COMMUNITY TOOLS
Community – This refers to the residents of therapeutic community family.
Therapeutic Community treatment methods consist of community tools, specific techniques that include
reinforcers and sanctions, and group process tools that include provocative and evocative tools.
Community Tools
Community tools are specific techniques that include reinforcers to encourage prosocial behaviors and
sanctions to discourage rule-breaking behavior. Reinforcers include
• Affirmations
• Pushups
• Privileges
Affirmations and pushups are important because they not only encourage change in the person
receiving the feedback but also serve as a self-reinforcer to the resident giving the affirmation or pushup.
Changing one’s behavior to seek privileges is the first step of a process that leads to internalized change.
Tangible privileges act as incentives for residents to try new behaviors; once a resident engages in a new
behavior, he or she is likely to find it reinforcing socially and emotionally. The behavior then becomes
personally relevant and valuable and can be internalized.
Sanctions
Sanction is a general term used to include consequences for self-defeating behaviors and attitudes.
Sanctions provide the opportunity for residents to learn from mistakes.
The entire community is made aware of sanctions that are delivered, providing vicarious learning for
residents and strengthening community cohesiveness. Peers are expected to detect, confront, and
report violations of rules and self-defeating behaviors and attitudes. This is critical to the self- help and
mutual self- help learning processes.
Sanctions include oral or written correctives and interventions. Oral or written correctives include
• Pullups – refers to a verbal reprimand done during the morning meeting.
• Bookings
• Reprimands.
Interventions are consequences decided by staff members for violations of rules or when a resident
consistently fails to meet TC expectations. Interventions vary in severity depending on the TC rule that
has been violated. The staff member’s objective is to use the least severe consequence necessary to
maximize learning. Interventions are not punitive but are part of the learning process. The desired
outcome, usually a behavior change, must be clear. If the intervention does not result in a change of
behavior, another community tool must be used.
Staff members are expected to explain the rationale for their decisions in terms of the TC view of the
disorder, the person, recovery, and right living. Interventions must be documented in the resident’s
record and must be justified clinically.
Interventions for minor infractions include
• Learning experiences
• Demotions
• Speaking bans
• Losses of privileges.
Interventions for major infractions and serious problems in the community include
• Losses of phase status
• House changes
• Administrative discharges
• House bans
• Relating (or confrontation) booth
Infraction
This refers to the violation to the house rules of the Therapeutic Community Family
Haircuts
This refers to the behavioral-shaping tools consisting of a five-man panel that addresses a resident’s
infraction.
Groups in the TC
TC groups can be classified as educational or clinical
Educational Groups
Educational groups encourage personal growth, provide work-related skills training, teach the group
process, and include
• Personal growth groups to teach residents how to explore concepts in an intellectual or
conversational format
• TC job skills groups to teach residents about specific jobs required in the TC and the
proper way to perform these jobs
• Clinical skills groups to teach new residents how to use group process tools via simulated
or mock encounter groups
• Life skills groups to teach specific skills that residents need to succeed in mainstream
society
• Reentry groups to prepare residents to move back into the community.
Clinical Groups
Clinical groups provide residents with the opportunity to
• Express intense emotions
• Gain insight into their behavior and that of other residents
• Relate to other residents’ experiences and situations
• Receive healing affirmations from peers and staff
• Model appropriate group behavior
• Exhibit leadership
A set of rules applies to all TC clinical groups to protect the psychological and physical well- being of
residents. These rules prohibit
• Physical violence
• Oral threats or gestures of violence
• Cultural stereotyping
• Disclosure of information outside the TC.
Clinical groups include
a. Probe groups to obtain information from residents about critical events that have occurred in
their lives
b. Marathon groups to enhance residents’ motivation to address critical issues in their lives and
begin the process of resolving experiences that have impeded their growth and development
c. Static groups to support a small group of people on a specific issue and to monitor their change
over time
Group Process Tools
Provocative tools are used to challenge and confront residents and include
• Controlled hostility or anger
• Engrossment
• Humor or mild ridicule
Confrontation – this refers to the phase which involves verbalization of concern or honest disclosure of
emotion that has been provoked during the interpersonal interaction with another resident
Evocative group process tools are used to support and encourage residents and include
• Identification
• Compassion – this refers to sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of
others.
• Empathy – this refers to the ability to perceive client’s feeling and to demonstrate accurate
perception of the client. It is merely “putting oneself in the client ‘shoe” .