageable and easier to retain.
- The staff can feel connected to the children and teens in a powerful way, using the same language across the campus, supporting the therapy work being done. In this way, the staff become an integral part of the healing process.
- Incorporating the educational piece—using academics to earn credit while learning about The 5 Needs—can make educational goals more interesting while still getting in the reading, writing, research, and even math.
- The 5 Needs can create some consistency across the campus which can help with feelings of safety and security. We know more therapeutic work can occur when people feel safe and secure.
- Art therapy, music therapy and other forms of creative work can be incorporated in teaching The 5 Needs.
- Problem Solving skills can be used with real life scenarios.
- Critical thinking skills can be developed while using The 5 Needs.
- Finding common ground and a sense of “normal” can make a huge difference to children and teens at residential treatment centers.
- The workbooks are also something tangible the children and teens can do independently or with the therapist or group home or in the classroom. They will feel proud of their work, and can even earn trophies and certificates for a job well done, which is something many of these children and teens have never experienced so self-esteem and confidence can also be impacted.
- The workbooks go home with the children and teens, can be used in family therapy, and help to recall lessons long after they leave the facility. Later, if follow up is done, The 5 Needs can become a measuring stick of sorts to see how well the family is doing and where they may need some assistance.
- Treatment teams can plan ways to approach each need with individuals, knowing their backgrounds.
Warning: Keep in mind, The 5 Needs can stir memories of trauma, old fears, and past experiences that created negative patterns. Staff need to be aware, sensitive, and alert to this possibility. Abuse from the past may resurface. Behaviors can be used to act out, so care must be taken in training the staff on what to look for.
- What if the questions changed from: “What is wrong with them?” to “What do they need?” and “How can we help them learn to meet that need in healthy ways?”
- What if we began to see behaviors are often reflections of one or more of The 5 Needs going unmet or unidentified and could learn to connect behaviors to the needs in life. An interesting idea that can work at times.
Residential Treatment Centers are unique places for a full overhaul of the family and the child who is there and an opportunity for them to learn to identify their needs in life. Doing this has the potential to help them turn things around because they will learn to identify and meet the needs, while also exploring the pitfalls and discussing past and present difficulties connected to each of the needs. While the family and child has access to therapy, they may benefit from incorporating the basic, and yet sometimes complex concepts with The 5 Needs. They can also carry this home and continue to do the work with other professionals and individually. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something they can continue working on when they leave?
Feel free to send questions about how to use The 5 Needs in your work? Would like to set up a consultation ? Contact Wendy for more information: wendy@the5needs.com.
This blog is intended for educational purposes only. This is not intended for "advice" or any form of therapeutic intervention. No referrals are provided through this site or email below. Please contact your doctor, school counselor, local mental health offices, or your local hospital for help with individual problems or concerns.
