T.H.O.M.A.S. (Those on the Margins of a Society)
METHOD FRAMEWORK
James P.P. McCartney28 March 2011York
Avoid the two extremes:
Excessive complexity
Over simplification
Most important component:
Environmental conditioning (protecting the delivery of the programme).
The ecology of development
Residential Rehabilitation
A 24 hour learning environment
Established 1994 A leader in the field of indigenous recovery – building
from the bottom up Moving beyond the confines of traditional
rehabilitation Empowering the local community to tackle a problem Developing the concept of therapeutic employment Empirically evidenced based success Working with the big society idea since 1998 Providing a model replicated by others Specialising with prolific offenders
T.H.O.M.A.S.
Motivational Learning Enhanced Thinking Therapeutic Community Housing On going support & Development
M.E.T. (Micro component – stage 1)
H.O.D. (Macro component – stage 2)
METHOD Framework
Identity Theory & Social Interaction ( Coley 1902, Thorndike 1932, Mead 1934, Erikson 1959, Gardiner 1983, Salovey & Mayer 1990, Gardiner 1995.
T.H.O.M.A.S. – the embodiment of multiple social identities to which a person defines him or her self.
New meaning and purpose through the social construct (cognitively based)
Self Categorisation Versus Social Categorisation
Motivational learning – ( dynamic of the group) Piaget adaptation theory – process of assimilation & accommodation (schema) important. Environmental conditioning & long term memory 12 Step Programme working with cognitive theory of development/ social interaction theory &
attachment theory . Developing an environment that can enhance thinking (workforce intelligence).
How do we motivate people to change?
How does the psychological bond between the social structure and individual structure shape a person’s development?
THOMAS has a 5 year empirically evidenced based project to hypothesize the ecological component interacting with maturational stages rehabilitation development – modification of Bronfenbrenner’s theory (1979) to accommodate the development of adults.
The Salient Question to be asked.
The meaning of spirituality, hope, and resilience as intervening factors in the treatment of recovery (Burke 2006)
Engaging people in an exploration of a larger context within which universal meanings can transport beyond survival to a richer, more meaning filled experience of life.
Whole Person Paradigm (Covey 2004)
Spirituality as a Clinical Resource
Chaos Model (illness to health) Progression Model (vulnerability to invulnerability) Achievement Model (working with deficit model to
thriving model) Core self/familiar zone/comfort zone/programmed
zone Idealised self /re-programmed zone
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Chaos Zone – Conflict Zone – Challenging Zone & the
implications for workforce development.
Paradigm Shift
Homogenous versus Heterogeneous development cultures & the implications for the future through the lens of deficit staged development (Erikson 1959).
Forging a Psychological contract Social contract The wider impact on the local community
Personalisation
“putting users at the heart of services, enabling them to become participants in the design and delivery, services will be more effective by mobilizing millions of people as co-producers of the public goods they value.”
(Lead beater, 2004)
----------------------------------------------------------------The implications for commissioning & service
providers
the need to rethink how we operationally function in the social care economy of today
The contractual relationship interacting with a covenant concept (Sacks 1999)
Don’t get blinded by the numbers (Martin 2009)
A move away from a quantifiable intelligence to a qualitative understanding of what works best
The Way Forward
Making Resources Work: sustainability & the THOMAS footprint:
Leadership in recovery
Clear boundaries – with the ability to control or redirect disruptive impluses & moods
The propensity to suspend judgment – to think before acting
a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status
An ability to find common ground & build rapport
THOMAS has developed an environment of fundamental change enabling prolific offenders to build their self esteem over several years within the work place, tapping into the concept of a therapeutic community.
An empirically evidenced based project of working with prolific offenders from the prison gate and developing them into leaders.
. Conclusion Self esteem emerges when the social
messages are received and internalised from meaningful and significant others (Pierce & Gardner 2004, Mead 1934). Early life events influence the cognitive pathways of perception, impacting how people receive and process knowledge (McCartney 2010, Erikson 1959).
Sustainability depends on how successful we
are in creating the operational cultures that can act as a “change agent.”