"The Use of Sport In the Behavioral Health Treatment of Youth" Rebekah Conway Roulier, Ed.M and Emily E. Pike, LICSW presented at the Northeast Atlantic Sport Psychology Conference in March, 2012 representing Doc Wayne and Communities for People\'s Therapeutic Sports Program. For more information on Doc Wayne please visit www.docwayne.org

1. The Use of Sport in the
Behavioral Health Treatment
of Youth
REBEKAH CONWAY ROULIER, ED.M
EMILY E. PIKE, LICSW

2. Overview
•MISSION
•POPULATION SERVED
•THERAPEUTIC SPORTS PROGRAMMING
•THERAPEUTIC PROCESS
•OUTCOMES
•DATA

3. Mission
 To provide a non-traditional treatment modality of
action-oriented counseling for children and
adolescents who:
 Are more interested in physical activity than verbal expression
 Are not motivated to participate in traditional talk therapies
 Have been unsuccessful in other means of traditional therapies
 Respond more positively to concrete, tangible intervention

4. Population Served
Characteristically, many group members have
experienced difficulties with emotion regulation on
some level, based on their individual situations, and
the group assists members to develop more socially
acceptable, advantageous reactions to emotions that
have historically been unproductive, socially or
legally undesirable in the past.

5. Population Served
 Males and females, ages 6-22.
 Programs serve youth who are:
 Juvenile justice/court-involved, court-ordered
 Gang-affiliated
 Impoverished
 Truant
 Drug-involved
 Sexually-exploited females
 Struggling with physical health (i.e. obesity, diabetes)
 In out-of-home placement (i.e. group home, foster care)
 Recently hospitalized psychiatrically
 Victims of social dysfunction & cyclical behaviors
 Managing stressors & symptoms related to mental health diagnoses,
including…

6. Population Served
 DSM IV diagnoses including:
 Anxiety Disorder
 Bipolar Disorder
 Conduct Disorder
 Depressive Disorders
 Mild Mental Retardation
 Mood Disorder
 Oppositional Defiant Disorder
 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
 Reactive Attachment Disorder
 Spectrum Disorders (Autism, Asperger’s, PDD)

7. Therapeutic Sports Programming
 Evidence based, experiential group counseling experience
 Curriculum built on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Model and
the Attachment, Self-Regulation, & Competency Framework (ARC)
 Do the Good (DtG) Curriculum
 All groups are led by trained facilitators and licensed therapists
 Each group occurs weekly and is implemented with 6-12
participants, male and/or female, ages 6-22.
 One specific sport (basketball, golf, soccer, boxing, volleyball, floor
hockey, flag football, dance, and/or softball) is implemented from
the onset of the group through the remaining weeks.

8. Therapeutic Sports Programming
 Designed to assist participants in increasing:
 Self-esteem & self-concept
 Anxiety management
 Anger management
 Impulse control
 Social awareness & communication
 Overall effective emotion management.

9. Therapeutic Process
 The environment is:
 Sports-directed
 Highly structured and consistent (Routines, concepts, and specific tasks )
 Action-oriented
 Visual, auditory, and tactile learning-based
 The group process develops during this time by
dissecting each sport into small, developmental tasks
with the goal of each group member growing personally
and ultimately being able to competently participate in
the specific sport in its purest form.

10. In a “Nutshell”
 Although the groups challenge each member
emotionally and physically, the forum in which these
experiences occurs is:
 Supportive
 Safe
 Allows members to acknowledge feelings and emotions*
 Facilitates development of skills to cope with feelings and
emotions
 Ultimately master these feelings in order to be comfortable and
competent in other similarly emotion provoking situations.

11. Outcomes

12. Improve Pro-Social Relationships
 Promote the group dynamic as a way for participants to
experience success in developing pro-social relationships with
their peers.
 Encourage the development of relationships to promote a
shared success.
 Youth gain practical experiences and success in navigating the
complexities of relationships, from effective communication,
conflict resolution and interdependence.
 The group therapy experience promotes a positive setting in
which to gain “real world” practice and positive outcomes with
these skills.

