PsychoEd Intervention (1)
Psychoeducational interventions are "package" interventions: that is, they contain a number of interrelated components, and so are complex in nature. They become even more complex in their application, for they are tailored to the unique needs of the children or youth involved. Their adoption by schools, treatment centers, and mental health agencies therefore requires commitment, training, and a willingness to take on challenges. In psychoeducation there are few "quick fixes," for human behavior is multiply determined and generally, slow to change.
Psychoeducators are typically sensitive to children and alert to their own responses in interaction with them. Empathy towards those in difficult circumstances is a requirement, as is self-understanding. Knowledge of counter-transference phenomena, or how troubled children can stir up feelings in the helper, is essential. Fritz Redl described the youth at Pioneer House as possessing "diagnostic acuity in battle-relevant areas," or as having the ability to ferret out weaknesses in those trying to help them. As one colleague observed, "These kids really push your buttons!"
In addition to self-understanding, good communication and listening skills, optimism and a pragmatic attitude are important characteristics. The psychoeducator must maintain a tolerant and positive stance without putting on rose-colored glasses. A knowledge of child development --and particularly, a sense of what is normative behavior for a given stage, is helpful: knowing when to intervene and when to ignore behavior is a skill that comes with experience. An ability to work collaboratively with others is needed, for in union there is strength, and some children and youth may torment the adult who isolates himself. Since many psychoeducational interventions take some time to "work," patience is also necessary. In short, psychoeducators should possess the very qualities that their charges lack!
