Positive Peer Culture [PPC] creates a pro-social climate in schools and youth programs by enlisting youth in helping their peers. Research and training in PPC is coordinated by the Academy for Positive Peer Culture.

Reclaiming youth library:
Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to Potential with Challenging Youth
reviewed by Timothy Baker and John H. Hoover
52

Deep Brain Learning (Brendtro, Mitchell, & McCall, 2009) blends brain research with findings from diverse disciplines to provide evidence for effective approaches in reclaiming disconnected youth.

Growing Up in the Care of Strangers
John R. Seita and Waln K. Brown
55

 The authors share rich perspectives from their new book which is co-authored by eleven former foster kids who are now dedicated professionals working to transform systems which serve vulnerable children and youth.

We Keep Moving On
Jeffrey L. Weinthal
59

Jeffrey maps his road to resilience, from a turbulent early life marked by depression and anger to mature independence.

___

Editorial:

The Second Century of the Child
Larry K. Brendtro, Martin L. Mitchell and Nicholas J. Long

The Century of the Child
On New Year's Eve 1900 Swedish sociologist Ellen Key (1849-1926) published The Century of the Child (1900/1909). Translated into many languages, this influential book marked a new era when science and democratic ideals would transform oppressive approaches to education and child rearing. Key was inspired by reformers who saw positive potential in all children; many were powerful women who advocated for the rights of children, even when they had not yet secured the right to suffrage. Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) launched a world-wide mental health movement in response to abuses she found when teaching Sunday school to incarcerated girls. Maria Montessori (1870-1952), Italy's first female physician, demonstrated that disabled and impoverished children were capable of educational success. Chicago social worker Jane Addams was instrumental in founding the first juvenile court in 1899, and, within twenty-five years, children's courts were established in all democratic countries.

Democratic principles challenged centuries of repressive approaches. Pioneers in work with delinquents espoused two revolutionary ideas:

• Even the most troubled young person has hidden potentials which can be nurtured through positive relationships between adults and youth.

• Schools and residential programs must be reconstructed on principles of democracy, namely treating all children with respect and dignity.

The first quarter of the last century saw a flurry of progressive approaches in Europe and North America. Janusz Korczak developed student self-governance in his school for Polish street children. Other prominent leaders created schools to empower youth with names testifying to this democratic ethos: Youth Republic, Children's Village, Boys
Town, Commonwealth. In 1928, Liepmann documented the world-wide success of programs which involved delinquents in self-governance. But, authoritarian ideas were still deeply embedded in Western culture. When charismatic leaders retired, their successors were seldom able to sustain their vision, and reforms reverted to coercive structures. As Goethe once observed, everything important has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again.

Michigan Roots of the Reclaiming Movement
Several historical events in the twentieth century put Michigan at the epicenter of progressive approaches to reclaiming challenging children and youth.

Democracy in Education and Youth Work

The University of Michigan was among the first to challenge autocratic English teaching methods, adopting the democratic "seminar" model inspired by French universities. In this academic climate, John Dewey (1858-1952) launched his career as a young professor of psychology. During a decade at Michigan, Dewey developed the principle that schools in a democracy should treat students as respected citizens rather than submissive subjects. He then demonstrated this philosophy in a laboratory school at the University of Chicago. In 1919, the Progressive Education Association was formed to transform schools into communities that teach democratic values of respect.

The University of Michigan also pioneered social psychology research on democratic models of education and youth work (Lippit & White, 1943; White & Lippitt, 1960). Studies in natural settings like schools and camps showed that different styles of adult leadership produce very different group dynamics. Authoritarian approaches spark rebellion or underground resistance. Permissive methods fail to give the guidance and structure needed for optimal growth. Only democratic approaches can create group climates with positive relationships among peers and adults (White & Lippitt, 1960).

Michigan researchers identified the powerful impact of "group contagion" in creating positive or negative group processes (Polansky, Lippitt, & Redl, 1950). The University of Michigan published the first major study of Guided Group Interaction which developed positive cultures by enlisting young offenders in peer helping (Weeks, 1958). This research was analyzed by psychiatrist Richard Jenkins whose earlier pioneering studies identified two very different factors underlying delinquency: resilient, socialized delinquents and emotionally troubled, unsocialized delinquents (Hewitt & Jenkins, 1946). Both types benefit from positive group cultures which build bonds of trust while challenging antisocial thinking, values, and behavior (Weeks, 1958).

