IF YOU ARE A THERAPIST AND WORK WITH CHILDREN THESE WORKSHOPS WILL HELP
YOU ACHIEVE LONG LASTING SUCCESS WITH YOUR CLIENTS!!
To register or ask for more information please email : [email protected] or call 410 240-0712.
Please check the calendar for upcoming trainings. In-service trainings for agencies are available for a minimum of ten
therapists for a discounted fees.
I. The “Friendship Hour” Program:
This program has been developed from two decades of research and experience by Miriam Schecter, LCSW. It is an interactive and comprehensive experience that offers the child a wonderful opportunity to practice and strengthen his/ her social skills. The program is based on the “Relational Theory”, which believes that the underlying cause of many emotional disorders are stemming from unhealthy attachments. This program will “repair” the child’s attachment wounds through friendships. Whatever the client is dealing with wether it be a loss, social difficulty, emotional/mental disorder...
“Friendship” has the power to heal.
The program activities are truly unique. It incorporates Sand-play Therapy, Art Therapy, Psychodrama, and Play Therapy techniques as well as CBT, DBT and other traditional modalities. The “Friendship Hour” program is an effective and clearly organized curriculum that can be easily adapted to children of all ages. The program can be used in both individual and group settings.
II. Why Teach Social Skills? What are the Benefits:
1. Working with children is super challenging and many Therapists prefer treating adults.This program will strengthen your confidence in yourself and your skills as a Child Therapist by giving you a clear treatment program that is comprehensive and effective. You will be helping children in their immediate situation as well as arming them with powerful tools that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.
2. Visible progress: Children thrive and gain tools in a social skills group program that they could not achieve in individual “talk” therapy. They are given the opportunity to truly experience peer interactions and then generalize those skills in the real world.
3. Profitable: for Therapist and at the same time more affordable for the client!
4. Excellent marketing strategy. Once parents sign up their child for a social skills group they are likely to come for therapy for themselves as well. Principals and Teachers value this form of therapy and will refer other students helping you gain a solid referral base. Your practice will grow and thrive!
three day workshop:
III. Overview of the three days of social skills training workshops:
Day one: Introduction of Social Skills Therapy
Day Two : The Six Step Formula for Teaching Social Skills.
Day Three: A step by step curriculum on teaching the skills in each of the five levels of the program.
If you choose to complete your certificate in "Social Skills Therapy" you will need to complete the entire six day workshop as well as participate in 5 clinical supervision sessions. This certification program will allow you to confidently market yourself as a trained professional in this area of expertise and treat individual and groups social skills. A total of 45 CEU hours need to be met.
Day 1. Introduction to Social Skills Therapy: Using Bibliotherapy to build awareness about the importance of friendship.
Description:
Facilitator will introduce the “Friendship Hour” program a comprehensive social skills training program that she has developed from two decades of research and experience. Workshop will be taught through case studies and role play and some experiential activities. Clinicians will learn through role play how to utilize the technique of Bibliotherapy: the facilitator will share her original story of “The Heart is not a Garbage Can”. An analogy of how bottling up our feelings can cause us to explode! Therapists will learn how to engage children into a discussion on the topic of friendship. Facilitator will also demonstrate how to adapt the story according to the groups age and specific issues.
Objectives:
Clinicians will be able to:
1. Define emotional intelligence vs. IQ
2. Understand the value of having a prevention program and not wait until the child develops a clinical emotional or social disorder.
3. Comprehend the “Relational Theory” and how social skills groups are an effective treatment to help children repair unhealthy attachment and build new relationships that will build self-esteem and emotional well being.
4. Clinicians will be able to increase the child’s understanding of the importance of :
A. Talking about our feelings and not ignoring or repressing them.
B. Clarifying the concept of therapy and why it is beneficial to talk out your problems to a professional.
C. The importance of “Friendship” and how being able to share both the good feelings and the bad feelings are what makes a true friend.
5. Therapists will also be able to use the story as an:
A. Activity to use to start the therapy session each week with sharing of thoughts and feelings.
B. And as a forum for generalization of future skills taught throughout the program.
Clinicians will be able :
1. To create an environment that fosters sharing of feelings and positive interactions amongst peers.
2. To set up a motivational system to foster participation and generalization of the new skills taught every week.
3. Comprehend the value of social skills training groups for both the Therapist and the client.
4. Outline the five levels of the program and how they are hierarchal and need to be build up in order so that the child will be able to have the tools to initiate and maintain friendships.
