All programs will rely on both the group and individual treatment modalities. Designed to serve individuals who desire an intensive level of care to prevent inpatient hospitalization or to follow up after inpatient hospitalization
Appropriate for children with social skills deficits, school issues, or individuals with a mental health diagnosis
Customized with introductions to holistic healing to address and meet the needs of each individual.
Interventions are evidence based.
Seminars, parent training, behavioral interventions and family involvement are incorporated into our Partial Care Day Program.
Each participant will develop individualized goals that are targeted and met during treatment.
School Matters: Organization, Time Management and Study skills are some of the components to the program.
Program Components
The existing program is designed to have different environments in which the children can learn from and adapt to. The children coming to the Stepping Forward Counseling Center proceed from:
1. Discussion Group
2. Sports and Cooperative Game Group
3. Cooperative Cooking / Dining, Yoga, Drama and Art Group
4. Social Skills / Group Therapy
These groups are from 30 to 45 minutes long and the (4) activities listed under (3), occur on different weeks of the month. Each social skills group will participate in one of the previously mentioned activities each week such that cooking occurs 2 times a month and yoga, drama or art occur once a month. Each activity listed will be scheduled on a monthly basis so that each social skills group will have the opportunity to engage in all activities throughout the quarter. During the groups, individuals can be redirected for individual therapy or mentoring, or for family intervention based on crisis.
Parent Training : The context, location and purpose of each group is outlined below:
The group leader explains the skill via questions reads the definition of the skill and discusses it with the group and provides rationale for the importance of the behavior. Then finally the leader outlines the steps for doing the behavior.
1. Discussion Group
The Discussion Group takes place in a large airy group room on the first floor of the Center. This group is designed to introduce the members of the group, to allow the members of the group to discuss issues that occurred during the week. Members of the group are usually given a Mission Statement, such as “Courage” to discuss during group. The leader of the group tries to get the members to identify with and embrace the Mission Statement and have them apply it to all aspects of their life. The group is told their schedule for the rest of the three-hour IOP and transitioned to the next activity.
2. Sports and Cooperative Games
Sports and Cooperative Games are usually held on the 2-½ acre field behind the Center. All the major sports are taught and played here such as basketball, baseball, flag football, soccer and roller hockey. All these sports lend themselves to teaching social skills, cooperation and teamwork. In all these sports, children have to learn to stay on task, listen to instructions, give eye contact, reward others, show good sportsmanship, share, take turns, show good anger control, be a team player and as a result make friendships.
This program targets these goals and they are heavily reinforced verbally by the children and staff and reinforced with tangible rewards. Cooperative Games by definition, reward cooperation. For example, running fast and slow while lifting a large Parachute takes the cooperation of at least 10 people. This cooperation, is again, heavily rewarded.
3.Cooperative Cooking and Dining, Yoga, Drama and Art Group
Cooperative Cooking and Dining Group or “Manners Matter and so does Responsibility”, was designed to teach cooperation, manners and responsibility and takes place in the Center’s modernized family kitchen and dining room, which is on the first floor of the Center. In this Group the child will be taught how to prepare simple meals, how to set the table and how to act appropriately while eating at the table. Some of the goals that preparing and eating a meal include are helping another child or children take turns, being safe, taking responsibility for their part in preparation and clean-up, taking responsibility for a safe, clean and quiet environment. A major goal is learning to communicate in the proper fashion and demonstrate manners at the dinner table. The dinner table in the child’s natural setting may be or could be the central time when parents interact with their children. It would be best if this environment created discussion in a quiet and safe environment. Not only parents, but also children play a major role in the behaviors this setting generates and thus learning social skills in this environment at the Center is likely to generalize into the home.
(a). Yoga takes place in a large modern room with wooden floors in the basement level of the Center. Yoga quiets the mind and strengthens the body. Many of the children at the IOP have high stress levels as well as impulse control problems and anger issues. The breathing and meditation procedures involved in Yoga are extremely important in coping with these issues. The Yoga exercise and poses challenge the imagination and help strengthen and make bodies more flexible. This is extremely important in many of the children at the IOP who have Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Tics, Tourettes and other coordination and gross motor problems. For the active child and the depressed child, Yoga helps quiet the mind and body and creates comforting thoughts.
(b). Therapeutic Drama– Drama takes place in the Yoga room where attention to task is most likely to occur. Drama helps children develop their imagination while helping children follow directions and the actions of others. Therapeutic Drama also helps diagnose emotional behavior problems when the child is free to act out certain scenarios. Drama calls for attention to other’s actions, imitating alternative behaviors that they may have never displayed (which could serve as a step in shaping these behaviors), role-playing various social skills and feeling relaxed enough to emote and behave in front of others. Impulse control, focus, cooperation and being friendly are all paramount to drama. These goals will be targeted and reinforced verbally and with primary reinforces.
