Dr. Franky D'Oosterlinck

Chairman EFeCT

Senior LSCI Trainer

Director OOBC Nieuwe Vaart, Ghent, Belgium

Implementation of LSCI in Belgium. Behavior Profile of Children and Youngsters with EBD. Discussion about Problems and Effects of the Implementation.

The target group of children and youngsters in the Flemish care institutions shows externalizing and social problems. In 2003, was implemented to be helpful to deal with conflicts. Research of the effect of LSCI shows a decrease of aggression. Educators and staff feel more competent. In spite of the positive results, there is also a need to clarify rules, to use action planning properly and to work together as a team in which care, control and communication are evident.

Prof. Dr. Eric Broekaert

Chairman Department of Orthopedagogics

Ghent university, Belgium.

"On revient toujours à ses premières amours". Retrospective account of the evolution of psychoanalysis, milieu therapy, and LSCI at the Departement of Orthopedagogics of Ghent University.

Prof. Dr. Em. Nicholas Long

Professor Emeritus from American University,

Former Clinical Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Georgetown University, School of Medicine and Director of The Rose School: A Daytreatment Program of the DC Department of Mental Health.

Currently, President of The Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute.

Introduction: Life Space Crisis Intervention : its time has come.

Dr Long's presentation will honor the original theory of Dr. Fritz Redl's Life Space Interviewing and how it has evolved into The Life Space Crisis Intervention Paradigm. LSCI represents the next generation of crisis intervention skills. It is a multi-theoretical, comprehensive, and advanced outcome strategy designed to work effectively with children and youth involved in self-defeating patterns of behavior. An overview of the Diagnostric and Reclaiming Skills will be presented .

Dr. Frank Fecser

Chief executive officer PEP; Cleveland, OHIO, USA

Co-founder of The Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute

LSCI and Other Essential Elements in Classrooms for Students with Serious Emotional Disturbance.

Serving over 3,000 children and youth annually, Positive Education Program (PEP) in Cleveland, Ohio is nationally recognized as an effective program for children with serious emotional disturbance. This presentation offers a view into PEP’s Day Treatment Center classrooms highlighting the essential elements in building a special education/mental health environment. We will examine values and beliefs, structure and predictability, climate and feeling tone, and individual interventions. LSCI will be discussed as an important skill for educators and other professionals working in this setting.

Dr. Mitchell Beck

Dr. Mitch Beck is a professor and chairperson of the department of special education at Central Connecticut State university. Dr. Beck's area of expertise centers on effective crisis intervention training, strategies and creating positive classroom environments. He has many publications and has worked widely with schools throughout the world.

Using Choice Theory and Life Space Crisis intervention in a residential program. A four year journey

This presentation will cover the basic tenets of William Glasser's Choice Theory/Quality Schools theory with LSCI. I will discuss the positive benefits of creating a positive school environment with an effective crisis intervention model. I will share the outcome of a four year study of this model in our residential school.

Mark Freado

Director of Re-EDucation Training and Consultation; Pressley Ridge Institute;USA Executive Director of the American Re-EDucation Association; USA

Vice President / CFO, Reclaiming Youth International; USA

The effective interaction between LSCI, RAP, and values based approaches such as Re-ED and the Circle of Courage

Mark Freado will present the ways in which Life Space Crisis Intervention works effectively in organizations that are value-based. The Principles of Re-EDucation and the values of the Circle of Courage will be highlighted. It is important for organizations to have expressed values and even more important for those values to be visible in the actions taken to help troubled young people and their families. LSCI brings values to life in areas such as developing trust, building competence and improving self-esteem and self-control. Another intervention, Response Ability Pathways (RAP), will be introduced as a way of creating common values and actions throughout an organization. The RAP approach complements the beliefs, skills and practices of staff and provides a broader understanding of the needs and interests of the young people and families we serve.

Dr. Carol Dawson

Senior Trainer LSCI

Assistant Director of Professional Development

Office of School and Youth Development

New York City Department of Education USA

Mainstreaming Violence Prevention

The New York City Department of Education is committed to creating safe, secure and peaceful schools for its 1.4 million children. A comprehensive approach to creating safe learning environments includes a full range of prevention and intervention efforts. One violence prevention program, Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI), formerly used only with special education populations, is now gaining popularity in general education schools. Research on the effectiveness of LSCI as well as current trends will be discussed. This program is firmly grounded in the philosophy of “No Child Left Behind.”

Dr. Bruno Vanobbergen

Department of Foundations of education

Ghent University, Belgium

The GAME never seems to be OVER. On games, violence and education.