Day 2: The six step formula of how to teach a social skill:
In this workshop the six step formula of teaching a new social skill will be explained and clearly demonstrated through role play and experiential activities. Several social skills will then be plugged into the formula using the six step formula to give the clinics a clear road map on implementing this formula as well as adapting it to their clients specific issues. This allows the Therapist to custom tailor a therapy program that caters to the age and needs of their clients. Students will experience learning the skill utilizing play therapy activities such as Art , Sand tray and psychodrama techniques.
Clinicians will also learn how to conduct an initial consultation and how to perform a play assessment using play therapy activities. The clinicians will learn how to collect the data from these play assessments and form social skills groups that will foster an environment of friendship making. The optimum environment for friendship and repairing unhealthy attachment will be reviewed. Strategies on how to create that space as well as details on how to set up a room for social skills groups will be taught.
Objectives: Clinicans will be able to:
1. Implement a six steps formula on teaching social skills and customize it to their clients specific needs.
2. To conduct an initial social skills consultation.
3. Clarify the goals of the program to both the child and the parents.
4. How to conduct a play assessment utilizing play therapy techniques.
5. Discern if child is ready for group track or in need of individual training sessions.
6. To analyze the social behaviors of the child and discern between passive and aggressive behaviors.
7. To collect the data from the play assessment and form balanced groups to maximize and environment that fosters
friendship making.
Day 3: Overview of five levels and step by step curriculum.
The third day will provide a detailed curriculum, whereby the clinician will learn how to teach the skills for that specific level. (Look at the explanation of the five levels below).The workshop will be experiential to ensure a clear understanding of how the activities works.
The “Friendship Hour” program consists of five hierarchal levels which addresses the fundamental social skill building blocks. They are:
1. Self-Esteem/ Listening skills- This level focuses on the foundational skill of listening. We teach the client how to listen first to their own “inner voice” and then how to listen to others. This level is the very foundation of social and emotional well-being.
2. Expressive Communication/ Conversational skills-This level teaches the fine art of communication, which is pivotal in all relationships.
3. Emotional awareness skills-This level strengthens the client’s “feeling vocabulary” fostering greater emotional awareness as well as teaching Anger/Emotional management techniques.
4. Flexibility skills- This level focuses on flexibility vs. rigidity, helping the client to “think out of the box” (reduce “black and white“/ “all or nothing” thinking) as well as building the client’s creativity and problem solving skills.
5. Assertiveness Training-This level builds assertiveness, teaches conflict resolution skills, and offers the client techniques and support on managing bullying and teasing.
The following is a published interview from the Where What When magazine in Baltimore, M.D.:
The desire for relationships and friends is universal. All humans desire it. From babies through adults we thrive on our connection to others. Anyone observing the delight of a baby who smiles and wriggles her whole body when she sees her mother can understand that this is a reality. But sometimes a child does not have the skills to develop relationships. This is the child who comes home from school and complains that he does not have any friends, he is the one who is always chosen last to be on any team, he does not get any playdates, and often he is the child that is teased and bullied by others.
Can a child like that be helped or are they doomed to spend their life in isolation and loneliness? Are there ways to teach skills or to encourage behaviors that will turn around the child’s life? What does our community have to offer children and their families to teach social skills?
Miriam Ahuva Schecter, of Thrive Center of Baltimore, is an expert on this subject with twenty years of experience treating children. I visited her impressive office and was excited to share with the community what I had gleaned from our meeting.
“I am a Clinical Social Worker and a Sandtray Therapist, so I run my groups based on the “relational theory” of attachment. Different from traditional social skills groups that focus on teaching behaviors, I focus primarily on the emotional component of relationships. By building the child’s self-esteem he/she will develop more positive social behaviors that will lead to friendships that will last. My social skill groups are limited to four participants to ensure that each child is given the chance to thrive. The idea is that the children can practice and learn the art of friendship in the group and then it will carry over to the school and home environments. I call the groups the “Friendship Hour.” And let the children know they are here to learn friendship skills. First we learn to be our own best friend and then we can share our hearts with others.