(c). Therapeutic Art – Through art children develop and display their emotions through different creative mediums. Therapeutic art is another avenue where the art therapist can help develop a diagnoses based on the context of the art the child is displaying. Art is often a reinforcer for many children as they get a feeling of accomplishment and joy in their creation. In addition art calls for the following goals, fine motor skills, attention to task, sharing, taking turns, listening to instructions and rewarding self and others and taking responsibility to clean themselves and their area.4. Social Skills / Group Therapy
4. The Social Skills and Group Therapy takes place in the large group room on the first floor of the Center.
(A). Social Skills Training – The theoretical orientation of Social Skills program at SFCC has been influenced strongly by social learning therapy (1977) and operant learning (Skinner 1953, 1966). It also has a strong cognitive influence, as the development of problem solving skills is important to social situations (Weissburg, 1985). Thus the social skills program at SFCC includes mentoring, coaching, problem solving and self-instruction. The behavioral interventions include modeling, role-playing, behavioral rehearsal and reinforcement.
The social skills program uses the following model to include these important behavioral and cognitive interventions:
(1) The group leader introduces the specific skill and learning objective.
(2) The group leader models the behavior, both positive and negative and models each of the steps for enacting the behavior. With a student helper the group leader directs a role-play of a typical situation in which the behavior is displayed and finally the leader discusses alternative behaviors to accomplish the same goal.
(3) The student then defines the behavior and provides a rational and lists the critical steps for enacting the behavior. The student then models the behavior and role-plays it. The other children and the group leader are asked to provide feedback for the student about his or her role-play.
(4) To encourage follow through and generalization of the skills taught a homework assignment is given to use the skill in other settings.
Group Therapy – The Group Therapy group takes place in the same location as the Discussion Group as mentioned above. At each group session a licensed Clinical Psychologist or Social Worker leads the group therapy along with a Master level therapist. Group therapy helps the children grow emotionally and solve personal problems. Group therapy offers multiple relationships to assist the children at SFCC / IOP in growth and problem solving. In group therapy, the children in the Social Skills groups watch others cope with and overcome similar problems successfully, thus it instills hope and inspiration.
The development of basic social skills is a therapeutic factor that occurs in all therapy groups. Groups at SFCC place considerable emphasis on improving social skills in children and adolescents. For example, a child may be making the transition from elementary school to middle school. Group members offer feedback to one another about the appropriateness of other’s behavior. This feedback does provide much needed behavioral connection.
All children develop distortions in the way they perceive others, and these distortions can damage important relationships, e.g. child & parent, child & teachers, etc. Therapy groups can correct these distortions with the help of the therapist and feedback from the other members in the group.
Belonging, acceptance and approval are among the most important and universal of a child’s needs. Group therapy may make them feel truly accepted and valued for the first time. Children often decrease their anxieties and defensiveness, which, in turn, decreases acting out and being aggressive.
Parent Training Parent training is a necessary part of the generalization of children’s social skills (Sim, Whiteside, Dittner and Mellon, 2006). Parents of children in the Social Skills group in the SFCC IOP are interviewed before the children start in the Social Skills program and a Comprehensive Mental Health Questionnaire is given where presenting problems are recorded, including the settings that they most occur. An initial diagnosis is made by a licensed Clinical Psychologist, which includes a list of strengths and reinforcers for the child. The SSRS (Social Skills Rating System) is given to the parents so specific social skills can be identified. Social Skill goals and objectives are formulated and agreed upon by the parents and later by their child. These Social Skills objectives are then transferred to a recording sheet for each child. The parents are given an overview of the programs, including the environments the children will be learning in and how they will be rewarded. The parents are called every two weeks to discuss their child’s progress and answer all questions by the parents. In addition, parents are asked if their child was acquiring some social skills in the environments at home and school. The parents are asked to come to a group parent meeting based on the group of children their child is a member of. These group meetings are every three weeks and are run by a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Social Workers. These groups focus on instructing parents to provide opportunities for children to practice skills (i.e. play dates) appropriately encourage and discourage certain behaviors and assist children with social skills, and homework assignments. Further, parents are trained in the Behavioral Analysis of Behavior and in communicating effectively with their children. School Matters
Many children in our schools receive special education services after being identified with a learning disability. Not only children with LD, but many others have difficulties learning and mastering at their grade level. In order to make a difference in a child’s school performance, to alleviate the frustrations and create a better self esteem, the individual can realize their own learning styles and their individual needs in the School Matters program.
Study skills, organization, time management, improved listening skills and strategies for taking notes and testing are some of the components to the program. It is designed for the individual’s need, in small groups, and our afterschool program will teach the skills to change the child’s school environment to being a success rather than an unwelcome challenge.
Partial Care ages: 3 -17 
