The STAR Detective Facilitator Manual: A Cognitive Behavioral Group Intervention to Develop Skilled Thinking and Reasoning for Children with Cognitive, Behavioral, Emotional and Social Problems 9781785921681, 1785921681

Citation preview

SUSAN YOUNG

With everything you need to take part in the STAR Program, this is your very own go-to guide in learning how to be a Master Detective. To be given to any child upon joining the STAR Program, this workbook has all they need to complete each session. With games, helpful tips, activities and extra space to personalize the workbook with notes and drawings, this is the essential companion to the STAR Program.

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

How would you like to become a STAR Detective?

SUSAN YOUNG  is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Forensic Clinical Psychology at the Centre for Psychiatry, Imperial College London, and a visiting professor at Reykjavik University. Susan is also Director of Forensic Research and Development for West London Mental Health Trust.

Susan Young

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

www.jkp.com COVER: ROSAMUND BIRD

JKP

BECOMING A STAR

DETECTIVE! Your Detective’s Notebook for Finding Clues to How You Feel

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

in the same series The STAR Detective Facilitator Manual A Cognitive Behavioral Group Intervention to Develop Skilled Thinking and Reasoning for Children with Cognitive, Behavioral, Emotional and Social Problems

Professor Susan Young ISBN 978 1 78592 168 1 eISBN 978 1 78450 453 3

of related interest The Kids’ Guide to Staying Awesome and In Control Simple Stuff to Help Children Regulate Their Emotions and Senses

Lauren Brukner ISBN 978 1 84905 997 8 eISBN 978 0 85700 962 3

Starving the Anger Gremlin A Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Workbook on Anger Management for Young People

Kate Collins-Donnelly ISBN 978 1 84905 286 3 eISBN 978 0 85700 621 9

STAR DETECTIVE! BECOMING A

Your Detective’s Notebook for Finding Clues to How You Feel PROFESSOR SUSAN YOUNG

Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia

First published in 2017 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 73 Collier Street London N1 9BE, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Susan Young 2017 Front cover image source: Shutterstock®. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence issued in the UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in overseas territories by the relevant reproduction rights organization, for details see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorized act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 78592 180 3 eISBN 978 1 78450 452 6

CONTENTS New Detective Profile Group Rules Dilemmas Game

1. Pay Attention and Be a Good Detective Summary of Session 1 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 1 Coach feedback—Session 1

2. Police Detective Problem-Solving Skills Summary of Session 2 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 2 Coach feedback—Session 2

3. Scan for Anger and Control It Summary of Session 3 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 3 Coach feedback—Session 3

4. Scan for Anxiety and Control It Summary of Session 4 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 4 Coach feedback—Session 4

5. Scanning Behavior and Understanding Others Summary of Session 5 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 5 Coach feedback—Session 5

7 8 9

11 13 16 17 18

19 22 24 25 27

29 32 35 36 38

39 42 45 46 48

49 50 53 54 56

6. Analyzing Problems Summary of Session 6 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 6 Coach feedback—Session 6

7. Solving Problems Summary of Session 7 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 7 Coach feedback—Session 7

8. Use It or Lose It!

57 58 61 62 64

65 68 71 72 78

79

Summary of Session 8 STAR Detective Certificate Things to do from Session 8 Coach feedback—Session 8

81 83 84 90

Appendix: Coach resources

95

Coach Guide

99

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Pay attention and be a good Detective Police Detective problem-solving skills Scan for anger and control it Scan for anxiety and control it Scanning behavior and understanding others Analyzing problems Solving problems Use it or lose it!

101 104 107 110 113 116 119 122

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

NEW DETECTIVE PROFILE Please draw a picture or add some photographs of you and your family.

Name:

Mission: To develop skilled thinking and reasoning What do you want to be when you grow up?

What are some things you really like?

7

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Whatever you do and wherever you go in life, there are rules or agreements about behavior. This group is no different and we must stick to the rules. Here are some suggestions and you may wish to add some of your own.

GROUP RULES 1. Workbook You must bring these binders with you to each session. 2. The STOP Sign When the STOP Sign is held up you must stop doing whatever you are doing at the time and quietly return to your seats. 3. Mid-session break We will have a mid-session break every week. When I hold up the STOP Sign, you must quickly return to the group. 4. “Things to do” We want you to practice the skills you have learned in the group. It is pointless to learn skills that you do not apply in everyday life. This means doing your “Things to do” assignments. 5. Mobile phones Mobile phones must be turned off. 6. Try not to leave the room during the session Make sure you go to the bathroom before the session starts. 7. Gossiping We don’t talk about people behind their backs in these sessions. You can talk about problems you have with people but don’t name them.

8. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________

8

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

DILEMMAS GAME At the end of each session you will play the Dilemmas Game. You will split into two teams to play the game. Each session, a dilemma is read aloud to the teams. Each dilemma gives two possible options or solutions. One team must argue for one of the solutions and the second team for the other. The winner will be the team that thought up the most reasons to support their solution. You will all then vote by a show of hands for the solution you think is the best. You can record each session’s outcome on the Dilemmas Game scoring sheet below.

Team Name: ______________________________

Team Name: ______________________________

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

Session 7

Session 8

Total

9

Session 1

SAR

A

PAY ATTENTION AND BE A GOOD DETECTIVE

11

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

I HAVE DIFFICULTY CONCENTRATING WHEN I… 1. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

12

Pay Attention and Be a Good Detective

SUMMARY OF SESSION 1 This session introduced you to the STAR Intervention, which will teach you how to be a good Detective. We talked about the rules of the group and we added some to our list.

When children are not paying attention they appear very restless. Common problems include fidgeting, tapping fingers, jigging feet, changing the way they are sitting, fiddling with things, swaying from foot to foot, humming and talking too much. This behavior may make other people think you are not interested in what they say. They may think you are bored. Good Detectives need to be alert and pay attention at all times or they may miss things.

Concentration is key! Concentration problems can lead to difficulties listening to others and doing what they ask you to do. This can cause you to rush or not finish tasks, make mistakes and make snap decisions. In everyday life we have to concentrate on lots of different things and complete tasks at the same time in order to get things done. You saw how difficult this can be in the Wizz Winners Exercise! There are some times when it is harder to concentrate than others. In the session we spoke about how distractions can take our attention away from a task. One of the Facilitators then role-played a restless child so you could see how this looks to other people.

13

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Internal and external distractions Do you remember the gingerbread man wearing a hat? That was outside his body—it was “external.” His heart was inside his body—it was “internal.” There are two reasons many children are easily distracted from a task: 1. Internal distractions are things that happen inside your body, internally, that make it hard to concentrate on a task (e.g. daydreaming or thinking about lunch instead of listening to what someone is saying).

2. External distractions are things that happen outside our bodies that make it hard to concentrate on a task (e.g. you notice someone walking past the window, the TV is on, someone keeps talking to you).

14

Pay Attention and Be a Good Detective

Everyone struggles to concentrate sometimes. Detectives have a few tricks which help us focus on our work. We’ll tell you them so you can use them when you’re doing your “Things to do.”

To help you concentrate… 1. You can turn down the volume, e.g. turn off the TV, move to a room where there is less noise and/or people, close the door and switch off your mobile phone. 2. You can (politely) ask other people to be quieter if they are making a lot of noise. Explain to them that you are doing your “Things to do”! 3. Try not to do “Things to do” facing a window as you may get distracted by things going on outside. It is better to face a wall. 4. Move notice boards and pictures so you can’t see them, as they may distract you. 5. Break up tasks into smaller chunks. Give yourself short breaks after each one. 6. Give yourself short breaks even before you feel you have lost concentration. Plan your work times and break times. Ask a grown-up to help you. 7. Give yourself a reward for finishing the work. This could be anything from cookies to a game of football!