Miriam Ahuva uses different modalities to encourage the children to share and connect with each other. She gave me a tour of the various rooms that were set up with an exciting array of expressive modalities. She had mirrors for dance and movement techniques, an art section for intuitive art activities, and her main specialty; a sandtray room with thousands of figurines and objects and of course lots and lots of sand !!
I was very curious to learn more and when Miriam Ahuva answered some of my questions I realized that Sandtray is a very deep and powerful modality. I was surprised that Sandtray can be used for all ages. Though I was wondering how she used the sandtray in her social skills groups. She explained that each child has time to build a sand world in silence, collecting objects and creating a three dimensional scene in the sandtray. After each child builds his/her world she has the group gather around and take turns listening to the “story” of each child’s world. Miriam Ahuva explained to me how this is very validating to the child and builds his self-esteem. Imagine how special a child feels when he has three other peers listening attentively to his story, without interrupting. Miriam Ahuva facilitates the groups to ensure that there is a positive social interaction. Once the child experiences friendship he/she is motivated to overcome their anxiety and pursue friendships in school. This is a safe place where each child is able to not just learn but also practice friendship skills. As the children progress and build confidence within themselves she then allows two children to build a world together. This allows the child to practice so many other skills such as negotiating, compromising, being flexible and assertive.
During the session Miriam ahuva also offers positive reinforcement for positive behaviors like making eye contact, not interrupting and any of the skills that she is trying to teach the children. The children earn points that they can exchange for prizes.
Another technique that Miriam Ahuva implements while the children are building sand worlds is note taking. She writes down everything that the children are doing, for example which figurines are used how they place the objects, the color patterns that emerge etc. Note taking itself is validating to the children. The child picks up the message that everything that he does is important. That is great for his self-esteem. When everything is recorded progress can be tracked and shared with parents. When each sand tray world is completed a picture is taken. Eventually Miriam Ahuva makes a slide show of all the worlds and the child feels super proud of his/her accomplishments!
Though her focus is on attachment and emotional well being she does also teach specific social behaviors and uses techniques such as psychodrama and modeling and role play. However, she strongly feels that the reason why her program is unique and has been so successful, is because she is not just teaching behaviors that are “robotic” but rather allowing the child to find his/her inner voice and be a “naturally” social being.
Part of Miriam Ahuva’s program is to include the parents as an integral piece of the therapy. After three sessions she conducts a parenting session where she shares the skills that were taught and how the parents can “model” these behaviors at home. Ironically, Miriam Ahuva offers these “Friendship hour” groups to adults as well. Many of the Moms have joined and she has found that when the Moms are coming and practicing friendship skills, their child’s success is accelerated. While we tend to think that adults don’t need to learn social skills, Miriam Ahuva explained how we all are struggling with relationships and the group serves as a nurturing hour of support and listening and who cannot benefit from an hour of friendship?! Miriam Ahuva says she feels like a shadchan as she spends hours conducting intakes and then putting the groups together to ensure that friendships will emerge.
Miriam Ahuva has found that social skills group therapy to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. She explained how so many of the symptoms she sees in her practice are so often stemming from poor attachment and low self-esteem. While individual therapy is helpful, to really heal and develop a group therapy environment is the best.
If you are interested in learning more about the “Friendship Hour” or “Sandtray”, Miriam Ahuva has a wonderful website with slideshows and pictures at www.thrivecenterbaltimore.org.
I was very excited to hear that Miriam Ahuva has been sharing her expertise and dedicates a large piece of her practice to educating Therapists in these exciting modalities. If you are a Therapist and would like to learn how to run social skills groups or Sandtray Therapy, she conducts CE workshops and certification programs. In just two years, since she has moved to Baltimore, she has certified hundreds of Therapists in Sandtray Therapy. Her students are traveling in from N.Y. N.J. Virginia and Maryland.
A Social Skills certification program is coming soon. I am really excited to see more Therapists trained in social skills group therapy so that we can help more children develop friendships that can strengthen their emotional well being for the rest of their lives!
YOU ACHIEVE LONG LASTING SUCCESS WITH YOUR CLIENTS!!
