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NO 1699
Creative Language: An Important Tool
RedI's great gift is not only that he suggests powerful and creative concepts that enable us to focus our attention and our work, but also that he draws so effectively on the use of language to make these concepts readily accessible to us and applicable in our practice. For example, in describing a positive living environment for working with young people, he writes of "A house which smiles, props which invite, and space which allows." The living environment can be assessed in terms such as "Action-invitation vs. action Verbot" and "Leeway for extraneous use," and each of these conceptual formulations or "hooks" provides the basis for further explanation of its relevance to the development of young people in care and down-to-earth examples of what they mean in practice.
Redl and Wineman's Controls From Within (1952) is perhaps the best source of more of the details and how they might best be applied. Continuing with Redl's description of the key elements in a therapeutic environment, we encounter the need for "Routines which relax" (note the implication that routines are important and valued, but they need to be structured to support and enhance the program rather than to be required for their own sake), "A program which satisfies," and "Adults who protect." The latter provides an essential prism for child and care workers in assessing what they are there for in a wide range of situations.
Other environmental concepts include "Symptom tolerance guaranteed, old satisfaction channels respected," sustaining a "Rich flow of tax-free love and gratification grants" (and hear deeply the idea of "tax-free love"), "Leeway for regression and escape," "Freedom from traumatic handling," and "Ample flexibility and emergency help." The use of "Programming as a full-fledged therapeutic tool" includes such ideas as "Impulse drainage," "Frustration avoidance and frustration budgeting," "Protective timing," "Manipulation of hangover effects and transitional confusions," "Protective and preventive interference," "The cultivation of interest contagion,"' "Widening the experiential range,"' and "Challenge toward participative planning and post-situational evaluation." As mature, competent professionals, we should always be aware of what we are doing and why, and concepts like these can help us to tailor our behavior accordingly.
JERRY BEKER
Beker, J. (2009) Reclaiming
Redl’s Wisdom. Reclaiming Children and Youth 17 (4), p.6
Reference
Redl,. F. and Wineman, D, (1952). Controls from Within: Techniques for the
treatment of the aggressive child. New York: Free Press.
