This series provides a preview of programs and workshops at the upcoming NATSAP Annual Conference

Session Topic: Spark! Using Neuroscientific “Brain-Based” Techniques to Optimize Academic Learning & Therapeutic Success in a Residential Treatment Setting
Presenter: Michelle Gourley, Gateway Academy
Date: Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM– 11:30 AM

Session Description: Recent discoveries in neuroscience have had a dramatic impact on our understanding of the way therapists and educators should be working with youth. This presentation will translate the latest research findings into practical techniques to be utilized in a residential treatment setting to optimize student learning and therapeutic success.  Participants will gain a dynamic understanding
of the brain and the importance of using targeted movement, sensory integration and in vivo experiences to prime brain cells for learning, sustain attention, help regulate emotions and augment therapeutic healing. Participants will experience learning through the presenter’s demonstration and use of the very brain-based and in vivo techniques being taught.

This series provides a preview of programs and workshops at the upcoming NATSAP Annual Conference

Session Topic: Mindfulness & Mentalization: Engaging the “Treatment Resistant” Adolescent
Presenter:Frances Fisher & Chris Grimes, The Menninger Clinic
Date: Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM– 11:30 AM

Session Description: The merging of two concepts, Mentalization and Mindfulness, provides a framework for engaging and containing adolescents with complex psychopathology. In treatment, the joining of the
two skills, mindfulness and mentalizing, facilitates engagement as the adolescent is able to rapidly
move from skill acquisition to resolution of negative affects and conflicts within attachment relationships,
something far more lasting and concrete as compared to the resolution of a fleeting mood state. Applied
together, in an intensive treatment program, the above components provide adolescents the context in
which to learn how to engage in relationships, while encouraging self-reflection on their own mental
states.

This series provides a preview of programs and workshops at the upcoming NATSAP Annual Conference

Session Topic: The Power of a Positive No
Presenter:Craig Rodabough, CERTS
Date: Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM– 11:30 AM

Session Description: Too often people say “yes” when it would be better to say “no.” Parents struggle to say “no” to their children, therapist to say “no” to students, parents and consultants and supervisors to employees. But “no” is important.  Mahatma Gandhi said, “A ‘no’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.” Combining
the work of anthropologist & mediator Dr. William Uri and the Arbinger Institute and Craig’s own experiences, participants will learn how a positive “no” can make things better, not worse.

This series provides a preview of programs and workshops at the upcoming NATSAP Annual Conference

Session Topic: Making the Implicit Explicit: Teaching Subject-Matter Literacy Skills to Previously
Unsuccessful Learners
Presenter: Bob Burroughs, Ike & Burroughs, Educational Consultants, LLC
Date: Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM– 11:30 AM

Session Description: Although many reasons may account for student failure in school, research has found that many struggling learners have poor literacy skills in discipline-specific classes, such as science, history, or math. Most struggling students will benefit from explicit literacy instruction in subject matters
and the study skills that go along with them. This presentation combines experiential and lecture
modes to demonstrate the importance of explicitly identifying “ways of knowing” to help students learn
in content area classes.

This series provides a preview of programs and workshops at the upcoming NATSAP Annual Conference

Session Topic: Storytelling: A Catalyst for Change in Adolescent Groups
Presenter: Sharon Stricker, Whetstone Academy
Date: Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM– 11:30 AM

Session Description: In child and adolescent group or family therapy, storytelling can be a familiar, non-threatening catalyst for change. Discussions are safely started with depressed, anxious or oppositional young people around a character or situation that they are hearing about in a story rather than risking self disclosure with peers or family. As time goes on, it permits a shift from externalized material to personal
accounts at a rate controlled by the therapist for maximum impact. This clinical presentation affords
an opportunity for participants to gain knowledge as well as experience first-hand the power of
storytelling.

The NATSAP Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Program (JTSP) Volume IV.
Click here to open or download JTSP Volume IV.

You may also request a previous volume by sending a Request for JTSP to the NATSAP office as indicated on the request.

For more information on the Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (JTSP), select the topic of interest.