To register or ask for more information please email : [email protected] or call 410 240-0712.
Please check the calendar for upcoming trainings. In-service trainings for agencies are available for a minimum of ten
therapists for a discounted fees.
I. The “Friendship Hour” Program:
This program has been developed from two decades of research and experience by Miriam Schecter, LCSW. It is an interactive and comprehensive experience that offers the child a wonderful opportunity to practice and strengthen his/ her social skills. The program is based on the “Relational Theory”, which believes that the underlying cause of many emotional disorders are stemming from unhealthy attachments. This program will “repair” the child’s attachment wounds through friendships. Whatever the client is dealing with wether it be a loss, social difficulty, emotional/mental disorder...
“Friendship” has the power to heal.
The program activities are truly unique. It incorporates Sand-play Therapy, Art Therapy, Psychodrama, and Play Therapy techniques as well as CBT, DBT and other traditional modalities. The “Friendship Hour” program is an effective and clearly organized curriculum that can be easily adapted to children of all ages. The program can be used in both individual and group settings.
II. Why Teach Social Skills? What are the Benefits:
1. Working with children is super challenging and many Therapists prefer treating adults.This program will strengthen your confidence in yourself and your skills as a Child Therapist by giving you a clear treatment program that is comprehensive and effective. You will be helping children in their immediate situation as well as arming them with powerful tools that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.
2. Visible progress: Children thrive and gain tools in a social skills group program that they could not achieve in individual “talk” therapy. They are given the opportunity to truly experience peer interactions and then generalize those skills in the real world.
3. Profitable: for Therapist and at the same time more affordable for the client!
4. Excellent marketing strategy. Once parents sign up their child for a social skills group they are likely to come for therapy for themselves as well. Principals and Teachers value this form of therapy and will refer other students helping you gain a solid referral base. Your practice will grow and thrive!
three day workshop:
- Fee $3,500 ( payment plan available after $500 deposit , $300 a month for ten months).
- Total 40 Ceu’s.
- Hours: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
- Date: dates are on the calendar page.
- Location: varies.
- Clinical Supervision will be via Skype or phone. Fee is $200 for a 55 min, session. $100 fro group zoom session- 90 min. )
III. Overview of the three days of social skills training workshops:
Day one: Introduction of Social Skills Therapy
Day Two : The Six Step Formula for Teaching Social Skills.
Day Three: A step by step curriculum on teaching the skills in each of the five levels of the program.
If you choose to complete your certificate in "Social Skills Therapy" you will need to complete the entire six day workshop as well as participate in 5 clinical supervision sessions. This certification program will allow you to confidently market yourself as a trained professional in this area of expertise and treat individual and groups social skills. A total of 45 CEU hours need to be met.
Day 1. Introduction to Social Skills Therapy: Using Bibliotherapy to build awareness about the importance of friendship.
Description:
Facilitator will introduce the “Friendship Hour” program a comprehensive social skills training program that she has developed from two decades of research and experience. Workshop will be taught through case studies and role play and some experiential activities. Clinicians will learn through role play how to utilize the technique of Bibliotherapy: the facilitator will share her original story of “The Heart is not a Garbage Can”. An analogy of how bottling up our feelings can cause us to explode! Therapists will learn how to engage children into a discussion on the topic of friendship. Facilitator will also demonstrate how to adapt the story according to the groups age and specific issues.
Objectives:
Clinicians will be able to:
1. Define emotional intelligence vs. IQ
2. Understand the value of having a prevention program and not wait until the child develops a clinical emotional or social disorder.
3. Comprehend the “Relational Theory” and how social skills groups are an effective treatment to help children repair unhealthy attachment and build new relationships that will build self-esteem and emotional well being.
4. Clinicians will be able to increase the child’s understanding of the importance of :
A. Talking about our feelings and not ignoring or repressing them.
B. Clarifying the concept of therapy and why it is beneficial to talk out your problems to a professional.
C. The importance of “Friendship” and how being able to share both the good feelings and the bad feelings are what makes a true friend.