15

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 1 and has learned: 1. The rules of the group 2. How to pay better attention to improve your concentration and make less mistakes 3. To spot the tasks and situations in which you find it difficult to concentrate 4. That when we can’t concentrate we get restless and this can make it look like we aren’t interested in what other people are saying 5. That distractions can be internal or external but you can make changes (work somewhere quiet) to help you concentrate 6. That it is important to reward yourself for finishing a task and doing a good job.

16

Pay Attention and Be a Good Detective

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 1 You all have a Coach and you must meet with your Coach each week between sessions. Each week you must read and discuss the summary of the session with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. At home we want you to complete the New Detective Profile at the front of your Workbook. Write your name, things that you really like, and what you want to be when you grow up. Then make a drawing or add some photographs of you and your family. Let’s see how creative you can be! 2. Read the things you can do to help you concentrate described in your Workbook. Make a change at home (e.g. in a room where you usually do your “Things to do” or where you like to read) to make it easier for you to concentrate there. This may mean moving things that distract you out of sight, switching off the television or facing a wall rather than a window. Ask your Coach to help you do this. Next session we will ask you to tell us about what you did. 3. Draw pictures about this session in your Workbook on the session pages to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. For example, you could draw some gingerbread men showing what’s inside them (internal) and what’s outside them (external).

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session!

17

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 1 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

18

Session 2

SAR

A

POLICE DETECTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS

19

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SARA Problem-Solving Steps SCAN 1. Recognizing and spotting problems.

ANALYZE 2. Collect information to find the best solution.

RESPOND 3. Action.

ASSESS 4. Review the action. Would it have been better to do something different?

20

Police Detective Problem-Solving Skills

ROBBIE’S STORY Robbie is 11 years old. On his way home from school he buys a can of black spray paint. He walks around the block. He stops, looks to check no one is around and sprays his name on someone’s wall. A window cleaner at the top of a ladder shouts at him to stop. Robbie looks up and sees the window cleaner is his dad’s friend. The house owner has heard and comes outside to see what all the noise is about.

21

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 2 We need skills to make and keep friends and to do well in school. We need these skills to be successful and to stop us from failing. Some skills we can learn quickly, like when we played the beach ball (balloon) exercise. Other skills take longer as they need more practice. We can learn skills to deal with problems. If we don’t learn how to do this, then often the problem does not get solved. It may get worse. We taught you a great way of solving problems in the session, using the SARA Thinking Tool.

SARA is a great tool that will help us to work through problems, step by step. Police Detectives use it to help us with our job. We are good at our job because we know the skills to help us find the information we need. We put it all together, like a jigsaw puzzle, to find the answer to our problem. You are going to learn to do the same thing.

If we know we have a problem, we might be able to solve it. If we know we are about to have a problem, we may be able to avoid it. That is the first step of problem-solving.

22

Police Detective Problem-Solving Skills

SARA SARA 1. SCAN: Spotting the problem 2. ANALYZE: Collecting information and finding the best solution 3. RESPOND: Taking the best action 4. ASSESS: Deciding whether the action was the right one to take

In using the SARA Thinking Tool, we go through a set of steps that are more likely to get us what we want without getting into trouble. SARA helps us to better understand the problems we may be facing, to get the information we need, to think of some different solutions to the problem, to select the best one for the situation, then to take the best action and see how well it worked.

To practice SARA, we looked at Robbie’s problem. Robbie had been caught spraying his name on someone’s wall. We talked about the internal and external signs that Robbie had a problem. We thought up lots of possible solutions for Robbie and we decided on the best one. Can you remember which one we decided was the best and why? We then looked at some other situations and decided whether or not they were wrong or serious. Can you remember what these were? We talked about why they were serious (e.g. because people will be upset or hurt). We taught you to think carefully about your behavior before you make a decision. Who will it affect? Will anyone get hurt?

23

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 2 and has learned: 1. How to use your skills to be successful 2. How to be a good Detective 3. About the Thinking Tool SARA.

SARA 24

Police Detective Problem-Solving Skills

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 2 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the SARA Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it. 2. On the next page you will find a Problem List sheet. On this sheet, we want you to write down three problems you presently have. At least two of these problems must relate to problems you have with people. 3. We want you to write five things about each problem: ** What the problem is ** Who is involved in the problem ** When the problem happens ** Why the problem happens ** Where the problem happens. The skills you learn in this intervention will help you to work out how you can solve some of the problems on your list. You will do this later on when you have learned some of these skills. We will tell you more about this later. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session! 25

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

PROBLEM LIST: GATHERING THE EVIDENCE WHAT is the problem?

WHO is the problem with?

WHEN does it happen?

WHY does it happen?

26

WHEN does it happen?

WHERE does it happen?

WHY does it happen?

WHERE does it happen?

WHERE does it happen?

WHY does it happen?

WHEN does it happen?

WHAT is the problem?

WHO is the problem with?

WHAT is the problem?

WHO is the problem with?

Police Detective Problem-Solving Skills

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 2 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

27

Session 3

SAR

A

Self -tal k

SCAN FOR ANGER AND CONTROL IT

29

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

ANGER TRIGGERS Write down the three things which are likely to trigger your anger in the Detective’s notebook. These may or may not be the same as the ones on the flipchart.

1.

2.

3.

30

Scan for Anger and Control It

HOW ARE YOU FEELING AND WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

“________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ ________________________________________”

31

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 3: SCAN FOR ANGER AND CONTROL IT When Detectives solve a crime we have to look for clues. We do this by using Scan which is step 1 of SARA. You can also use Scan to look for clues that you or someone else is feeling angry.

You can use external and internal clues to spot if you or someone else is getting angry. Match the clue to its meaning below.

Internal clues: What is going on inside you. Your feelings, your thoughts and what is happening to your body. External clues: What is going on around you. For example, how other people are feeling or behaving.

Everyone experiences problems, and you are going to have some problems outside of this group. The feelings you have are natural— everybody has feelings when they encounter problems. These feelings can help us because they can give us energy to take action. You need them, but if they are too strong they will take over your thinking and make you behave in ways that do not solve the problem and will not be good for you. You need to be able to balance your thoughts, your feelings and your actions. If you keep your cool and use the Thinking Tools we are going to teach you, you’ll probably be able to handle most of your problems. You must control your feelings so that they do not control you. This is an important part of Step 1 of SARA (Scan). You must pay attention to your body and learn to spot the early warning signs that tell you a problem is developing.

32

Scan for Anger and Control It

You can do two things: First, you can learn to recognize what kinds of problems are likely to get you very upset so you can either avoid them or at least deal with them. Second, you can learn to recognize when your feelings are getting strong so that you can lower them or keep control of them.

SARA

Anger is something we all experience. It is a feeling we get in many different situations. We started the session by talking about a football player who had his ball stolen at the last minute. Later on we talked about the boy who won a trophy at school and had it stolen by another boy. Both of these stories helped you think about how being angry makes you feel.

One clue that Detectives look for is fingerprints. Everybody in the world has their own fingerprint which is different to everybody else’s. Just like fingerprints, we all have different anger triggers and anger signs and these might be different to other people’s. It is important that you know what your anger signs are so you can spot a problem before it happens.

Anger triggers: In the session, you wrote out your personal anger triggers—the situations and times when you are most likely to feel angry. Anger signs: There are many signals that tell us when we are getting angry. Early warning signs of anger include bodily reactions, feelings, thoughts and actions. We talked about this in the session—how we might sweat, clench our teeth and feel tense in our tummies.

33

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

It is normal to have feelings. But if we get too upset or angry, too excited or too nervous it can make it hard to solve a problem and we might get into trouble. Now that you can use Step 1 of SARA (Scan) to spot the clues that you are getting angry, we need to know what to do to stop our feelings getting too strong. The next tool we have given you is SELFTALK which will help you to control your feelings so they do not control you.

