Recognizing and Addressing Judgmental Perceptions with System Involved Youth and/or Those that Support Them

Ashley Maliken, PhD

Training Description

This training will help those who support system involved youth to recognize the subtle ways we experience or express judgmental perceptions of youth, their families, and our colleagues. The first portion of the training will focus on youth and their families. We will begin by outlining various behaviors in which youth and families engage in support provided to them that can elicit judgements. We will also explore the way biased, judgmental language is historically part of documentation and communication about system involved youth and families, which can reinforce judgmental thinking and behavior. We will then explore ways to address interfering behavior from a non-judgmental, phenomenologically empathic approach. Finally, these same principles and concepts will be used to explore judgments that can arise about colleagues, brainstorming ways to skillfully address within those relationships as well so that all involved in supporting system involved youth can work more effectively together towards improved outcomes for these youth and families.

Learning Objectives

· Participants will be able to identify 3 common judgmental thoughts/statements and determine how to reframe each using less judgmental language.

· Identify 3 strategies to address interfering behaviors when they occur in the process of supporting system involved youth.

· Identify 6 different strategies to validate the experiences of system involved youth and their families.

Agenda

8:00-8:30am: Define judgments as it applies to supportive relationships and identify common sources of judgment

8:30-8:45am: Explore history and structural origins of judgmental language

8:45-9:00am: Identify 3 steps to address youth behavior that may contribute to judgments

9:00-9:15am: Review how to validate youth and caregivers even when behavior is problematic

9:15-9:30am: Introduce Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) assumptions about youth and demonstrate ways to apply with youth and caregivers

9:30-9:45am: Discuss colleague behaviors that can elicit judgments

9:45-10:00am: Introduce consultation team agreements, and discuss ways to apply supportive relationships. Wrap-up.

Meet Our Trainer

Ashley Maliken is a licensed clinical psychologist with an expertise in providing evidence-based treatments to adolescents, young adults and their families. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and is DBT-LBC certified. Dr. Maliken earned her doctorate from the University of Washington, where she also completed an adolescent health fellowship in leadership and education through an interdisciplinary program sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Her postdoctoral research centered on helping SIY utilize DBT skills to navigate interpersonal challenges as related to sexual health. Before becoming Acting Director of Training and Quality Assurance at the Portland DBT Institute in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Maliken was an Associate Professor at UCSF and Associate Director of Training for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship.

This course meets the qualifications for (2.0) 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.