Time to REGISTER!!

Attachment and Trauma Conference

Dr. Arthur Becker-Weidman

Keynote Speaker

April 12^th-13th, 2012

Change Academy Lake of the Ozarks (CALO) in Lake Ozark, Missouri

The conference will include attachment basics, as well as highlighting attachment and trauma work in a diversity of settings

and how those different settings work together to better support the child and the family.

Registration packets and conference brochures will be sent out by mid-February.

Brochure attached including registration form is attached.

Sincerely,

Nicole Fuglsang

Director of Business Development & Admissions

caloteens.com

866-459-1362 (direct)

573-746-1884 (mobile)

573-365-2224 (fax)

Healing Trauma, Creating Attachment 2011 Conference

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!!!

April 12th-13th, 2012

At Change Academy Lake of the Ozarks (CALO) in

Lake Ozark, Missouri

The conference includes attachment basics, as well as highlighting attachment and trauma work in a diversity of settings and how those different settings work together to better support the child and the family.

Conference Brochure/Registration will be sent out in January.

We look forward to seeing you in April!!

Every year, I strive to take the time to look back and reflect on the years since CALO opened. I must say it has been an amazing journey with an amazing group of people.  As I evaluate my personal journey and all the areas in which I have grown, I am always drawn back to what makes CALO, CALO and without a doubt the resounding answer I always come back to is the people. The people at CALO and the people that interact with CALO make CALO, CALO.                  

Everything at CALO is about relationships, relationships with our students, their families, our canines, and each other as staff. It’s what makes me want to come to work every day and what makes me love and value my job! It makes sense that the experience I value and the values of those I work with coincide. It is a joining of purpose, a coming together to create attachment, trust and healing within the families with whom we connect and the people with whom we interact.

The extended leadership team at CALO is the group of people that I believe is the representation of who and what CALO is meant to be. Their vision, integrity, strength of character, stability, leadership, core values, and an overwhelming desire to bless the lives of all whom they encounter is the foundation of CALO.

The therapists, canine therapy program supervisor, neurofeedback coordinator, residential coaching staff, overnight care staff,  recreation therapy staff, teachers and nurses are the feet on the ground that create the foundation, consistency and stability which allow our students to grow, gain insight and become interdependent.    

The administrative coordinators, IT administrator, facilities manager, campus coordinator, and our chef are the behind the scenes staff that provide the foundational of trust of care for our students by providing their basic essential needs: food, shelter, personal hygiene items and clothing etc.

To all of the staff, students and parents that are a part of CALO, thank you for an amazing 4 ½ years. I look forward to the years to come.

CALO strives for on-going quality improvement, growth and development. We complete a variety of activities to encourage quality, consistency and individualization while providing world class care and treatment for our students. Key ways CALO promotes development are as follows:

·        Open Door Policy- The CALO Leadership Team has an “Open Door Policy” with our parents, students, employees and other stakeholders. The intent of this policy is to provide transparency, open dialogue and development opportunities.

·        Leadership “On the Floor” - A member of the Extended Leadership Team (ELT) and/or one of CALO’s masters’ level therapists works an 8+ hour “residential coaching shift” on the floor each week. The goal of this activity is two-fold, firstly, to provide CALO leadership the opportunity to directly interact with students on a purely relational level and secondly to provide leadership with an accurate picture of how the CALO treatment model and policy & procedures are being implemented by the residential coaching staff.

·        Exit Interviews- Exit Interviews with all families upon their departure from CALO. This occurs with students and their parents/guardians. The goal of this activity is gather direct feedback on what parts of the program have been effective and what areas need improvement.

·        Training- Bi-weekly training of all staff & bi-weekly therapist directive training for all coaching staff.

·        Ongoing Quality Improvement Planning which includes standards for all departments which meet Joint Commission accreditation standards.

·        Research Participants- NATSAP Research Program, Anonymous Parent Surveys and Internal Parent, Student and Therapist Surveys.

·        Connected Leadership- Weekly Leadership Meetings & Monthly Extended Leadership Meetings/Trainings.

·        CALO frequently invites outside professionals including educational consultants, psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists and other treating professionals to visit CALO. CALO encourages these professionals to provide CALO’s leadership with direct feedback following their time on campus and interactions with staff and students. The intent of these professional visits is to provide an open, accurate, transparent representation of CALO and to request feedback from professionals on what is working well and areas of potential improvement.

It has been awhile since we published our hotel list. Thought this might be the right place to let you know about the deals you can get by just mentioning you are with CALO. You don't have to be visiting a student at CALO, just mention our rate and you are in like flint. Here are the hotels we have worked out rates with. We don't get a rebate or anything like that. They just give the great rate to all of you because we bring them lots of business.