• Click here to view the new and previous Journal Editions and Table of Contents
• Purpose of the Journal (see below)
• Submitting Articles for Publication in the Journal (see below)

Purpose of the Journal
The Journal has the goal of prodding the NATSAP membership to think more deeply about our profession. We support all employees of NATSAP programs in their continuing development toward becoming more thoughtful, reflective practitioners who contribute to improving our work with children and families. We encourage and welcome empirical research in the JTSP, and we also encourage thoughtful reviews, clinical case studies, and considerations of education, recreation, program, risk management, and program management as well. We encourage each of us to think and write about what we are doing to stimulate involvement and progress, as well as provide a forum to explore important ideas that are so intrinsic to our work.

Michael Gass, Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire and Keith Russell, Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota hold the editorial and managerial responsibilities for the Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (JTSP). Both Dr. Gass and Dr. Russell have extensive professional publication and research experience that will continue to help us create professionally credible journals.

Submitting Articles for Publication in the Journal
We are accepting articles for future issues of the Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (JTSP) and encourage submissions that help us better understand aspects of our field surrounding program design, development, implementation and evaluation. Topics pertaining to specific treatment approaches, particularly innovative ones and those directed toward special populations and other clients with special needs are solicited. Submissions related to management and leadership approaches are welcomed as are those related to staff recruitment, selection, training and retention as well as general policies related to personnel management. Articles that share thoughts regarding inter-disciplinary integration as well as those that focus on critical incident planning and governmental/regulatory relationships and funding issues would be highly valued. Submissions relating extant theory to clinical practice would be welcomed as would papers that produce findings resulting from clinical research of relevance, though it must be emphasized that JTSP is intended to share information of a nature useful to member programs, and is not intended to be a publication with purely academic relevance.

Those interested in submitting for the Journal are requested to follow the Instructions for Authors available on this website. Dr. Gass and Dr. Russell are willing to assist authors, particularly those without previous publication experience, in crafting their articles for publication. Volumes of the Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (JTSP) will be published at the beginning and middle of each year.

“We are delighted to announce this partnership,” said Cliff Brownstein, Executive Director of NATSAP. “Our organization has been looking to work together with another nonprofit for some time, specifically to help less fortunate families. STICC’s 501(c)(3) designation allows them to accept charitable contributions as a foundation, whereas we cannot, so this partnership provides a perfect solution.”

STICC works with health organizations, educational consultants, wilderness programs, boarding schools, rehabilitation centers and educational lawyers to fund and support families who need therapeutic intervention for their struggling teens. Most of STICC’s funds come from families who have sought help through professionals or attended programs, have achieved excellent results, and are then looking for a way to help other families access these opportunities as well. Many professionals and programs will subsequently provide partial scholarships for the family.

NATSAP had previously looked into starting their own nonprofit foundation that could accept donations, but decided that partnering with an already established one with proven results was a more efficient way to achieve their goals. NATSAP reviewed several well-qualified organizations with missions comparative to STICC, and finally determined that STICC matched their criteria, both from a mission and a results standpoint.

Under the partnership, STICC will serve as an independent foundation arm of the NATSAP organization. NATSAP will actively recommend Saving Teens to its member programs as the preferred outlet for philanthropic donations. NATSAP’s member programs will be encouraged to utilize Savings Teens as the recipient of any family or program donations or fundraising events. These donations will be tax-deductable.

“It is a great honor to work with NATSAP and be referred by them as an organization that is worthy of their trust,” said STICC Founder and President John Reuben. “This relationship will enable Saving Teens to reach many more people who understand the value of the high quality care that NATSAP member programs offer families. We hope to present an opportunity to them to contribute to Saving Teens, and its mission of making these invaluable services available to less fortunate families.”

About NATSAP’s Members
Many different types of programs have evolved over the past decade to serve the growing needs and numbers of struggling young people. NATSAP and its members have been working with their state legislatures to ensure the appropriate licensure and regulation of programs and schools that serve children and adolescents. And, effective January 1, 2009 all NATSAP members must:

• be licensed by the appropriate state agency authorized to set and oversee standards of therapeutic and/or behavioral healthcare for youth and adolescents or accredited by a nationally recognized behavioral health accreditation agency
• have therapeutic services with oversight by a qualified clinician
• aspire NATSAP Ethical Principles and NATSAP Principles of Good Practice

NATSAP’s membership is comprised of programs, both established and new, that support setting and following national standards. We at NATSAP encourage you to look over these standards: Ethical Principles and Principles of Good Practice. They can help you develop what your expectations should be regarding service delivery from any program.

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