SELF-TALK is a Thinking Tool that you can use when you want to control your feelings and actions rather than letting someone else control you. It is a way of talking to yourself in order to make you feel calmer. For example, you could tell yourself to “calm down” or “keep cool” or that “getting angry won’t help.” We talked about how the boy who got his trophy stolen could use self-talk to help him stay calm. Just by what you say to yourself, you can control how you feel. You are no longer totally controlled by the situation. SELF-TALK works, but only if you practice.

Self-talk

34

Scan for Anger and Control It

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 3 and has learned:

1. How to listen to what our body is telling us 2. What makes us angry and how we can be better prepared for it 3. What happens to our body when we are angry 4. How to control and manage what happens when we feel like we are getting angry 5. How to use the SELF-TALK tool to stop ourselves getting angry.

35

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 3 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the SELF-TALK Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it. 2. Draw and color the picture on the next page of your Workbook to make the person look angry. Think about how you are going to show that the person is angry. Why is he or she angry? What is he or she doing? Write what the person is thinking in the thought bubble. Bring your picture to the next session. 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session!

36

Scan for Anger and Control It

ANGRY PERSON

We are looking for a man who has been stealing from shops. Witnesses say he looks very angry. Can you help us finish our sketch by drawing an angry expression on his face? Detectives also need to try and work out what he is thinking: what kind of thoughts might an angry person have? Write them in the thought bubble.

37

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 3 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

38

Session 4

39

S L AFE CE AP

Se lftalk

SAR

Brea thing

SCAN FOR ANXIETY AND CONTROL IT

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

HOW ARE YOU FEELING AND WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

“________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ ________________________________________”

40

41

MY SAFE PLACE

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 4: SCAN FOR ANXIETY AND CONTROL IT Anxiety triggers: In the session we talked about the situations and times you are most likely to feel anxious. Another way of describing feeling anxious is feeling worried or nervous. We talked about someone who had to give a news report to the whole school and discussed how that would make us feel. Anxiety signs: There are many signals that tell us when we are getting nervous or anxious. Early warning signs include a dry mouth, an upset tummy, sweating and shaking.

Detective work can be dangerous and we get anxious sometimes. But being too anxious can make it hard to think of solutions to a problem. It is important that we know when we are getting nervous so that we can deal with our anxiety before it gets out of control. This is why you need to know your own anxiety triggers and anxiety signs.

Controlling your anxiety If you can’t leave or avoid the situation, then you have to try to control your feelings. We talked about three ways you can make yourself feel better. In the last session we talked about and practiced the SELFTALK Thinking Tool. You can use self-talk to help you calm yourself so your feelings do not take over your thinking. For example, you could say to yourself, “Stay calm,” “I can do this” or “It will be okay.”

42

Scan for Anxiety and Control It

In this session you learned two more Thinking Tools you can use to stop yourself from getting too anxious. They also work when you are feeling angry, nervous or very excited. They are skills that will put you, not other people, in control of your feelings. They are skills that will help you to control your feelings so your feelings don’t get to control you. We talked about two new Thinking Tools that will help you do this: the SAFE PLACE Thinking Tool and the BREATHING Thinking Tool.

Detectives might not be able to walk away from a situation that is making us feel anxious so we imagine we are somewhere else to help control our feelings. During the session you drew a picture of your SAFE PLACE. When you are feeling very anxious, try imagining you are in that place. This will help you stay calm so that you can take the best action.

SAFE PL CE

43

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Another trick to help you deal with anxiety is controlling your breathing. Deep BREATHING helps you to stay in control. It is a way of telling your mind and your body to stay relaxed, to not overreact. All you have to do is follow a few steps:

Breathing Step 1

Sit quietly in a comfortable position with both feet flat on the floor and your back against the back of the chair.

Step 2

Close your eyes and make your body really tense. Imagine you are a hard plank of wood.

Step 3

Very slowly take in a deep, long breath, staying tense the whole time.

Step 4

Slowly breathe out and make your body all soft and mushy like a marshmallow.

Step 5

Just concentrate on your breathing. If other thoughts enter your head, just say to yourself, “Oh well,” and return to concentrating on your breathing.

If you practice the BREATHING Thinking Tool for a few minutes every other day, you will quickly develop the ability to calm down within a few seconds when you begin to feel you are getting anxious or your feelings are getting too strong. You can also do both the SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools together: if bad thoughts enter your head while you are breathing, just think of your Safe Place to make them go away. If they keep coming, tell them to go away by using the SELF-TALK Thinking Tool!

44

Scan for Anxiety and Control It

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 4 and has learned:

1. What makes us anxious 2. How our body changes when we are anxious 3. How to notice these changes early so that the anxiety can be taken control of 4. How to use the SELF-TALK, SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools.

45

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 4 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 2. Draw and color the picture in the Workbook to make the person look anxious. Think about how you are going to show that the person is anxious. Why is he or she anxious? What is he or she doing? Write what the person is thinking in the thought bubble. Bring your picture to the next session. 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session!

46

Scan for Anxiety and Control It

ANXIOUS PERSON

We are looking for a lady who has got lost on her way home. She will be very anxious. Can you help us finish our sketch by drawing an anxious expression on her face? Detectives also need to try and work out what she is thinking: what kind of thoughts might an anxious person have? Write them in the thought bubble.

47

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 4 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

48

Session 5

49

Brea thing

CE

Sel f-ta lk

Body Lang uage S SAR PL AFE A

SCANNING BEHAVIOR AND UNDERSTANDING OTHERS

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 5: SCANNING BEHAVIOR AND UNDERSTANDING OTHERS In the last two sessions we talked about how to Scan our own body to recognize that a problem is developing. Something else you can do is to pay attention to how other people are behaving. Detectives are especially good at noticing “body language.” We started the session with a role-play, with the Facilitator(s) playing two people having a conversation (without talking) until one of them becomes upset. Do you remember what they did? This showed you how much we can learn about a situation without anyone saying anything. This is because we can tell a lot from body language. In this session we learned the BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool. Body language is a way that people let other people know how they are thinking or feeling without saying anything. You practiced reading body language by looking at some photographs. One was of children at a party and the other was of some people at the start line of a race. We talked about how people looked and what they were thinking and feeling. What do you remember about the photographs?

You may not have realized it but we are always watching the BODY LANGUAGE of other people and guessing or deciding how they are feeling and what they are thinking. It is important to practice these skills so that you use your body language correctly. If we don’t use the right body language, people might get the wrong message and not understand how we are feeling.

Body Language

50

Scanning Behavior and Understanding Others

Facial expressions In this session we also looked at some photos of a boy called Thomas. You could only see his face. You saw him looking happy, surprised, anxious, angry, disgusted and sad. We then practiced using our body language and reading other people’s body language in the Situation Game. You had to read a situation to yourself and act out the emotion. The others had to guess how you were feeling. Can you remember which situation you did? We noticed that sometimes small things, like what you do with your mouth or arms, can make a difference to how people think you are feeling.

Looking at someone’s face will give us important clues about how they are feeling. We talked about the different parts of the face, e.g. their eyes or mouth, or how they hold their head. It is not always easy because different people show the same feelings in different ways. If you really want to know how someone is feeling, you need to ask them.

We practiced reading facial expressions in the session with a role-play, when one child had to find out why the other child was upset and try to make them feel better. Can you remember what happened in the role-play? How did it work out?

51

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Peer pressure

Sometimes people will ignore what you say or do and will try to persuade you to do something different. When this happens you must be very clear in what you say and be aware of your body language. You must learn to say “no” clearly and firmly but without being nasty or rude. It is very important that you do not become aggressive.

People might think you are being aggressive if you shout, stand too close to them or wave your arms about. If people think you are being aggressive they might be aggressive back and a problem will develop. When you don’t want to do something you should use assertive body language. We practiced using assertive BODY LANGUAGE such as standing up straight and maintaining eye contact with another roleplay, when one child had to explain why they did not want to smoke cigarettes without getting angry or aggressive.

