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An increasing number of INCREASINGLY troubled children and youth are being placed in residential treatment centers, group homes, alternatives schools and other settings across the nation. Many staff in these agencies feel unprepared for the level of dysfunction and delinquency they see on a daily basis.
Therapeutic Aggression Control Techniques (TACT-2) is a crisis intervention training program designed for staff working with challenging youth with both emotional and conduct disorders. Since 1994, this training has reached over 25,000 staff in more than 22 states.
While TACT-2 includes professional training in physical interventions (see "Physical Training" at left), its primary focus is upon preventing crisis. Staff do this best by understanding the source of youth aggression, and by acknowledging their own role in escalating problems.
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DAY ONE: CRISIS PREVENTION
During the first day of training, staff learn:
1. How to utilize a therapeutic decision making model in crisis.
2. How to use four cues to distinguish between deliberate misbehavior and true emotional crisis.
3. How to prevent deliberate misbehaviors with reasonable rules and consequences.
3. How to prevent emotional crises by recognizing early warning signs and responding proactively.
4. How to recognize when we as staff are engaging in power struggles, and how to withdraw from them without completely losing face.
DAY TWO: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
During the second day of training, staff learn:
1. How to manage students who are in genuine emotional crisis.
a. How to give space (without giving up) when a youth is highly escalated.
b. How to actively listen to allow an upset youth to begin venting.
c. How to guide a youth through six steps of therapeutic problem solving.
2. How to manage students who are deliberately misbehaving.
a. How to use friendly reminders to redirect a minor misbehavior without embarrassing a youth.
b. How to use a fair warning of consequences to encourage better decisions.
c. How to use a firm confrontation to apply reasonable consequences when needed.
DAY THREE: PHYSICAL INTERVENTION (Optional)
During the third day of training, staff learn:
1. How to identify situations which legitimately justify physical intervention.
2. How to protect themselves from assaults (including grabs, chokes, headlocks, hair pulls, and bites, if needed) without harming youth.
3. How to use standing holds (including bear hug holds, cradle holds, and double arm bar holds) to prevent youth from assaulting others or harming themselves.
4. How to work with another trained staff to escort an agitated youth to a safe area.
5. How to work with another trained staff to calmly and safely restrain a dangerously out of control youth using seated and supine (face up) team restraints.
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TACT2 training is comprehensive and competency based.
To receive verbal certification, staff must demonstrate their knowledge and skills:
1. Attend the first 2 days on time and in a professional manner.
2. Complete all in class team and individual assignments accurately, including both workbook exercises and role play demonstrations of behavior management and listening skills.
3. Complete a brief professional reading related to the content.
4. Pass a written multiple choice test at the 80% level.
To receive full certification, staff must demonstrate their knowledge and skills:
1. Successfully complete all the above criteria.
2. Participate fully and safely in all physical training exercises, including realistic role play scenarios.
3. Successfully demonstrate all physical techniques during a 10-minute individual skills test with a certified instructor.
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