Special Hotel Pricing for CALO

Resort at Port Arrowhead                                        

573-365-2334

Group Code: CALO11

Rates are as follows:

November – February $59

March – May               $69

June-August                 $79

September – October   $69

Quality Inn

573-365-2700

            Group Code: Just tell them you want the CALO rate

Rates are as follows:

            October – February      $55

            March – September      $69

Camden on the Lake (This is the most luxurious of all those on our list)

1-888-365-5620

            Group Code: CALO

Rates are as follows:

            November 15 – March 15 $89.00

            March 16 – May 26 & September 7 – November 14   $119.00

            May 27 – September 6 $149.00 (weekday), $179.00 (weekend)

            Anytime: Room Upgrade is available to a Grande Suite for $40.00 extra

Lodge of the Four Seasons

573-365-3000

Rates are as follows:

November – March $69.00 + $10.00 resort fee

April – October $109 + $10.00 resort fee

Guesthouse Inn & Suites

573-693-9336 (Tell them you are with CALO)

Rates are as follows:

May – October

Double Beds $65.00 & King Bed $75.00

November – April

Double Beds $59.00 & King Bed $68.00

Cross Pointe Hotel (This is a 25 minute drive from CALO but the facility is quite nice and a real bargain)

573-365-1509

Rates are as follows:

All Year $59.00

Expect to feel bad:  It is normal to feel grief, sadness and guilt as you enroll your child in a residential program. Your child’s actions have devastated and/or traumatized your family and it is common to feel angry about that. Many parents feel a sense of loss when their child is gone from their home, and many experience anxiety about the rigors of a residential setting. It is common to re-examine everything you’ve done as a parent to try and figure out what went wrong.

Placing a child in a residential treatment center is one of the most difficult, and yet courageous, decisions a parent can make. Based on our personal and professional experiences, we encourage parents to prepare for a wide range of emotions and varying reactions from your family and close friends. Some will praise you. Some will not be able to understand why you have made this choice. Some friends and even family may verbally attack you for making a residential decision. They just don’t understand as they have not gone through what you have.

Expect to feel good: Many parents report no bad feelings at all when they place their child at CALO. In fact, some express tremendous relief to have their child in a safe setting. There is no wrong way to feel as your child enters treatment.

Expect your child to protest: Your child would much rather be with his own friends, sleep in his own bed, and continue life as he was living it. He will use his considerable powers of persuasion to try and talk you out of your carefully considered decision. It is reasonable to anticipate his promises of change and guilt-inducing pleas of “How could you send me away?” “I see now how much I really mean to you,” and, “Things aren’t really that bad.” Parents who decide to send their child to CALO do so with love and a determination to help. A firm grounding in this knowledge is what helps parents overcome the predictable protests from their child.

Expect to have second thoughts: At first you may be angry with your child for the disruption he created in your home and then feel a sense of relief that he is gone. However, it is also a common next response to second-guess your decision. You may question whether your response to your child’s problem was too harsh. You may ask yourself if there is something else you could have done to prevent his placement in a residential setting or if there was another way to solve the crisis.

Expect support from CALO: When you enroll your child at CALO, your child becomes part of the CALO family. When you enroll your child at CALO, you are also part of our family. We are here to help you and your child navigate this process. The CALO family support system is there to help you understand and cope with all of the issues noted in this handbook. Your key contact in our system will be your child’s therapist. It is crucial to ask that therapist for help in navigating residential treatment. Our goal is to help reduce your anxiety by thoroughly explaining how the program works and the safeguards built in for your child. Your child’s treating therapist will contact you regularly to make sure your questions and concerns are addressed. Our Leadership Team is also a resource for families with questions or concerns. If you feel you are not getting the answers you need from your therapist, please take concerns to the CALO Leadership Team. That said, the therapist is the head coach of the treatment team and we encourage continual conversation with your therapist.

This blog series has three parts. The first installment discussed what to expect on the day of enrollment and was posted on March 10, 2011.  The second installment discussed common reactions students may exhibit when first arriving at CALO and was posted on March 21, 2011. 

Due to the uniqueness of the experience, the day of enrollment often is a time of great expectation but also a time of great anxiety. Proper knowledge of what to expect, what to bring, etc. helps to ease the transition. This blog is designed to outline what the parents can expect to occur on the day of enrollment.  

Welcome & Introductions: When the family arrives at CALO the admissions staff greets and welcomes the family.  The family spends about 30 minutes completing admissions paperwork and finalizing the admissions process. As a part of the admissions process the parents will be provided a parent handbook.

*All admissions paperwork should be brought completed on the day of enrollment or should be provided to CALO prior to enrollment. All student belongings to include clothing, the student’s favorite bedding from home, a favorite pillow, etc. should be brought at the time of enrollment (refer to Student Clothing and Belongings list).

Campus Tour: Following the completion of the admissions paperwork, the admissions staff and the family participate in a campus tour. Even though the family has typically toured previously, the tour on the day of enrollment is a way to help the student feel grounded and an active part of the admissions process.