52

Scanning Behavior and Understanding Others

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 5 and has learned: 1. That feelings and thoughts are communicated by body language, facial expressions and tone of voice 2. The BODY LANGUAGE tool which teaches you to use and read body language correctly 3. This includes looking at how a person stands and sits, and what they are doing with their hands and body 4. These skills need to be practiced 5. We cannot guess how people feel. You need to watch them carefully or ask them how they feel 6. To use the BODY LANGUAGE tool to show others how we feel.

53

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 5 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it. 2. When you meet with your Coach, watch a TV program with the sound turned down. On the next page of your Workbook, write down the names of some of the actors in the program (if you don’t know their names, just describe them, e.g. blonde lady, little boy). ** Write what you think they are feeling and why you think they are feeling that way (e.g. what the person is doing that makes you think that they feel happy, sad, angry, bored, etc.). ** Discuss it with your Coach. Do this with at least three actors. Pay attention to the clues (e.g. how the person is standing or sitting, their face and what they are doing with their hands and body). 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session! 54

Scanning Behavior and Understanding Others

BODY LANGUAGE INDICATORS

Name or description of actor

How are they feeling?

Why do you think this?

1.

2.

3.

55

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 5 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

56

Brea thing

57

Tru st

elftalk

S SAR PL AFE A CE S

Who? What? When? Where Why? ?

Session 6

ANALYZING PROBLEMS

e uag ang L y Bod

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 6: ANALYZING PROBLEMS Can you remember what you learned in Session 2? That you cannot solve a problem if you don’t know you have one. That’s why it is important to Scan the situation and recognize problems. If you notice a problem is heading your way, you may be able to stop it from happening or get out of the situation. If you cannot avoid it you will at least be able to get yourself prepared to handle it.

You have learned that in order to see you have a problem you must pay attention to your feelings and thoughts and how your body is reacting. We have also talked about paying attention to other people’s BODY LANGUAGE so we can get an idea of what they are thinking and how they are feeling.

Analyze the problem The next step in successful problem-solving is to collect information to find the best solution. This is step 2 of SARA: Analyze.

If we want to solve problems well, we must be sure we have all the information we need. Detectives need to know more about a problem before we can solve it. We use three skills to do this…

SARA 1. SCAN 2. ANALYZE 3. RESPOND 4. ASSESS

58

1. Pay attention to details. 2. Ask the right questions. 3. Weigh up all the information. This means deciding what is helpful information and what is not so helpful.

Analyzing Problems

We must pay attention to details to get information. You saw this when you had to look at a picture of a girl with a rabbit and remember all the details. How well did you do? We learned that without looking very carefully you miss information. In this session we also learned how important it is to pay attention to details in the competition you did in the session. You had to follow a list of instructions. How well did you do? If you didn’t do very well, why not? It is very important that we ask the right questions in order to gather the information we need. The 5Ws Thinking Tool reminds us what questions we need to ask.

WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE?

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

WHY?

We practiced using the 5Ws tool by solving some puzzles, like “She drew them but didn’t need pens or paper.” See if your Coach knows the answers! We can use the TRUST Thinking Tool to remind us to think about where our information came from. If you see or hear something for yourself it is direct information. You can usually trust this more than indirect information such as gossip or rumors. You played the Telephone Game during the session, which shows how much information can change when it is passed between lots of people. What was the funniest one?

59

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Trust

Even if we do ask the right questions, we might not always be able to rely on the information we get. We need to make sure it came from the right source!

Facts or opinions Not everyone shares the same view. Things can be seen differently as people have different opinions. We saw this with the example of the picture. Some children thought it was a vase and others thought it was two people facing each other. By talking about it we saw that it could be either. The trouble is, opinions and feelings can sometimes get mixed up and this can cause arguments. For example, we talked about the opinion that “boys are more clever than girls.”

When deciding whether information is a true fact or whether it is only an opinion, Detectives look for evidence. Facts have a lot of evidence to back them up. You know for certain that something is true. Opinions do not have a lot of evidence to back them up. You believe something is true, but it may not be.

In the photograph of the girl with the rabbit, you might have guessed about information. For example, you might have guessed that it was a birthday party, but from the photograph you didn’t know this. It wasn’t a fact. It was what you guessed—it was your opinion.

60

Analyzing Problems

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 6 and has learned:

1. To pay attention to detail, to ask the right questions and weigh up what information to trust 2. To use the 5Ws Thinking Tool 3. To use the TRUST Thinking Tool and judge whether information is direct or indirect 4. That people have different views and opinions, and that is okay 5. That information can be changed when it is passed from one person to another. This is how rumours start.

61

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 6 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the 5Ws and TRUST Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 2. On the next page of your Workbook there is a sheet called “TRUST” which you must fill in. We want you to think of a famous person and do the following: ** List five things that you have heard or seen about that person in the first column. ** In the second column say where you got the information from. ** In the third column rate how much you trust this information. You have four choices: –– Not at all –– A little bit –– Quite a lot –– Very much ** In the fourth column say why you have chosen the rating. 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session!

62

63

List 5 things you have heard about them

Where from?

How much do you trust it?

Why do you think this?

TRUST The famous person is .......................................

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 6 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

64

65 Bre ath ing

S PL AFE CE

Plus

Me

Stop and

Sel f-t alk

A

SAR

Wh Wh o? Wh at? Wh en? Whyere? ?

You Think

Tru st

Minu s

&

Brainstorm

Session 7

SOLVING PROBLEMS

e ag gu an L dy Bo

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Danny has recently become friends with some older boys at school. He met them through his local football team. Since they became friends, he has stopped going out with the boys in his class. He spends most of his free time with his new friends. One day, Danny and his new friends are walking home from school when Bobby dares him to play “chicken” and run in front of the cars without getting hit. Bobby is the leader of the group and all the boys look up to him. The other boys back Bobby up and call out for Danny to play the game. Danny knows he could be hurt. All the boys start to chant “chicken, chicken.”

DANNY’S PROBLEM

66

Solving Problems

DANNY’S PROBLEM: BRAINSTORMING SOLUTIONS

67

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 7: SOLVING PROBLEMS Remember we told you that SARA is the problem-solving technique Detectives use to solve crimes? We have taught you how to Scan your own body to spot when a problem is developing and how to use body language to help you do this. We have also taught you how to start to Analyze a problem, using the 5Ws to ask the right questions and TRUST to know what information to use. In this session we talked about Danny’s problem. Danny had made friends with some older boys at school. The leader of the group dared him to play “chicken” by running in front of cars.

The most common mistake in trying to solve a problem is rushing to get the problem solved, without taking time to think of the best way to solve it. When you rush you may get things wrong. You may even make the problem worse. You have to learn to slow down. It’s not always easy to do, especially if you are used to doing things in a hurry. You have to break your old habit. When you rush you usually end up wasting time because you didn’t solve the problem—because you didn’t take enough time to come up with the right solution.

Do not make the mistake of thinking there is nothing you can do about a problem. Unsolved problems are like old police reports. If you don’t sort through them then they all build up and everything gets messy. So in the session we used some more Thinking Tools to help you to Analyze a problem. These helped you to find solutions and decide on the best one.

68

Solving Problems

We used the STOP and THINK Thinking Tool to remind you that you must slow down and take your time if you want to be successful. We will learn more about the STOP and THINK Thinking Tool in Session 8. Sometimes you must act quickly. Most of the time you do not need to act quickly. Most of the time you actually have some time to THINK.

Stop and Think By slowing down, you give yourself time to think up lots of ways to solve a problem. This means you have choices. If you have thought of only one solution and it doesn’t work, you end up losing because you have no other solution. That’s where the BRAINSTORM Thinking Tool comes in handy.

Can you remember any of the solutions we came up with for Danny’s problem? Some were better than others, but that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we took the time to think up lots of possible solutions rather than just one.

