Barry Belvins is Executive Director of High Frontier in Texas. He was interviewed about using positive peer culture by Lon Woodbury and Elizabeth McGhee. The interview was on Parent Choices for Struggling Teens which is hosted on L.A. Talk Radio. Barry explained how the process works. The other teens are a part of the community. The teens counsel each other as part of the healing process. Barry has had considerable experience with PPC. He believed that this form of therapy is more effective than a residential program that requires strict rules.
Lon Woodbury who is the Host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens is an Independent Educational Advisor. He is responsible for the famous Woodbury Reports. Since 1984, he has worked with families and their struggling teens . Elizabeth McGhee, who is the Co-Host of the radio show is the Director of Admissions for Sandhill Child Development Center, New Mexico. She has more than 19 years of experience working with adolescents.
Guest Biography
Barry Blevins is the Executive Director at High Frontier, located in West Texas. He has been with the private, co-ed residential treatment center for 27 years. Barry graduated from Sul Ross State University with a Masters of Public Administration and is a licensed child care administrator in the State of Texas.
Although Counter-intuitive, Using Positive Peer Culture Works Well
The guest of the radio show talked how using PPC worked much better than the methods most therapeutic boarding schools were using, including the traditional peer pressure process. He strongly believed that behavioral rules could become highly unproductive. They simply distracted from the emotional healing process instead of directly working on them. In fact, he went so far as to say that he considered these rules were frequently used to mask a behavior. Too many rules was a process that avoided problems. Using PPC, it was actually much easier to get to the root of the problem.
Positive peer culture was about students making and abiding by agreements. This took the pressure off the staff. With no rules to enforce, it removed the power struggle. Students liked the results. It made them feel empowered. They felt as if they had a choice in the matter. Students comprehend their own bad behavior when a peer points it out to them. Adults could not focus on being facilitators. They did not have to be authoritarian controllers. They were not there to warn or punish bad behavior.
Liz McGhee had trained under Barry for many years, and she added to the discussion on the benefits of using PPC by pointing out students that students had to realize that they were there for each other and were not monitors for their peers, just colleagues.
Lon Woodbury who is the Host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens is an Independent Educational Advisor. He is responsible for the famous Woodbury Reports. Since 1984, he has worked with families and their struggling teens . Elizabeth McGhee, who is the Co-Host of the radio show is the Director of Admissions for Sandhill Child Development Center, New Mexico. She has more than 19 years of experience working with adolescents.
Guest Biography
Barry Blevins is the Executive Director at High Frontier, located in West Texas. He has been with the private, co-ed residential treatment center for 27 years. Barry graduated from Sul Ross State University with a Masters of Public Administration and is a licensed child care administrator in the State of Texas.
Although Counter-intuitive, Using Positive Peer Culture Works Well
The guest of the radio show talked how using PPC worked much better than the methods most therapeutic boarding schools were using, including the traditional peer pressure process. He strongly believed that behavioral rules could become highly unproductive. They simply distracted from the emotional healing process instead of directly working on them. In fact, he went so far as to say that he considered these rules were frequently used to mask a behavior. Too many rules was a process that avoided problems. Using PPC, it was actually much easier to get to the root of the problem.
Positive peer culture was about students making and abiding by agreements. This took the pressure off the staff. With no rules to enforce, it removed the power struggle. Students liked the results. It made them feel empowered. They felt as if they had a choice in the matter. Students comprehend their own bad behavior when a peer points it out to them. Adults could not focus on being facilitators. They did not have to be authoritarian controllers. They were not there to warn or punish bad behavior.
Liz McGhee had trained under Barry for many years, and she added to the discussion on the benefits of using PPC by pointing out students that students had to realize that they were there for each other and were not monitors for their peers, just colleagues.
About the Author:
Find out more about Struggling Teens. Lon Woodbury has the recorded the entire interview on his L.A. Talk Radio show for people to listen to at any time.
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