Working with Youth Conference

Where Hope LivesThe Anatomy of Cultures of Excellence

Bob Bertolino, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Maryville University-St. Louis

Sr. Clinical Advisor, Youth In Need, Inc.

Tidbits• For copyright reasons and confidentiality some of

PowerPoint slides may be absent from your handouts.• To download a PDF of this presentation, please go to:

www.bobbertolino.com.• Please share the ideas from this presentation. You have

permission to reproduce the handouts. I only ask that you maintain the integrity of the content.

• Contact: bertolinob@cs.com; +01.314.852.7274

bobbertolino.com

Agency Challenges• Youth (and families) frequently have multiple concerns (e.g.,

psychological, relational, economic, transportation, etc.)• Long wait lists• Threats to funding• Lack of consumer confidence in services outcomes• Accountability and stewardship• It is not sufficient to say that agencies do good work for good causes—

we must demonstrate effectiveness• Providers often have numerous responsibilities outside of primary role

(i.e., “other duties as assigned”)• Provider turnover due to work hours, wages, caseloads, lack of

support• Staff infections

Who… are you?

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his

individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What… do you believe?

African Violets

What’s Your Philosophy?

1. What are my core beliefs, ideas, or assumptions about

youth (and families)?

2. How have I come to believe what I believe about youth

(and families)?

3. What has most significantly influenced my beliefs, ideas,

and assumptions as they relate to youth and families?

4. How have my beliefs, ideas, and assumptions affected my

work in YFS (and in residential settings, in particular)? With

colleagues/peers? With the community at-large?

What’s Your Philosophy (cont.)?

4. How do I believe that change occurs? What does change

involve?

5. Do I believe that some degree of change is possible with

every youth? Every family? (If you answered “yes” then end

here.)(If you answered “no,” proceed to the next question.)

6. How do I work with youth (and families) whom I believe

cannot (or do not want to or are resistant to) change? What

do I do?

7. If I do not believe that every youth (and/or family) can

experience some degree of change, what keeps me in YFS?

The Journey of Sincerity

What…is your agency’s philosophy?

“A Way of Being”

An Example: Strengths-BasedA strengths-based perspective emphasizes the abilities and resources people have within themselves and their support systems to more effectively cope with life challenges. When combined with new experiences, understandings and skills, those abilities and resources contribute to improved well-being, which is comprised of three areas of functioning: individual, interpersonal relationships, and social role. Strengths-based practitioners value relationships convey this through respectful, culturally-sensitive, collaborative, practices that support, encourage and empower. Routine and ongoing real-time feedback is used to maintain a responsive, consumer-driven climate to ensure the greatest benefit of services.

Bertolino, B. (2014). Thriving on the front lines: Strengths-based youth care work. New York: Routledge.

Strengths-Based Principles

1. Youth are the most important

contributors to service success.

2. The therapeutic relationship makes

substantial and consistent

contributions to outcome.

3. Culture influences and shapes all

aspects of youth’s lives.

4. Effective services promote growth,

development, and well-being.

5. Expectancy and hope are catalysts

of change.

Agency Philosophy

• Provides a foundation to unite staff, board members, funders, and the

community• Helps clients to understand the ideas and principles that inform

services, programs, and organizations as a whole• Is a starting point for determining specific strategies and “how to”

carry out services• Provides guidance for decision making, solving problems, and future

directions• Examples of philosophy in action: Hiring practices (interviewing), staff

evaluations, staffings (discussion about youth), etc.• Suggestion: Prepare an elevator speech!

How… beneficial are our services?

“Average is Over”

ICCE Manuals

Bertolino, B., & Miller, S. D. (Eds.) (2013). The ICCE manuals on feedback informed treatment (Volumes 1-6). Chicago, IL: International Center for Clinical Excellence.

What… can I do now?

Positive Deviance

Youth In Need, Inc.• 2000 – Youth In Need (YIN) incorporated a Strengths-Based (SB) philosophy• 2002 – First YIN staff were trained in SB philosophy• 2003 – Adopted an outcome-focus• 2004 – Began formal tracking of clinical outcomes• 2004 – “Strengths-Based 101” – Initial Job Training (IJT) was implemented• 2006 – Incorporated SB interviewing process• 2007 – Began using ASIST (Network-Based OMS)• 2008 – Introduced SB on-the-job training (OJT)• 2010 – Introduced SB employee evaluations• 2010 – Began strengths-based roundtables (SBR)• 2011 – Secured ”seed funding” to build OMS• 2011 – Began development of imagYIN-oms• 2012 – imagYIN-oms went “live”• 2012 – Began to emphasize practices to build well-being • 2012 – Completed ICCE manuals on Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) and

SAMHSA NREPP proposal• 2013 – SAMHSA designated FIT as an EBP on NREPP• 2013 – 60+ providers and students use imagYIN; 100% track client outcomes;

98% completion rate by clients• 2014 – 12,000 clients in dataset

Strengthening Your Agency’s Climate• Do not wait for things to change… seek out ways to improve things within

your agency• Ask: What is one thing I can do today to make a difference?• At the start of each day, reorient to your personal philosophy• Savor the moment and appreciate what is happening now• Commit to a “We” environment• Be mindful of “real-time resilience”• Maintain a positive to negative ratio of at least 5:1 in relationships and up

to 13:1 in meetings• Identify the best of your programs on an ongoing basis and explore those

successes• Use routine and ongoing feedback to monitor the benefit of services• Build communities of practice