Brainstorm Once you have thought up lots of solutions, the next thing you need to do is to decide which are the good ones. The PLUS/MINUS tool will help you do this. It will help you consider the solution carefully and from all sides. During the session we did a PLUS/MINUS on one of the solutions we chose for Danny to help us to decide which was the best one.

69

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

PLUS: The good things about an idea. Why you like it.

Plus

Minus

MINUS: The bad things about an idea. Why you do not like it.

Before deciding what is the best solution, you need to think about the consequences of each solution. What is a consequence? It is what happens after we do something or say something. It is the reaction to what we say or do. It is not just what happens to us after we say or do something, but it is also what happens to other people. The ME and YOU Thinking Tool will remind you to think about this.

ME: Reminds you to think about the consequences for yourself.

Me

&

You

YOU: Reminds you to think about the consequences for other people.

Some consequences are bad for you. They do not get you what you want and you don’t like what happens. We talked about Danny’s problem, and how playing “chicken” could affect his friends and family. There may also be consequences for others, such as the drivers of the cars on the road. If Danny played “chicken” he would be taking a big risk. It’s a dangerous game to play and the consequences are not worth the risk.

70

Solving Problems

ective Certificate t e D R A T S

_________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 7 and has learned: 1. That taking risks can be exciting but also very dangerous 2. How to use the BODY LANGUAGE tool to spot that Danny had a problem 3. To use the STOP and THINK tool to give ourselves time to think 4. To BRAINSTORM and think of ways to solve a problem 5. How to use the ME and YOU Thinking Tool. This tool reminds us to remember that our actions affect other people too 6. To RESPOND (SARA) to a problem by choosing the best way to solve it.

71

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 7 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. Describe the STOP and THINK, BRAINSTORM, PLUS/ MINUS, ME and YOU, and SARA Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 2. Look back at the problem you worked on in Session 2. Using the exercise sheet “Problem-Solving: Brainstorm Solutions,” write down three solutions (BRAINSTORM) to the problem in the thought bubbles. Next, choose three good solutions and do a PLUS/MINUS and a ME and YOU on each one on the following three pages. Then choose the best solution and on the following page say why you think it is the best. 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Don’t forget your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils for the next session! 72

Solving Problems

PROBLEM-SOLVING: BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS My problem is:

1.

2.

3.

73

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Solution 1:

PLUS

MINUS

ME

YOU

74

Solving Problems

Solution 2:

PLUS

MINUS

ME

YOU

75

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Solution 3:

PLUS

MINUS

ME

YOU

76

Solving Problems

The best solution is number This is because…

77

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 7 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

78

Bre ath ing

Me

Min us

S PL AFE CE Plus

79

& You

Sto Thip and nk

Brain stor m

A

SAR

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Sel f-t alk

Trust

Session 8

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

ge ua g n La dy o B

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

SAM’S PROBLEM Sam is ten years old. His dad got a new job in another county and they had to move. Sam had to start at a new school where everyone already knew each other. He is unhappy at the school and misses his old friends. He wants to fit in but doesn’t, and he’s being bullied by the children in his class because of his out-of-region accent. One day, a boy corners Sam in a corridor and challenges him to a fight. He tells him to meet him in the playground after school. There is a rumor that this boy carries a knife but no one has ever seen it. The rest of the class plan to go to the playground after school to watch the fight.

80

Use It or Lose It!

SUMMARY OF SESSION 8: USE IT OR LOSE IT Most of the time our problems have something to do with other people. During the session we talked about Sam who had moved school, and was being bullied because of his out-of-region accent. He’d been challenged to a fight. We talked about how Sam could find a good solution to the problem by using the Thinking Tools we have learned during the STAR Intervention. We talked about how the tools can help Sam to calm down, decide what to do and carry it through. Can you remember the choices Sam had? What did he decide was the best? We decided to use the tools in order. The first tool will always be SARA.



A SAR and Stophink T

Scan:

How do you know there is a problem?



BODY LANGUAGE

Body Lang uage

Analyze: Collect information to find the best solution.

t Trus

SARA

Who Wha ? Whe t? Whern? Why? e?

STOP AND THINK

5Ws TRUST

Brain storm

BRAINSTORM

Plus

Minus

thing Brea

PLUS/MINUS

ME and YOU

Respond: Act out the best solution BREATHING

Me

&

You

SELF-TALK

E SAFC E PL



SAFE PLACE

Assess: Was the solution successful?

Self -talk

81

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

82

Bre ath ing

& Me

Min us

Sto Thip and nk

You

Brain stor m

Sel f-t alk lus

SAR S A PL AFE C E P

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Trust

You now have all the tools that Detectives use to solve a problem. If you use them when you have a problem, you will stop yourself from making quick decisions without thinking (and perhaps making the situation worse). It is important to practice using the Thinking Tools or you will forget them!

ge ua ng a L dy Bo

Use It or Lose It!

ective Certificate t e D R A T S _________________________________________________________ has successfully completed Session 8 and has learned: 1. How we can use SARA to help us solve problems 2. To use all of the Thinking Tools: ** BODY LANGUAGE to warn us a problem is developing ** STOP and THINK to give us time and prevent us from making rash decisions ** 5Ws to remind us to ask questions and gather information ** TRUST to consider what people tell us ** BRAINSTORM different solutions ** PLUS/MINUS to think of the good and bad things about the solutions ** ME and YOU to think of the consequences for us and consequences for others ** BREATHING, SELF-TALK and SAFE PLACE to control emotions 3. How to get what you want without hurting or upsetting someone. To reflect on what we did and if it helped the problem or just made it worse.

83

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

THINGS TO DO FROM SESSION 8 Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s Session Summary with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.”

1. We want you to take a trip on a Time Machine. You will find a Time Machine in your Workbook. You can add to this and color it in. Turn it into a picture. Write down some times when you have acted on an impulse or when you have seen someone else acting impulsively. Write them on the legs of the Time Machine in your Workbook. If you traveled back in time, what could be done differently to change what happened? 2. In Session 2 you listed three problems on the Problem List sheet in your Workbook. You have since worked on one of these problems and found a solution. Now look at the other two problems and find the best solution by using the Thinking Tools. There are some pages in your Workbook for you to do this. 3. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

84

Use It or Lose It!

TIME MACHINE

85

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Problem:

5Ws:

Trust:

Brainstorm:

86

87

SOLUTION 5

SOLUTION 4

SOLUTION 3

SOLUTION 2

SOLUTION 1

PLUS

MINUS

ME

YOU

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Problem:

5Ws:

Trust:

Brainstorm:

88

89

SOLUTION 5

SOLUTION 4

SOLUTION 3

SOLUTION 2

SOLUTION 1

PLUS

MINUS

ME

YOU

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

COACH FEEDBACK—SESSION 8 Date:__________________________________________________________________ Name of Coach:_______________________________________________________ What were the child’s achievements in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ What were the child’s difficulties in this session? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Score: _____ /5 Any other comments:

90

Use It or Lose It!

Congratulations! You have completed your training and are now a STAR Detective! Add your name to the Detective Shield below…

STAR Detective .............................

You were fantastic at:

Signed: .............................................. Date: .........................