Reclaiming Wayward Youth
At the onset of World War II, many leaders in work with troubled youth left Europe to settle in the United States. Among the most influential was educator and psychologist Fritz Redl who had been trained in Austria by August Aichhorn and Anna Freud. Aichhorn had published the classic book Wayward Youth which was translated into English in 1935. Challenging coercive approaches, Aichhorn developed methods to use positive relationships to transform troubled youth. The Progressive Education Association invited Redl to lecture on these ideas in the United States. When the Nazis occupied his homeland, Redl remained in the United States where he taught for four decades at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in Detroit. In books titled Children who Hate and Controls from Within, Redl piloted strategies for reclaiming aggressive children and youth (Redl & Wineman, 1957).

In Austria, Redl had been trained in the Wanderlust spirit as teachers used camping excursions to build powerful bonds with their students. In 1941, he became director of the University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp. Founded by the Christian Students' Association to serve boys from Detroit, Redl transformed the camp into a world-renowned clinical training center. Each summer, hundreds of troubled youngsters came to camp from area juvenile or mental health facilities. The camp's counselors were graduate students in psychology, education, and social work. The senior faculty was headed by Fritz Redl and his colleagues William C. Morse and David Wineman. Research director was Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979) who pioneered the ecological model of child development which became the foundation of the Re-ED movement (Hobbs, 1982). The camp provided a laboratory for Redl's concept of the "life space interview" where problem behavior was addressed with communication instead of coercion. The camp operated for forty years, training thousands of professionals in reclaiming methods, including founding editors of this journal, Nicholas Long and Larry Brendtro.

The Starr Commonwealth
In 1913, Floyd Starr founded a "Commonwealth" for wayward boys, starting humbly in an old barn on the shores of Montcalm Lake near Albion, Michigan. Floyd Starr's creed began with the motto, "There is no such thing as a bad boy." This optimistic spirit was echoed by other reformers of the era, including Father Flanagan who established Boys Town several years later. Starr Commonwealth expanded to several sites in Michigan and Ohio, operating a full range of residential, community-based, alternative education, and prevention programs.

From its inception, Starr Commonwealth was an exemplar of what today is called "strength-based interventions." In 1965, William Morse of the University of Michigan encouraged his student Larry Brendtro to conduct research at Starr Commonwealth. In 1967, Brendtro succeeded Floyd Starr as president, and he was succeeded in turn by colleagues Arlin Ness and Martin Mitchell. As Starr approaches its 2013 centennial, it has had only four presidents, all maintaining fidelity to the strength-based philosophy.

The Reclaiming Model Flourishes
Very few progressive programs outlast their founders and some even revert to primitive practices. This regression seems to result from two specific deficits:

• A lack of solid science for effective evidence-based practice

• A lack of training curriculums to support reclaiming programs

The University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp equipped generations of professionals who enabled the reclaiming model to flourish in education and treatment settings.

Morse, Redl, and child psychiatrists Ralph Rabinovitch and Sara Dubo established a powerful parent advocacy group, The Michigan Association for Emotionally Disturbed Children. By the early 1960s all major Michigan universities were training teachers of emotionally disturbed children, and faculty from these programs were instrumental in founding the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders. The reclaiming model was applied in treatment settings by Albert Trieschman and colleagues (Trieschman, Whittaker, & Brendtro, 1969; Whittaker, 1979; Whittaker & Trieschman, 1972). Nicholas Long developed the Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute to research and disseminate the reclaiming strategies that grew from his work at Fresh Air Camp, and as a colleague of Redl in a demonstration program of the National Institute of Mental Health (Long, Wood, & Fecser, 2001).

Continuity marks the reclaiming movement. In 1965, the first edition of the classic text Conflict in the Classroom was co-authored by Nicholas Long and his mentor Bill Morse, and the book is now in its sixth edition (Long, Morse, Fecser, & Newman, 2007). In a retrospective on his own sixty-year career, Bill Morse (2008) describes how the democratic "culture of caring" at Fresh Air Camp is still transforming approaches to troubled children.

