Behaviorism Driven Strategies for Supporting System-Involved Youth

Ashley Maliken, PhD

Training Description

In this training, attendees will explore how to use principles from behaviorism to guide their understanding of and approach to engaging with system-involved youth. We will begin with an overview of how behaviorism can inform our understanding of a youth and their behavior; discuss strategies to gather information and test hypotheses with youth; and end by discussing ways to utilize this knowledge to more effectively support system involved youth in their environments.

Learning Objectives

· Explain at least 2 types of conditioning (classical conditioning and operant conditioning)

· Identify the 3 most common reinforcers of behavior which can be used to support system-involved youth.

· Identify at least 3 parts of a behavioral chain/functional analysis.

Agenda

9:00-10:00am Introductions and overview of behaviorism as it applies to work with SIY

· Review SMART goals

· Discuss how to elicit and shape goals from client

· Reviewing classical and operant conditioning

· Discuss ways in which behaviorism is misapplied in clinical practice

10:00-11:00am Introduce behavioral chain/functional analysis as a tool to more thoroughly under SIY behavioral strengths and deficits

· Steps of chain analysis

· Function of chain analysis

· Common pitfalls when conducting chains

· Common functional categories of behavior revealed during chains

11:00-11:15am Break (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

11:15am-12:00pm Translating information gathered from the chain analysis into actionable tools SIY can use in their daily lives

· Overview of problem solving strategies to address skills deficits

· Discuss various positive reinforcers for SIY

· Review problems with over-utilization of punishment to shape behavior

· Discuss formal and informal exposure as part of clinical practice

12:00-1:00pm Role play, trouble shooting, Questions & Answers, Wrap-up

Meet Our Trainer

Ashley Maliken, PhD is an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC Berkeley and the Acting Director of Training and Quality Assurance at Portland Dialectical Behavior Therapy Institute (PDBTI). She received her PhD in Child Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington and completed her clinical internship at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Maliken also received adolescent-focused training during her postdoctoral fellowship through the Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Fellowship. A clinician-educator, Dr. Maliken specializes in the delivery of evidence-based treatments for teens and young adults with depression, anxiety and chronic emotion dysregulation. She also provides teaching and supervision to psychology and psychiatry trainees and clinicians around the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest.

This course meets the qualifications for (3.75) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.