In scientific as well as more public debates on children and violent games there seems to be a never ending discussion about the possible negative and positive effects of playing these games on the development of children. In general, two different viewpoints are defended. On the one hand research that is embedded within the 'active media' perspective, shows negative effects of playing games in terms of antisocial and aggressive behaviour. On the other hand, the 'active user' perspective gives us an image of children coping very well with violence in games. In going beyond this never ending discussion, in this contribution we want to pay attention to (1) research (quantitative as well as more qualitative) on the relationship between playing violent games and the behaviour of children with disabilities, (2) the idea that aggression and competition are important factors in creating the popularity of a game and (3) the possible opportunities of playing games in education.

Prof. Dr. Evert Thiery

Honorary Professor, Ghent University, Belgium

Medical Director of the Fabiola Consultation Centre for Behavioural Neurology and Neuropsychology, Ghent, Belgium

Vice President of the Scientific Board of EFPTS (the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey) and of the Association for Scientific Research in Multiple Births, Belgium.

Management and care of children and youth with severe emotional and behavioural disorders: the neurobiological and neuropsychological point of view.

Destructive behaviour in children and youth with emotional and behavioural problems caused by conduct disorder, reactive attachment disorder and related pathologies is a growing point of interest in neurobehavioral research. Neuropsychological and brain imaging studies confirm a problematic brain-behaviour relationship.

Early and severe socioeducative deprivation affects the gene-environment interaction with negative effects on brain plasticity. From our twin research we know that childhood adversity increases the sensitivity to daily life stress by a sensitisation process.

On the other hand there is growing evidence that focused interventions may be effective by their impact on the neuronal level. Not only correct methodology but also optimal timing appears to play an important role in the degree of success of management and care programmes.

Wim Roosens

Director School Wagenschot, Belgium

Reflections on applications of LSCI in the Flemish Youth Protection System, Child Psychiatry and Special Education

Rowdy Yates

Senior Research Fellow, Scottish Addiction Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology Section, Dep. of applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Scotland

From encounter to resolution: managing and channelling stress and anger in therapeutic environments.

This short paper examines the role of groupwork in drug-free therapeutic communities where the stress has traditionally been on creating therapeutic environments which, whilst safe and protective, can often be deliberately stressful. Earlier encounter groups with their emphasis on verbal attack and catharsis have given way to milder resolution groups but the concern here is that the focus on groupwork has distorted the balance within TCs with day-to-day living losing its centrality.

Prof. Dr. Geert Van hove

Department of Orthopedagogics

Ghent University, Belgium

Trees Vangansebeke

VZW Ampel

Fighting for an identity. About the border zone between ‘aggressive behavior’ and ‘surviving in a complete new world’.

In our contribution to the Conference we will work around two very complex situations of young illegal refugees in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium.

Due to ‘behaviours’ they are seen as an : ‘intellectually disabled young adult with mental health problems’.

We will follow the journey of a Kurd and a Maroccon young adult after they arrived in Belgium. Can we call them ‘Intellectually disabled’??, or someone with ‘mental health problems’??, or having ‘attachment problems’??, are they ‘borderliners’??... or do they “fight” to regain an identity in a complete new world??

In our contribution we go back to the idea’s of Amartya Sen (about identity), and Ricoeur and Merleau-Ponty (on narrative identity) to be able to get a broad image.

Luc Verbeke

Director 'Den Dries', Belgium

Gentle teaching as a method: How to express unconditional love to a person who lives in a subculture based on conditionality.

Starting point is the traumatic life-story of Brigitte

The sub-culture in which Brigitte was raised and lived was a culture of "conditionality". She lived in a behaviouristic world, a world where everything has to be earned. She is in this condition because she has a life-history where everything was contional, friendship, respect and even love. Her moral standards and values differ completely or are even diametrically opposed to our standards and values. Does that mean that gentle teaching has no role to play. That our approach based on Gentle teaching doesn't work ???

We don't think so, It is just most needed there, but it has to occur in a slightly different "outfit" and we have to make some unexpected alliances.

If we want to overcome Brigitte her trauma of living in an conditional subculture, we have to make an alliance between her sub-culture; between the language that Brigitte speaks and understands on one hand and the culture of unconditional love (gentle teaching) on the other hand.

Acceptation is our basic attitude, and we will try to discribe that in the workshop. We will also mention our pitfalls and the risks of our approach.

The evolution that Brigitte has made will prove that the methods as used are paying of and that an honest, open talk results in more trust and respect between both caregiver and Brigitte.