The Circle of Courage Resilience Model
The reclaiming movement went cross-cultural through a collaboration of Larry Brendtro and Lakota psychologist Martin Brokenleg. In 1988, they developed the Circle of Courage philosophy by researching how Native American cultures developed resilient children through opportunities for belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. The Circle of Courage model was first presented at international conferences sponsored by the Child Welfare League of America in Washington, DC, and the Albert E. Trieschman Center in Boston. Serving as dean of the Circle of Courage Institute, Martin Brokenleg has trained thousands of professionals world-wide.

In 1990, Brendtro, Brokenleg, and Steve Van Bockern co-authored the first edition of Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future. A decade later, they founded Reclaiming Youth International (RYI) to deliver professional conferences and training. Now headed by Steve Van Bockern and Mark Freado, RYI and its board of distinguished leaders in this field sponsor the annual Black Hills Seminars in South Dakota and the Vancouver Island Seminars in Canada.

The Circle of Courage Institute has researched and developed a full range of training curriculums which are delivered by certified trainers:

• Response Ability Pathways (RAP) provides universal training in the Circle of Courage model (Brendtro & duToit, 2005). It was piloted in South Africa by Lesley du Toit, who was appointed by Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi to manage transformation of the child and youth care system during the presidency of Nelson Mandela. RAP equips all who work with children with the abilities to connect with challenging children, clarify problems, and restore harmony.

• Deep Brain Learning is a one-day training which identifies the evidence base of successful programs, drawing on resilience science, neuroscience, and values of dignity and respect (Brendtro, Mitchell, & McCall, 2009).

• The Developmental Audit' provides training in strength-based assessment. Young persons are enlisted in identifying private logic and coping strategies and developing positive growth plans (Brendtro, du Toit, Bath, & Van Bockern, 2006).

• Positive Peer Culture (PPC) builds climates of respect in schools and youth programs (Gibbs, Potter, & Goldstein, 1995; Laursen, 2008; Quigley, 2007; Tate & Wasmund, 2000; Vorrath & Brendtro, 1974/1985).

Training of trainers for these curriculums is managed by Susan Buus of the Circle of Courage Institute in Lennox, South Dakota. The Institute also publishes the Reclaiming journal, flagship of the reclaiming movement for the past eighteen years.

Coming Full Circle:
The Starr Commonwealth Collaboration
In 2009, The Circle of Courage Institute joined forces with Starr Commonwealth. This collaboration opens exciting new frontiers by forming strong alliances with leading experts and organizations in the field. Just as the University of Michigan Fresh Air Camp provided an anchor for the reclaiming movement in the past century, The Circle of Courage and Starr Commonwealth fill that role for this second century of the child.

Starr Commonwealth is internationally recognized as a leader in transformational programs for children, families, schools, and communities. Central to its mission is to provide leading-edge training in strength-based reclaiming strategies to create environments where all children can flourish. Starr Institutes for Training conduct research and develop curriculum in two broad areas: resilience through the Circle of Courage Institute, and trauma through the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children. Key collaborating organizations deliver these trainings, including Reclaiming Youth International and Circle of Courage Training Institutes in various countries.

Numerous publications document the programs and research emerging from Starr Commonwealth. Since the early 1970s, Starr has been at the forefront in developing Positive Peer Culture programs (Gibbs, Potter, & Goldstein, 1995; Tate & Wasmund, 2000; Vorrath & Brendtro, 1974/1985 With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, Martin Gold of the University of Michigan headed a major series of research studies on Positive Peer Culture (Gold & Osgood, 1992). Martin Mitchell has co-authored books with former Starr student John Seita, now a professor of social work and youth development at Michigan State University (Seita, Mitchell, & Tobin, 1996, 2000). Two other books explore the connection of spiritual development with resilience (Brendtro & Larson, 2006; Larson & Brendtro, 2000). The most recent publication, Deep Brain Learning, blends neuroscience and positive psychology to tap the potentials of challenging youth (Brendtro, Mitchell, & McCall, 2009).

Educators, clinicians, childcare professionals, and parents now have available proven and innovative methods designed to bring out the best in every child. These are grounded in values of dignity and tap research from the natural and physical sciences and a distinguished tradition of practice expertise. We enter the second "Century of the Child" with the science for effective evidence-based practice and with training curriculums to support reclaiming all children and youth.