*The campus tour normally takes about 45 minutes. If the family has not toured prior to the students enrollment the parents will have meetings schedule with each key department (Clinical/Canine, Academic, and Recreation).

Following the campus tour the student will join the residential coaching staff to begin the intake processing and initial student orientation. While the student begins the initial intake process, the parents will meet with the student’s treating therapist.

Student Intake: During the student intake process the Residential Coaching staff will walk the student through the basic intake search procedures, have the student change into CALO appropriate attire, complete an initial orientation with the student, provide the student with a student handbook and bring the student’s belongings to the campus coordinator to be checked in. The campus coordinator will check all the student’s belongings in and return any items that are not appropriate for campus to the family. After the initial intake the student will join the other students on campus.

Meeting with Treating Therapist: The meeting with the treating therapist is designed to be a time for the parents of the enrolling student to connect with the therapist, provide a face-to-face student history and get on the same page with regard to expectations for treatment. The therapist will explain their role as the “head coach”, and will set-up call times for social and family therapy calls. This initial meeting is basically an initial orientation for the parents. Following the completion of the Therapist meeting the parents will spend time on-site with their child. The amount of time spent on campus will vary depending on the specific needs of the family and student.

This blog series has three parts. The next installment will discuss common reactions students may exhibit when first arriving at CALO. Part two will be posted March 21, 2011.

From Missouri to Colorado to Illinois and back to Missouri… the last eleven days has been amazing and exhausting to say the least.  I have spent the last week or so traveling to connect with professionals and share CALO’s mission, purpose and vision for our students and their families.

As part of my travels, I had the privilege of being able to attend the Naropa Wilderness Symposium in Boulder, Colorado. This visit served a dual purpose as it also allowed me to visit my old stomping grounds since Boulder is my hometown. It was amazing to see all the changes and growth in the local area as well as the majestic beauty of the Flatirons which never changes. It was an opportunity for me to learn how to support and utilize nature to enhance and benefit our families experience at CALO. The symposium was centered on learning from others collaboratively for a mutual gain. The symposium provided an opportunity to connect with programs and professionals from across the nation all coming together to learn from each other.  It was a great experience on a number of levels.

My second stop along the way was Chicago, Illinois where I co-chaired the third annual Midwest Regional NATSAP Conference.  Patricia Wilcox from The Klingberg Center in Connecticut provided the keynoted presentation titled “What Is Trauma Informed Care, Why Does it Matter, and How Can We Get There?” as well as a workshop titled “The Restorative Approach©: A Trauma Informed Treatment Model for Children and Adolescents.” Both sessions were engaging and greatly informative. The sessions provided some great tools for working with adolescents with trauma based issues. Karen Doyle Buckwalter from Chaddock then took the forefront and examined  the in depth process for evidence based practice with her presentation titled “What’s the Evidence for Evidence-Based Practice?” and last but not least, CALO’s own Caleb Cottle helped the conference participants to understand the importance of  “Living in the Growth Zone”.

Traveling has been amazing and allowed me to spend time enjoying my professional life as well as sharing and connecting with family along the way. It was amazing how much being away from CALO made me miss everything about CALO, the students, the staff, our families. It reminded me how much I love coming to work every day.

Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

CALO doesn’t enroll students into our program, we enroll families. The family is an integral part of the treatment and healing process for all our students. As the primary attachment figures our parents/guardians play an active role in the treatment team and their child’s progress. At CALO, we strongly encourage our families to be on our campus at least every 6-8 weeks (more if possible and clinically appropriate) for individual family coaching visits. During these visits, as well as during family therapy sessions, family relationships and parenting are directly coached. Families are interactive in our milieu and participate in many of our experiential activities such as recreation therapy and canine training/therapy. Our leadership team, our therapists and our residential coaches are all part of this process. Attachment parenting is modeled and parents are directly coached on how to utilize and implement therapeutic touch, coaching and rhythm control in the home as it is utilized within the CALO program. Our campus is open to our families during “family time” and we invite our families to participate in their child’s treatment and healing process.

Family time is from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM Monday thru Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Families are welcomed and encouraged to be on campus during these times. These times are set in such a way that we respect our students’ privacy in the morning hours as they are preparing for their day and in the evening hours as they are settling down and preparing for bed. The clinical staff and support staff at CALO are prepared to offer assistance to parents during these times.

As you consider placement for your child consider the active role you will play in this process. At CALO, playing an active role is an expectation of all of our families.

As a NATSAP (National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs) member CALO subscribes to the common mission of NATSAP members which is to promote the healthy growth, learning, motivation, and personal well-being of our students. The objective being to provide excellent treatment; treatment is rooted in concern for our students well-being and growth; respect for them as human beings; and sensitivity to their individual needs and integrity. Below is an outline of CALO’s Organizational Code of Ethics which helps to highlight our desire to best serve our students and families.

Organizational Code of Ethics

CALO is a member of the following professional organizations and ascribes to the principles of good practice and ethics of these organizations: More...