91

APPENDIX

93

Appendix

COACH RESOURCES Coach Training In order to support Coaches in their role, it is highly recommended that Facilitators run three Coach Training sessions: one before the group begins, a midway meeting after the fourth session and a final feedback session at the end. Coach Training is helpful for several reasons: 1. To gain general information about the intervention—the training should provide general information about the STAR Intervention content and style of delivery. Coaches will be introduced to the STAR Workbook, which includes a section providing resources for the Coach and a Coach Guide. Additional STAR materials such as the Thinking Tools can be downloaded from the JKP website. The Coach role should also be discussed to ensure Coaches fully understand their role and contribution in supporting the child to rehearse and transfer skills into their daily routine. 2. To gain advice and behavioral management techniques—the training should outline behavioral management techniques to assist Coaches in their dealings with the child on a daily basis. They will mostly include methods to deal with hyperactive and challenging behavior, and methods of contingency management (mostly elaborating on reward systems). Behavioral management strategies enable Coaches to provide children with clear rules and consistency, as well as providing positive and immediate feedback for good behavior. Coaches will also learn not to ignore bad behavior or resort to physical punishment. Useful psychoeducational materials for parents, carers, teachers and children can be downloaded from www. psychology-services.uk.com/resources.htm. 3. To gain specific information about the sessions—in the first two training sessions, Coaches should be provided with specific information about the upcoming sessions, the topics they will cover (e.g. peer pressure and bullying), and the skills they will teach, such as brainstorming solutions and reading body language. The final training session provides an opportunity to discuss the Coach’s experience of the intervention, provide feedback and share experiences. 4. To develop a collaborative relationship between Facilitators and Coaches—Coach Training sessions are intended to be a two-way

95

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

process between Facilitators and Coaches. The meetings are an opportunity to share information about specific children’s needs and effective management strategies. 5. To establish peer support between the Coaches—peer support is a key aspect that will contribute to the success of the intervention. It is hoped that the Coach Training sessions will encourage a supportive network between Coaches so they may share ideas, successful strategies and techniques. We suggest that the Coach Training sessions are arranged using the following format:

Coach Training Session 1 During the first Coach Training session, Facilitators should provide a general introduction and overview of the STAR Intervention Manual with specific focus on group sessions 1–4. The aims and objectives of the intervention should be introduced, and STAR materials (such as the Workbook and Thinking Tools) described. It is important that Facilitators emphasize the importance of Coaches becoming familiar with the STAR materials as they will be using them regularly in their meetings with the child. Facilitators should introduce the Coach to Sessions 1–4 in turn. They should detail what will be taught in each session and how. Some aspects of the session should be demonstrated. We then suggest that Facilitators role-play a Coach Session, in order to familiarize and model the Coach role (with the Facilitator playing the Coach and the other the child). To do this, they will use the Coach Guide to help them structure the “Session” role-play. Next, the Coaches should do this in pairs in order to practice the role. Facilitators should observe and provide individual feedback. This process is then repeated for the rest of the sessions.

Coach Training Session 2 The second Coach Training session should commence with a discussion about the challenges and difficulties that Coaches experienced with fulfilling their role (from both a content and/or process perspective), and what strategies and techniques they used to resolve these problems. Any breakthroughs and improvements that they experienced, and how these were achieved, should also be discussed. Facilitators

96

Appendix

should encourage Coaches to share their experiences so that they might learn from one another. Next, Facilitators describe Sessions 5–8 in detail and prepare them for their role as described above; first by modeling the Coaching role process and then by observing the Coaches rehearse this in pairs and providing feedback. The process should be repeated for each session.

Coach Training Session 3 The final Coach Training session should commence with a discussion about the challenges and difficulties that Coaches experienced with fulfilling their role (from both a content and/or process perspective), and what strategies and techniques they used to resolve these problems. Any breakthroughs and improvements that they experienced, and how these were achieved, should also be discussed. Facilitators should encourage Coaches to share their experiences so that they might learn from one another. Facilitators should review the success of the STAR Intervention with Coaches, discussing what they have learned and achieved, and what they feel the child has learned and achieved from the intervention. Coaches should discuss how they will continue to take the skills learned from the STAR Intervention beyond the group.

97

COACH GUIDE

99

Coach Session 1

PAY ATTENTION AND BE A GOOD DETECTIVE The first session begins by introducing methods to improve attentional control. This is an important skill that will foster engagement and adherence in the intervention, prepare the children to engage  more meaningfully with the rest of the curriculum and increase the likelihood that they will benefit from it. In this session, the children talk about the times they have experienced difficulty concentrating and how this affects their behavior (e.g. restlessness). They role-play with the Facilitators how other people may view this behavior. They are then asked to complete an exercise that involves the need to follow a series of listed instructions to accurately complete a task. Just as they commence the task, the Facilitators “accidentally” knock over pens, papers and/or books from a table. Making a lot of noise, the Facilitators pick everything up from the floor and put them back on the table. The aim is to distract the children away from the task at hand and this illustrates that when they are distracted for some reason they may have difficulty settling back to a task. Next, the children are introduced to the concepts of “internal” and “external” distraction and think about how they may be distracted by their own thoughts (e.g. daydreaming) or by other people and/or events. They talk about strategies they can use to prevent themselves from becoming distracted (e.g. turn down the volume, take short breaks, plan a reward for finishing the task).

“Things to do” At the end of the session, the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 1. You all have a Coach and you must meet with your Coach each week between sessions. Each week you must read and discuss 101

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

the summary of the session with your Coach. If you played the Dilemmas Game, tell the Coach about the dilemma. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. At home we want you to complete the New Detective Profile at the front of your Workbook. Write your name, things that you really like, and what you want to be when you grow up. Then make a drawing or add some photographs of you and your family. Let’s see how creative you can be! 3. Read the things you can do to help you concentrate described in your Workbook. Make a change at home (e.g. in a room where you usually do your “Things to do” or where you like to read) to make it easier for you to concentrate there. This may mean moving things that distract you out of sight, switching off the television or facing a wall rather than a window. Ask your Coach to help you do this. Next session we will ask you to tell us about what you did. 4. Draw pictures about this session in your Workbook on the session pages to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. For example, you could draw some gingerbread men showing what’s inside them (internal) and what’s outside them (external). 5. Please remember to bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Help the child to identify situations in which they find it difficult to concentrate and why. ** Have a discussion with the child about how they can concentrate better and get tasks finished (e.g. eliminate background noise, don’t work facing a window, turn off the TV, take a short break, give themselves a reward for finishing, etc.).

102

Coach Guide

** Out of the suggestions you have thought up together, discuss with the child what they think will work best for them and try it out. Follow this up later and ask the child how this has helped in the week. ** Ask the child whether these strategies have helped them in any way, e.g. have they accomplished more in a shorter period of time? Has the quality of their work improved? How do they feel about any improvement or achievement? Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

103

Coach Session 2

POLICE DETECTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS In this session, the children are introduced to the first and most important Thinking Tool, SARA. SARA cues the children to engage in a problem-solving process that involves them Scanning the environment to recognize there is a problem; Analyzing the problem by defining it, collecting information and brainstorming different solutions; Responding to the problem by choosing the best action to take and implementing it; and, finally, Assessing the results of the selected action. This process is applied in the session to the problem of an 11-year-old boy, Robbie, who has been caught in an act of vandalism when spraying his name on someone’s fence. At the end of the session the children are taught that if they are to learn from their mistakes they must assess their actions to figure out what they did wrong and why. This is then discussed with respect to Robbie’s situation, and then applied to other situations involving vandalism, theft and aggression.