Larry K. Brendtro, PhD, is founder o f the Circle of Courage Institute and Dean of Starr Commonwealth Institutes for Training.
Martin L. Mitchell, EdD, is president and CEO o f Starr Commonwealth, headquartered in Albion, Michigan.
Nicholas J. Long, PhD, is presidento f the Li fe Space Crisis Intervention Institute, Hagerstown, Maryland. The authors can be contacted through the Circle of Courage Institute: courage@reclaiming.com

References
Aichhorn, A. (1935). Wayward youth. New York, NY: Viking Press.

Brendtro, L., & du Toit, L. (2005). Response Ability Pathways. Cape Town, South Africa: Pretext.

Brendtro, L., du Toit, L., Bath, H., & Van Bockern, S. (2007). Developmental Audits with challenging youth. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 15(4), 138-146.

Brendtro, L., & Larson, S. (2006). The resilience revolution. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Brendtro, L., Mitchell, M., & McCall, H. (2009). Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to potential with challenging youth. Albion, MI: Circle of Courage & Starr Commonwealth.

Brendtro, L. K., Brokenleg, M., & Van Bockern, S. (1990). Reclaiming youth at risk. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gibbs, J., Potter, G., & Goldstein, A. (1995). The EQUIP program. Teaching youth to think and act responsibly through a peer-helping approach. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

Gold, M. & Osgood, D. (1992). Personality and peer influence in juvenile corrections. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Hewitt, L., & Jenkins, R. (r946). Fundamental patterns of maladjustment: The dynamics o f their origin. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Child Guidance Institute.

Hobbs, N. (1982). The troubled and troubling child. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Key, E. (1909). The Century of the Child (English Trans.). New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons. (Original work published 1900).

Larson, S., & Brendtro, L. (2000). Reclaiming our prodigal sons and daughters. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Laursen, E. (Ed.). (2008). Respectful alliances. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 17, 1.

Liepmann, C. M. (1928). Die selbstventaltung der grefangenen. In C. M. Liepmann, (Ed.)Hamburgishe Schriften zur Gesamten Strafrechstswessenschaft (Vol. 12). Berlin: Mannheim.

Lippitt, R. & White, W. (1943). The "social climate" of children's groups. In R. Barker, J. Kounin, & H. Wright (Eds.), Child behavior and development: A course of representative studies (pp. 405-508). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Long, N., Morse, W., Fecser, F., & Newman, R. (2007). Conflict in the classroom (6th ed.). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Long, N., Wood, M., & Fecser, F. (2001). Life Space Crisis Intervention. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Morse, W. (2008). Connecting with kids in conflict: A life space legacy. Albion, MI: Reclaiming Children and Youth & Starr Commonwealth.

Polansky, N., Lippitt R., & Redl, F. 1950). An investigation of behavioral contagion in groups. Human Relations, 3, 3I9-348.

Quigley, R. (2007). Roots of Positive Peer Culture: Harry Vorrath: The man and the myth. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 15, 194-199.

Redl, F., & Wineman, D. (1957). The aggressive child. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Seita, J., Mitchell, M., & Tobin, C. (1996). In whose best interest? A child's odyssey, a nation's responsibility. Elizabethtown, PA: Continental Press.

Seita, J., Mitchell, M., & Tobin, C. (2000). CCDO: Connection, continuity, dignity, and opportunity. Albion, MI: Starr Commonwealth.

Tate, T., & Wasmund, W. (2000). Partners in empowerment: A peer group primer. Albion, MI: Starr Commonwealth.

Trieschman, A., Whittaker, J., & Brendtro, L. (r969). The other 23 hours. Chicago, IL: Aldine.

Vorrath, H., & Brendtro, L. (1985) Positive Peer Culture (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Aldine Transaction. (First edition published in 1974).

Weeks, H. A. (1958). Youthful offenders at High fields: A study of the effects of short-term treatment of delinquent boys. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

White, R., & Lippitt, R. (1960). Autocracy and democracy: An experimental inquiry. New York, NY: Harper.

Whittaker, J. (1979). Caring for troubled children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Whittaker, J., & Trieschman, A. (1972). Children away from home. Chicago, IL: Aldine.

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