5. Therapists will also be able to use the story as an:
A. Activity to use to start the therapy session each week with sharing of thoughts and feelings.
B. And as a forum for generalization of future skills taught throughout the program.
Clinicians will be able :
1. To create an environment that fosters sharing of feelings and positive interactions amongst peers.
2. To set up a motivational system to foster participation and generalization of the new skills taught every week.
3. Comprehend the value of social skills training groups for both the Therapist and the client.
4. Outline the five levels of the program and how they are hierarchal and need to be build up in order so that the child will be able to have the tools to initiate and maintain friendships.
Day 2: The six step formula of how to teach a social skill:
In this workshop the six step formula of teaching a new social skill will be explained and clearly demonstrated through role play and experiential activities. Several social skills will then be plugged into the formula using the six step formula to give the clinics a clear road map on implementing this formula as well as adapting it to their clients specific issues. This allows the Therapist to custom tailor a therapy program that caters to the age and needs of their clients. Students will experience learning the skill utilizing play therapy activities such as Art , Sand tray and psychodrama techniques.
Clinicians will also learn how to conduct an initial consultation and how to perform a play assessment using play therapy activities. The clinicians will learn how to collect the data from these play assessments and form social skills groups that will foster an environment of friendship making. The optimum environment for friendship and repairing unhealthy attachment will be reviewed. Strategies on how to create that space as well as details on how to set up a room for social skills groups will be taught.
Objectives: Clinicans will be able to:
1. Implement a six steps formula on teaching social skills and customize it to their clients specific needs.
2. To conduct an initial social skills consultation.
3. Clarify the goals of the program to both the child and the parents.
4. How to conduct a play assessment utilizing play therapy techniques.
5. Discern if child is ready for group track or in need of individual training sessions.
6. To analyze the social behaviors of the child and discern between passive and aggressive behaviors.
7. To collect the data from the play assessment and form balanced groups to maximize and environment that fosters
friendship making.
Day 3: Overview of five levels and step by step curriculum.
The third day will provide a detailed curriculum, whereby the clinician will learn how to teach the skills for that specific level. (Look at the explanation of the five levels below).The workshop will be experiential to ensure a clear understanding of how the activities works.
The “Friendship Hour” program consists of five hierarchal levels which addresses the fundamental social skill building blocks. They are:
1. Self-Esteem/ Listening skills- This level focuses on the foundational skill of listening. We teach the client how to listen first to their own “inner voice” and then how to listen to others. This level is the very foundation of social and emotional well-being.
2. Expressive Communication/ Conversational skills-This level teaches the fine art of communication, which is pivotal in all relationships.
3. Emotional awareness skills-This level strengthens the client’s “feeling vocabulary” fostering greater emotional awareness as well as teaching Anger/Emotional management techniques.
4. Flexibility skills- This level focuses on flexibility vs. rigidity, helping the client to “think out of the box” (reduce “black and white“/ “all or nothing” thinking) as well as building the client’s creativity and problem solving skills.
5. Assertiveness Training-This level builds assertiveness, teaches conflict resolution skills, and offers the client techniques and support on managing bullying and teasing.
The following is a published interview from the Where What When magazine in Baltimore, M.D.:
The desire for relationships and friends is universal. All humans desire it. From babies through adults we thrive on our connection to others. Anyone observing the delight of a baby who smiles and wriggles her whole body when she sees her mother can understand that this is a reality. But sometimes a child does not have the skills to develop relationships. This is the child who comes home from school and complains that he does not have any friends, he is the one who is always chosen last to be on any team, he does not get any playdates, and often he is the child that is teased and bullied by others.
Can a child like that be helped or are they doomed to spend their life in isolation and loneliness? Are there ways to teach skills or to encourage behaviors that will turn around the child’s life? What does our community have to offer children and their families to teach social skills?
Miriam Ahuva Schecter, of Thrive Center of Baltimore, is an expert on this subject with twenty years of experience treating children. I visited her impressive office and was excited to share with the community what I had gleaned from our meeting.
“I am a Clinical Social Worker and a Sandtray Therapist, so I run my groups based on the “relational theory” of attachment. Different from traditional social skills groups that focus on teaching behaviors, I focus primarily on the emotional component of relationships. By building the child’s self-esteem he/she will develop more positive social behaviors that will lead to friendships that will last. My social skill groups are limited to four participants to ensure that each child is given the chance to thrive. The idea is that the children can practice and learn the art of friendship in the group and then it will carry over to the school and home environments. I call the groups the “Friendship Hour.” And let the children know they are here to learn friendship skills. First we learn to be our own best friend and then we can share our hearts with others.
