News Release                     The Human Connection

Date:           April 20, 2004

Contact:       Joyce E. Divinyi

                   770-631-8264

 Foster Care & Adoptive Community

Joyce Divinyi, the author of Good Kids, Difficult Behavior was selected by the Foster Care & Adoptive Community to develop an educational online course designed and written specifically to assist foster parents dealing with children in their care. 

The title of the course is “The Bridge from Rage to Reason” Coaching Traumatized Children to Think Before They ACT.”

One of the most troublesome challenges for any parent is determining how to effectively respond to an emotionally out-of-control child or teenager.   A child’s emotional meltdown or explosion often incites an equally emotional reaction from parents.  When this happens, everyone’s emotions tend to escalate.  The aftermath of this kind of intense and angry interchange is often quite devastating.  Sometimes parents feel guilty, and at the very least frustrated and confused.   Often children feel guilty because once they are able to regain their emotional equilibrium, they are well aware that their behavior has been unacceptable and even outrageous.  They themselves are sometimes highly confused about what set them off or why they couldn’t calm down and stop when they are prompted to do so.  All in all, everyone ends up feeling lousy. 

The course provides a clear explanation of how and why children who are well loved and cared for can react in a hostile, mean or angry way toward those who love them most.  Understanding a simple model of the brain structure as it relates to intense emotional behavior will assist parents in helping their children learn how to express emotions appropriately without losing control.  The emotions/thinking/action model discussed in the course is a valuable tool in the process of moving wounded children from rage to reason. 

Course Overview:

Part I          The Raging Brain

·         Why children rage, explode, “meltdown” for no apparent reason.

·         How the organization of the brain affects the child’s ability to calm down or to express anger appropriately.

·         How trauma affects the brain and emotional development. 

·         Why punishment often has no affect. 

Part II     The Reasonable Response

·         Debriefing:  How to discover the emotional antecedents of an explosive incident.

·         Guidelines for debriefing an emotionally charged incident.

Step 1:     Be certain all parties are in the “T”.

Step 2:     State the purpose and the goal of debriefing.

Step 3:     Focus on the setting first.

Step 4:     Focus on the events leading up to the incident.

Step 5:     Focus on the emotions prior to the incident.

Step 6:     Discuss the incident--- who, what, where, when.

Step 7:     Focus on the emotions after the incident.

Step 8:     Acknowledge the child’s emotions.

Step 9:     Discuss alternative behaviors to prevent similar outburst from recurring.

Step 10:   Create an action-plan.

Step 11:  Teach the child how to de-escalate.

Step 12:   Ask for agreements.

Step 13:   Walk them through the thinking process.

Step 14:  Celebrate success.

For additional information on this program or any of the other specialized courses offered to the general public, please visit “The Human Connection” website at: www.thehumanconnection.net. Also visit the Foster Care & Adoptive Community website to learn more about these and other special online coursed at: http://www.fosterparents.com/ 

Ms. Divinyi is a licensed professional counselor and a national certified counselor.  She has a private practice in individual and family therapy in Peachtree City, Georgia.  She has trained both parents and professionals working with children in a wide variety of settings from schools to juvenile courts throughout the United States. 

 The Human Connection   •   125 Highgreen Ridge    •   Peachtree City, Georgia 30269

E-Mail:  Joyce@thehumanconnection.net               Web: www.thehumanconnection.net