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Skills for Managing Anger Program
**NEW Information**
Along with the Skills for Managing Anger (SMA) Program,
parents of teen participants are now required to attend the Active
Parenting Program in order for their child to successfully complete the
SMA Program. The parenting classes will be held at the
Fredericksburg Department of Social Services (608 Jackson St.,
Fredericksburg) on the same night as the SMA Program classes. There
is no additional fee for this program component.
Skills for Managing Anger Program
Overview:
The Skills for Managing Anger Course meets for six weeks,
with class being held once a week for two hours. The course will cover a total of 12 topics,
two at each meeting. For each topic, there is a video tape showing an anger management workshop
conducted by a professional instructor. Integrated into the workshop are video dramatizations
of conflicts involving young people, as well as focus groups of young people talking about their
personal feelings and experiences in dealing with anger. During each session, you and your
group will watch the video presentation. After the workshop instructor introduces an activity
to his/her group, you and your group will also do the activity. Most of the time, you will
pause the tape after you’ve had a chance to see how the activity is done. Occasionally you’ll
do the activity right along with the video group.
Near the end of each session, participants will get
“observation and practice” assignments to think about before the next session. Usually, part of
the assignment is to try out a new skill in a real-life situation. When they return for the
next session, participants will spend some time writing about what happened when they tried out their
skills, (each participant gets a personal notebook for recording these experiences) in many
sessions, participants will role-play their real-life conflicts in front of the group.
Each session ends with an opportunity to give feedback to
the facilitator. Participants brainstorm what went well, what was useful or improved in the
next session.
Skills for
Managing Anger Program Goals:
The goal of this course is for participants to manage
their anger without resorting to aggression. To do this, they need to develop a concept of
“personal power” that doesn’t depend on intimidation or fighting. Specifically, we want them
to:
- Examine and express their own concepts of personal power;
- Learn about goals and learn how to tell whether a goal is realistic or unrealistic;
- Recognize the internal body signals that tell them they’re becoming angry;
- Identify their personal “hot buttons” — the things they get angry about;
- Devise their own “self talk” — phases and images they can bring to mind when they’re angry,
to help them step back before they respond aggressively;
- Explore how to get out of a difficult situation without making it worse;
- Learn techniques to calm down after they’ve stepped back from a volatile situation;
- Create a personal action plan for using the skills in real life.
For additional information on the Skills for Managing Anger
Program through the Rappahannock Area Office on Youth, please contact us at 540.372.1149.
Download a 'Skills for Managing Anger' Brochure
Download a 'Parenting
Education Program' Brochure
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