While writing this book, I was constantly aware that practically every word I wrote, every technique I described, every assessment tool I recommended, every approach, every idea, everything we did inside our Institution was being reported. It all started there in Cottage One in Minnesota.
Please know that if you are staff who are working in an institution, who are trying all the ideas in this book – go for it. It is yours. You will be so glad you did. If you can get your offender group to pay attention to their thinking (usually they start by saying they don’t think!); if you can teach them this language and they begin to conceptualize their thinking, you have probably saved lives.
When we/I started speaking in “errors in thinking”, it was a foreign language. It seemed rather strange to be saying the things I was saying. It was an entirely different way of communicating and identifying thinking and behavior – new terminology. However, I noted that our offenders were not at all uncomfortable or surprised by the terms we all learned. They seemed to understand them instantly and could use them and apply them in a very appropriate manner with their peers. I must say I was lagging behind a bit, and they challenged me to give examples of the meaning of specific errors, which I found difficult in some ways.
Had it not been the permission, the support, the encouragement we received from the administration and the juvenile court, I’m not sure what would have happened. We learned so much and it is a joy to be able to pass on what we learned to parents – but remember how important it is to have a change process team to back you up. Do not try this program without plenty of support, back-up, people who have your best interest at heart.
This CBT program was designed by the institution staff who lived and used it. They made it happen. They implemented it using very accountability process we had to convince offenders to change, to take care of themselves, to stay out of jail by making great decisions.
If I hadn’t seen it my self, I would not have believed it.
Offenders went off to school (on grounds) every morning with spiral notebooks curled up and stuck in the back of their blue jeans. They recorded their thinking, their errors in thinking, and their resolution of their decision dilemma, and how that particular incident was the same as others that led to crime. In that process, they internalized new thinking. They discovered the new thinking and ways of deterring their criminal thinking and behavior by constantly identifying the errors in thinking and finding new ways to stop the criminal behavior that previously drove their behavior.