Miriam Ahuva uses different modalities to encourage the children to share and connect with each other. She gave me a tour of the various rooms that were set up with an exciting array of expressive modalities. She had mirrors for dance and movement techniques, an art section for intuitive art activities, and her main specialty; a sandtray room with thousands of figurines and objects and of course lots and lots of sand !!
I was very curious to learn more and when Miriam Ahuva answered some of my questions I realized that Sandtray is a very deep and powerful modality. I was surprised that Sandtray can be used for all ages. Though I was wondering how she used the sandtray in her social skills groups. She explained that each child has time to build a sand world in silence, collecting objects and creating a three dimensional scene in the sandtray. After each child builds his/her world she has the group gather around and take turns listening to the “story” of each child’s world. Miriam Ahuva explained to me how this is very validating to the child and builds his self-esteem. Imagine how special a child feels when he has three other peers listening attentively to his story, without interrupting. Miriam Ahuva facilitates the groups to ensure that there is a positive social interaction. Once the child experiences friendship he/she is motivated to overcome their anxiety and pursue friendships in school. This is a safe place where each child is able to not just learn but also practice friendship skills. As the children progress and build confidence within themselves she then allows two children to build a world together. This allows the child to practice so many other skills such as negotiating, compromising, being flexible and assertive.
During the session Miriam ahuva also offers positive reinforcement for positive behaviors like making eye contact, not interrupting and any of the skills that she is trying to teach the children. The children earn points that they can exchange for prizes.
Another technique that Miriam Ahuva implements while the children are building sand worlds is note taking. She writes down everything that the children are doing, for example which figurines are used how they place the objects, the color patterns that emerge etc. Note taking itself is validating to the children. The child picks up the message that everything that he does is important. That is great for his self-esteem. When everything is recorded progress can be tracked and shared with parents. When each sand tray world is completed a picture is taken. Eventually Miriam Ahuva makes a slide show of all the worlds and the child feels super proud of his/her accomplishments!
Though her focus is on attachment and emotional well being she does also teach specific social behaviors and uses techniques such as psychodrama and modeling and role play. However, she strongly feels that the reason why her program is unique and has been so successful, is because she is not just teaching behaviors that are “robotic” but rather allowing the child to find his/her inner voice and be a “naturally” social being.
Part of Miriam Ahuva’s program is to include the parents as an integral piece of the therapy. After three sessions she conducts a parenting session where she shares the skills that were taught and how the parents can “model” these behaviors at home. Ironically, Miriam Ahuva offers these “Friendship hour” groups to adults as well. Many of the Moms have joined and she has found that when the Moms are coming and practicing friendship skills, their child’s success is accelerated. While we tend to think that adults don’t need to learn social skills, Miriam Ahuva explained how we all are struggling with relationships and the group serves as a nurturing hour of support and listening and who cannot benefit from an hour of friendship?! Miriam Ahuva says she feels like a shadchan as she spends hours conducting intakes and then putting the groups together to ensure that friendships will emerge.
Miriam Ahuva has found that social skills group therapy to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. She explained how so many of the symptoms she sees in her practice are so often stemming from poor attachment and low self-esteem. While individual therapy is helpful, to really heal and develop a group therapy environment is the best.
If you are interested in learning more about the “Friendship Hour” or “Sandtray”, Miriam Ahuva has a wonderful website with slideshows and pictures at www.thrivecenterbaltimore.org.
I was very excited to hear that Miriam Ahuva has been sharing her expertise and dedicates a large piece of her practice to educating Therapists in these exciting modalities. If you are a Therapist and would like to learn how to run social skills groups or Sandtray Therapy, she conducts CE workshops and certification programs. In just two years, since she has moved to Baltimore, she has certified hundreds of Therapists in Sandtray Therapy. Her students are traveling in from N.Y. N.J. Virginia and Maryland.
A Social Skills certification program is coming soon. I am really excited to see more Therapists trained in social skills group therapy so that we can help more children develop friendships that can strengthen their emotional well being for the rest of their lives!