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24 June 2009

NO 1452

Team workers

When some of the workers on a team operate solely on an authoritarian behavior management basis, this creates many difficulties for the rest of the team. A behavior-management-only approach provides only external controls for disturbed children. The children tend to become bitter and resentful toward these controlling staff, and feel apprehensive and scared about voicing this around these staff. While their behavior might be under control, they are struggling to keep their impulses in check. As a result, the workers who do not provide rigid external controls become safe outlets for these children to vent their pent-up frustrations. The 'safe' workers end up taking the brunt of the behavior which originated with the authoritarian staff, setting off a damaging spiral. The authoritarian staff often severely chastises the child for misbehaving in the staff's absence. The non-authoritarian staff feel guilty and incompetent, while often the authoritarian staff implicitly accuse those staff who have difficulty with the behavior, and feel some triumph at their own success. The energies of the team are spent on inter-staff conflicts, with little left over for effective treatment.

It is tempting for child care workers to judge themselves and their colleagues on how well they can control the group. According to Trieschman et al., "Since child behavior is usually thought to be the prime indicator of worker inadequacy, the competent worker is the one who exercises high control over his charges, is quite authoritarian, and suppresses any acting-out behavior" (1969, p. 225). When the children's behavior becomes the measure for competence, then destructive competition arises between staff. Trieschman et al. were certainly aware of this when they commented further, "It is not uncommon to see workers go to great lengths to demonstrate their 'behavior control prowess' to one another, often to the detriment of the children" (1969, p. 225). It can become extremely difficult to discuss effective strategies for difficult behavior when staff feel threatened or accused by their colleagues. When a worker brings up a difficulty with a particular child, the implicit message is "I don't have trouble with so and so, so the problem must be you. I don't have to deal with it, or worry about it. It's your problem, you solve it." Obviously this is damaging not only to the worker, but indirectly it hampers the effectiveness, or even existence, of any treatment for the child. While this may seem rare or harsh, it was part of my experience all too often. I admit that I, too, was guilty of this, sometimes feeling a twinge of pride or superiority when observing another worker having difficulty with a child whom I had 'mastered.'

Before we come down too harshly on those 'terrible' authoritarians, it might do to remember that few child care workers actually start out this way or intend to work like this. Child care work is unique in that it involves a heavy emotional and personal investment. The capital which we have at our disposal to invest is the sum of all our training and experience. Because child care involves working with children in their daily lives, it has a strong parental component. All of us have been raised by someone, if not by a parent, then by some other parental figure. Our own experience of childhood and the parenting we received is unavoidably a part of the experience we bring to our work. Even with intense education and training, we are unable to extricate our experience from our repertoire of skills. As well, many child care workers are hired with little related education or training, beyond the inevitable desire to 'work with kids,' and perhaps the ubiquitous 'summer camp counsellor' experience. In other words, our work with children is a reflection of how our parents 'worked' with us; often what was good enough for them, is good enough for us.

Ebner referred to this reliance on our instincts and experiences as our "automatic pilot" (1979), and concluded that a large number of workers adopt a "hard-hat" style as their "automatic pilot." He characterized "hard-hats" as workers who are externally oriented, seek to control and conform, rely on consequences and punishment, and place emphasis on traditional values and respect for authority (Ebner,1979, p. 37). "Hard-hats" appear to be behavior management oriented, and tend to ignore treatment, instead opting for short-term observable results.

A reliance on our "automatic pilots" can be destructive, but it need not always be. It is impossible to imagine that we can completely escape our instincts, especially when we are dealing with a crisis. Rather, an increased awareness of our "automatic pilots" would allow us to evaluate whether they are effective or detrimental to meeting our therapeutic goals.

JIM VANDERWOERD

Vanderwoerd, J. (1991). Divisions between behavior management and therapy: Towards new directions of authority in Child and Youth Care. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 5, 1. pp. 36-37.

REFERENCES

Ebner, M.J. (1979). Hard-hats vs. Soft-hearts: The conflict between principles and reality in child and adolescent care and treatment programs. Child Care Quarterly, 8, 1. pp. 36-46.

Trieschman, A.E.; Whitaker, J.K. and Brendtro, L.K. (1969). The other 23 hours: Child care work with emotionally disturbed children in a therapeutic milieu. Chicago. Aldine Publishing.

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