SARA Problem-solving steps SCAN

1. Recognizing and spotting problems

ANALYZE

2. Collect information to find the best solution

RESPOND 3. Action ASSESS

4. Review the action. Would it have been better to do something different?

104

Coach Guide

“Things to do” At the end of the session the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. Describe the SARA Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it. 3. In your Workbook you will find a “Problem List” sheet. On this sheet we want you to write down three problems you presently have. At least two of these problems must relate to problems you have with people. We want you to write five things about each problem: ** Who you are having the problem with ** What the problem is ** When it happens ** Where it happens ** Why it happens (if you know). The skills you learn in this intervention will help you to work out how you can solve some of the problems on your list. You will do this later on when you have learned some of these skills. We will tell you more about that later. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please remember to bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

105

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Ask the child to describe the SARA Thinking Tool to you and show you the action that relates to it. What does it remind them to do? ** Talk to the child about occasions when they have used any of the SARA steps in the past. How did it help? ** Talk to the child about how they could practice using the SARA Tool in the future. How can they remember the steps? ** Later in the week, ask the child whether they have had the opportunity to use the SARA Thinking Tool. Discuss what was helpful or unhelpful and why. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

106

Coach Session 3

SCAN FOR ANGER AND CONTROL IT The focus of this session is to learn strategies to control feelings of anger and frustration. The session starts with a sports analogy that leaves a football player feeling angry. The children then discuss their own anger triggers. The “problem” is demonstrated to the children by asking them to complete an exercise when they imagine an angerprovoking situation and write down the first thoughts that come into their head. They discuss how they can recognize that their anger is building up inside them by paying attention to body “clues” (e.g. feeling hot, knot in stomach, heart thumping, tension in body). They also discuss how they can recognize that another person is angry by paying attention to their body language and how they behave. They role-play a situation in which they are with a friend who is angry. Their task is to calm their friend down. They also think about strategies that they can apply to calm themselves down when they feel angry. A new Thinking Tool—SELF-TALK—is introduced and the children discuss what they can say to themselves to calm themselves down and regain control.

“Things to do” At the end of the session, the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. Describe the SELF-TALK Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it.

107

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

3. Draw and color the picture in your Workbook to make the person look angry. Think about how you are going to show that the person is angry. Why is he or she angry? What is he or she doing? Write what the person is thinking in the thought bubble. Bring your picture to the next session. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please remember to bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Ask the child to think of the situations and times when they expressed anger in the past. Discuss with them the possible “anger triggers” of those times. ** Talk to the child about what “early warning signs” they experienced on these occasions (such as increased heart rate, tension, sweaty palms, dry mouth, wanting to hit out, etc.). Encourage them to think about whether some of these signs occurred more often than others in certain situations. Discuss how some “early warning signs” may be better indicators of when they are feeling angry than others. Encourage them to look out for these in the future. ** Ask the child to describe the SELF-TALK Thinking Tool to you and show you the action that relates to it. What does it remind them to do? ** Discuss the SELF-TALK Thinking Tool and how they could use it to calm themselves down. Draw up a list of “sayings” they could use. Encourage them to use self-talk on any occasion when they become angry during the week, and check later in the week if they have and if they were helpful. ** If situations arise in the week when the child feels angry or frustrated, draw on them!

108

Coach Guide

** Prompt the child to use the Thinking Tools in between sessions (e.g. cue them to use the Tools by demonstrating the action). ** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

109

Coach Session 4

SCAN FOR ANXIETY AND CONTROL IT This session starts by demonstrating the “problem” with an exercise that requires the children to imagine a situation that will induce performance anxiety and/or social anxiety. They imagine they have to give a presentation in front of the whole of the school, their teachers and some outside visitors. They write down how they are feeling. As in the previous session about anger, the children discuss what makes them feel anxious and how they can recognize anxiety by paying attention to body clues. They talk about how the SELF-TALK Tool can be used to calm themselves down. They are then introduced to two further Thinking Tools. First is the SAFE PLACE when they imagine they are in a familiar place where they feel content and happy. The children draw and color their safe place in the session. Second, they learn about the BREATHING Thinking Tool, which is an adapted version of a progressive muscle relaxation technique. The children practice the BREATHING Thinking Tool during the session, which involves them learning to monitor their breathing while tensing their body and then relaxing it down again.

“Things to do” At the end of the session, the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. Describe the SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 110

Coach Guide

3. Draw and color the picture in the Workbook to make the person look anxious. Think about how you are going to show that the person is anxious. Why is he or she anxious? What is he or she doing? Write what the person is thinking in the thought bubble. Bring your picture to the next session. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Ask the child to think about the situations and times that they feel anxious. Discuss with them the possible anxiety triggers of these times. ** Talk to the child about what “early warning signs” they experienced on these occasions. Ask them whether some of these signs occurred more often than others in certain situations. Discuss how some “early warning signs” may be better indicators of when they are feeling anxious than others. Encourage them to look out for these in the future. ** Ask the child to describe the SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools to you and show you the actions that relate to them. What do they remind them to do? ** Discuss with the child which coping strategies they can adopt when feeling emotional (e.g. anxious or angry). Encourage the child to practice using the SELF-TALK, SAFE PLACE and BREATHING Thinking Tools. Discuss with the child later in the week which strategy they discovered worked best to calm them. ** If situations arise in the week when the child feels emotional, draw on them! ** Prompt the child to use the Thinking Tools in between sessions (e.g. cue them to use the Tools by demonstrating the action). 111

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

112

Coach Session 5

SCANNING BEHAVIOR AND UNDERSTANDING OTHERS The session starts with the Facilitators demonstrating in a role-play that you can tell how people may be feeling from their body language. They are introduced to the BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool and practice reading body language by looking at photographs and discussing what they think the people are thinking and feeling. The children then consider facial expressions by comparing the expressions of a boy who is feeling happy, surprised, anxious, angry, disgusted and sad. They learn that it is not always easy and straightforward to determine another person’s feelings and they roleplay what to do if they are uncertain (e.g. by asking how a person is feeling and responding appropriately to the response). These interactions are observed by the group who comment on what was effective and why. The children then rehearse this further in an exercise that requires them to select a “Situation Card” and respond non-verbally to the situation (e.g. “You’ve been given a plate of snails and your mum says you have to eat them!”). The rest of the group guess the emotion. Next, the children discuss what they can say or do if someone is trying to persuade—or pressure—them to do something they don’t really want to do. This is then role-played by the children in a scenario that involves declining peer pressure to smoke cigarettes. The interaction is observed by the rest of the group who comment on what was effective and why.

“Things to do” At the end of the session the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following:

113

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. Describe the BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool to your Coach (i.e. what it is and what it reminds you to do). Show your Coach the action that relates to it. 3. When you meet with your Coach, watch a TV program with the sound turned down. In your Workbook, write down the names of some of the actors in the program (if you don’t know their names, just describe them, e.g. blonde lady, little boy). Write what you think they are feeling and why you think they are feeling that way (e.g. what the person is doing that makes you think that they feel happy, sad, angry, bored, etc.). Discuss it with your Coach. Do this with at least three actors. Pay attention to the clues, e.g. how the person is standing or sitting, their face and what they are doing with their hands and body. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Discuss with the child how posture, gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice convey to others what we are thinking and feeling. ** Ask the child to describe the BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool to you and show you the action that relates to it. What does it remind them to do? ** Conduct small role-plays with the child to see if you can “guess” the feelings that are being expressed. ** Discuss how others are feeling by observing their non-verbal behavior. 114

Coach Guide

** Look at magazines and newspapers and discuss photos of others. Ask the child to interpret what they think the people are thinking or feeling. ** Talk about peer pressure. Ask the child to think about an occasion when they have felt pressured to do something they didn’t really want to do. Ask the child how they dealt with it and what they would do now that they have more skills. ** Prompt the child to use the Thinking Tools in between sessions (e.g. cue them to use the Tools by demonstrating the action). ** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

115

Coach Session 6

ANALYZING PROBLEMS This session starts with a demonstration that if you do not pay attention to detail you will miss important information and/or make mistakes. The first exercise requires the children to look at a photograph of a girl with a rabbit. This is then removed and they are asked to recall all the details in the photograph. They then look at the photograph again and note what they have missed. Next they are asked to solve some puzzles, but in order to do this successfully they need to get more information by asking questions to facilitate the process. They are introduced to the 5Ws Thinking Tool (Who? What? When? Where? and Why?), which prompts them to ask the right questions. In the second half of the session, the children are introduced to a new Thinking Tool, TRUST. This cues the children to think about the reliability of information and to consider whether the information was obtained directly from a person as this is more likely to be reliable than hearsay. When information is passed between too many people it may become distorted and inaccurate. This is demonstrated in the Telephone Game exercise, when a whispered message is passed between each child. The message is usually very different by the time the last child receives it! The children are finally directed to consider whether some people are better sources of information than others, e.g. an adult may be a more reliable source than a young child. Additionally, people have different perspectives and opinions and it can be helpful to learn about different views. However, the children are taught to distinguish opinions and assumptions from facts by looking for evidence to support them. This is practiced as a group by discussing statements such as “Boys are more clever than girls!”

