Mission Statement:
To use the talents that I have been given and the skills that I have acquired to serve children and adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral challenges and their families.
To better assist them in helping themselves.
To continue to develop my skills and talents and share them as I am allowed to.
My Philosophy:
After over 17 years of experience, the cornerstones of my approach to working with children and adolescents are concepts founded in child development, behavior modification and personal competency. To elaborate a bit, I believe that young people often get stuck in non-productive or anti-social patterns of behavior and are often unable to get themselves 'unstuck'. I have yet to work with a child who despite a history of significant disruptive behavior, didn't want their lives to be different - better. The key is that they often can't facilitate this change on their own. In fact, I believe that many of these kids feel overwhelmed by their own behavior. What I attempt to do with the Porcupines that I work with is to form an alliance with them - against the 'problem'. Through this process of collaboration, the child is able to utilize their own competency and regain a greater degree of control in their lives. Once these young people realize that they are able to manage the 'problem' more effectively, they are better able to continue their natural developmental process.
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