“Things to do” At the end of the session, the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 116

Coach Guide

1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. Describe the 5Ws and TRUST Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 3. In your Workbooks there is a sheet called “Trust” which you must fill in. We want you to think of a famous person and do the following: ** List five things that you have heard or seen about that person in the first column. ** In the second column say where you got the information from. ** In the third column rate how much you trust this information. You have four choices: –– Not at all –– A little bit –– Quite a lot –– Very much ** In the fourth column say why you have chosen the rating. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please remember to bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Ask the child to describe the 5Ws and TRUST Thinking Tools to you and show you the actions that relate to them. What do they remind them to do? 117

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

** Encourage the child to find out information by asking the right questions. Discuss how they can remember to use the 5Ws Thinking Tool. ** Discuss with the child how they can use the TRUST Thinking Tool to help them think about what information is reliable. Ask them to think of times when they believed or relied upon information that they shouldn’t have, and whether it came from an indirect source. ** Talk to the child about ways to identify reliable information, and how to know when something is just an opinion or hearsay. ** Prompt the child to use the Thinking Tools in between sessions (e.g. cue them to use the Tools by demonstrating the action). ** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

118

Coach Session 7

SOLVING PROBLEMS In this session, the children are introduced to problem-solving strategies that they learn to apply in an exercise involving a child, Danny, who is experiencing peer pressure to engage in reckless and dangerous behavior (playing “chicken” by running in front of cars). The children are taught that they need to fully understand the problem by first considering all the important facts. The BODY LANGUAGE Thinking Tool can help them to understand the problem better. They then use a new Thinking Tool, STOP and THINK, to allow themselves time to think up solution options, the latter being cued by the BRAINSTORM Thinking Tool. The children consider the merit of the solutions by considering the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, and this process is cued by the PLUS/MINUS Thinking Tool. The children are introduced to and rehearse a consequential thinking process which is prompted by the ME and YOU Thinking Tool (prompting them to think of the consequences for themselves and for others). The third step in SARA is “Respond” and this is introduced through a role-play of Danny acting out the chosen solution and explaining why he won’t play “chicken.” There follows a discussion about how other children observed the interaction and what conclusions they draw from it (e.g. who gains the most respect, who is most courageous or sensible, etc.).

“Things to do” At the end of the session, the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following: 1. Meet with your Coach before the next session. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 119

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

2. Describe the STOP and THINK, BRAINSTORM, PLUS/MINUS, ME and YOU and the SARA Thinking Tools to your Coach (i.e. what they are and what they remind you to do). Show your Coach the actions that relate to them. 3. For your “Things to do” this week, we want you to look back at the problem you worked on in Session 2. Write down seven solutions (BRAINSTORM) to the problem in the thought bubbles. There is a page in the Workbook this week to do this. Next, choose three good solutions and do a PLUS/MINUS and a ME and YOU on each one. Then choose the best solution and say why you think it is the best. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in. 5. Please remember to bring your Workbook and a pencil case containing pens and colored pencils to each session.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Ask the child to describe the STOP and THINK, BRAINSTORM, PLUS/MINUS, ME and YOU and the SARA Thinking Tools to you and show you the actions that relate to them. What do they remind them to do? ** Discuss with the child some problems they have faced in the past. Practice brainstorming lots of different solutions. Discuss the possible consequences of each solution using the ME and YOU Tool. ** Discuss how the outcome may have been different if they had used these Tools before and not acted without thinking. ** If you observe the child rushing into a situation without taking the time to brainstorm solutions and think about the consequences, urge them to slow down and take their time to think of a good solution.

120

Coach Guide

** Encourage the child to think about the consequences of their own actions and those of others in their daily lives. ** Prompt the child to use the Thinking Tools in between sessions (e.g. cue them to use the Tools by demonstrating the action). ** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

121

Coach Session 8

USE IT OR LOSE IT! In this last session, all of the Thinking Tools are used to resolve the problem of Sam, who has moved school and is being bullied because of his out-of-state accent. One boy challenges him to a fight and there is a rumor that he carries a knife. Thus the session introduces the important topic of bullying and knife violence in school-age children. All 11 Thinking Tools are distributed and the children determine in what order they use them to resolve the problem. The children start with SARA which cues them to Scan (using BODY LANGUAGE to talk about their own body response and the behavior of stress), Analyze (using STOP and THINK, 5Ws, TRUST, BRAINSTORM, PLUS/MINUS, ME and YOU), Respond (using BREATHING, SELFTALK and SAFE PLACE), and finally to Assess and evaluate success. By engaging in this process, the children learn to recognize and define the problem, control their emotions and behavior, inhibit an immediate response, determine reliable information that they need to make a decision, generate and evaluate potential solutions, think of the consequences for themselves and for others of each solution, and select the best solution. The children then role-play the chosen solution using assertive behavior. Success is evaluated by group discussion to assess how well the solution worked. The session ends with a “reward” exercise that requires each child to write something positive about the other children on the back page of their Workbooks.

“Things to do” At the end of the session the Facilitators told the children what they need to do for their “Things to do.” The children have been asked to do the following:

122

Coach Guide

1. Meet with your Coach. Read and discuss this week’s summary of the session with your Coach. If you want, ask your Coach to help you with your “Things to do.” 2. We want you to take a trip on a Time Machine. You will find a Time Machine in your Workbook. Color it in and turn it into a picture. Write down some times when you have acted on an impulse or when you have seen someone else acting impulsively. Write it on the legs of the Time Machine in your Workbook. If you traveled back in time, what could be done differently to change what happened? 3. In Session 2 you listed three problems on the Problem List sheet in your Workbook. You have since worked on one of these problems and found a solution. Now look at the other two problems and find the best solution by using the Thinking Tools. There are some pages in your Workbook for you to do this. 4. Draw pictures on this session’s pages in your STAR Workbook to illustrate what you learned in the session and color them in.

Transferring skills: Guidance for the Coach ** Read through this week’s summary of the session (in the Workbook) with the child and discuss what they learned. Read through the “Things to do” and offer to help. After the “Things to do” are completed, fill out the Coach Feedback form for the session in the Workbook. ** Discuss with the child an occasion when they, or someone else, may have made the wrong choice in solving a problem. Discuss the outcome—did it escalate to a more serious problem? ** Talk about whether other solutions would have had more positive outcomes. Get the child to think about how they might have prevented this happening by using the Thinking Tools they now have. ** Encourage the child to use positive self-talk to maintain their enthusiasm, to practice skills and conquer problems. ** Discuss with the child what they have learned from the intervention as a whole. What will they take forward in their daily lives?

123

BECOMING A STAR DETECTIVE!

** Encourage them to keep practicing the skills in order to be experts. Remind them that if they follow the steps taught to them in the intervention they will succeed and achieve their goals! ** Complete the STAR New Detective badge in the Workbook and give lots of praise and positive feedback! ** Celebrate the last session by choosing a REWARD that both of you can share together! Praise all attempts made by the child to practice the skills and techniques learned in the session in their daily routines. Encourage the child to transfer skills and techniques learned from the intervention.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is the end of the group sessions for the child, but it is not the “end of the road” for the child to become more skilled or for you to coach them. To become an “expert,” the child will need to continue to practice newly acquired skills and transfer them into daily life and routines. You can continue to support the child in this process by using the information and suggestions we have outlined in this guide by prompting them to use the Thinking Tools.

124

Please do not draw on or color on this page Name: .....................................................................................................