13. Promote Youth Development
 Promote the belief that if undesirable outcomes occur in
group (i.e. interpersonal struggles, emotional dysregulation),
youth can still feel progress based on their accomplishments,
contribution and effort by engaging the youth in an
exploratory process of the experience.
 Promote an experience for each participant where they can
measure their success by processing their own personal
development by receiving “in the moment” feedback while
engaged in the therapeutic experience.
 Provide participants the opportunity to acknowledge that
previous unproductive behaviors can be changed and more
productive behavior can be adopted.

14. Maximize Capacity for Integration & Participation
 Youth are encouraged to fully participate and any
individual struggles a youth may experience with
regards to desire to participate, are part of the
engagement and therapeutic process.

15. Applicable Life Experience
 Group members experience a variety of emotions and, by
processing these feelings and receiving validation, each group
member realizes the benefits of all emotions.
 Leads to participants being able to understand and experience
how to manage themselves well and why they are able to do so.
 Experience trusting relationships, increased self-esteem, effective
emotion regulation and self-concept by allowing them to
experience a developmental process in a safe and nurturing
environment.

16. Applicable Life Experience
 Group teaches coping skills, tolerance, and emotion regulation
which can apply to other potentially challenging situations
outside of the group.
 Group’s practical experience has a direct application to the rest of
an individual’s life as the youth can translate their experiences in
group to “real life” experiences.
 Approach elicits actual reactions to different experiences and
through “in the moment” intervention, youth can then apply
feedback in similarly challenging situations outside of group.

17. Staff Development
 Through our primary facilitators of the curriculum, a holistic,
therapeutic approach is utilized to make a positive impact on all
participants.
 Training: In depth initial training and continuing education for
internal and external entities
 Monitoring and Evaluation: Formal and informal M&E will be
ongoing.

18. Evidence-Based
 Prides itself on testing its effectiveness and willingly
shares results, with all stakeholders, continuously to
validate the effectiveness of the program.
 Maintain a strong desire and commitment to youth
and recognizes the importance of evidence-based
practice therefore concluding that ongoing
evaluation is paramount.

19. Data
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE

20. Quantitative
 Chart Review of 33 players and 26 comparison non-players
 Restraints, Isolation, Grades, Weight
 Mental Health (CBCL)
 Coach Behaviors:
 Circle-Ups, One-on-one, Specific Praise, Team-Building
 Youth Behaviors:
 Conflicts, conflict resolution, helping behaviors, leadership, encouragement,
participation
 Scales:
 Increased scores on the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale
 Increased scores on Personal Self Control Scales
 Increased scores on Self-Concept Scale for Children

21. Qualitative
 Parents/Caregivers
 Increased self-efficacy in roles as youth workers
 Reported pride in their difficult population
 Noted changes in kids outside of games
 Reported coaching/teaching was helpful
 “Consistent in their approach….they set clear expectations and are very encouraging
and flexible with each child.”
 Youth
 Sense of community with other players
 Affect Regulation and Interpersonal Skills: “just helped me deal with life”
 Competency: “helped me feel like I can do something right.”
 Students noted that they would appreciate more time to practice, from once a week to
daily.
 “Group taught me how to deal with my angry emotions.”
 “I love and look forward to group.”

22. Training & Consultation
PROGRAM STAFF FROM DOC WAYNE AND
THE THERAPEUTIC SPORTS PROGRAM
ARE AVAILABLE FOR
INITIAL & ON-GOING TRAINING
AND CONSULTATION.
PLEASE SEE ATTACHED CONTACT INFORMATION!

23. Doc Wayne
Contact Information
REBEKAH CONWAY ROULIER, ED.M.
RROULIER@DOCWAYNE.ORG
WWW.DOCWAYNE.ORG
@DOCWAYNEDTG
FACEBOOK-DOC WAYNE
YOUTUBE-DOCWAYNEDTG

24. Therapeutic Sports Program
Contact Information
EMILY E. PIKE, LICSW
WWW.COMMUNITIES-FOR-PEOPLE.ORG
THERAPEUTICSPORTSPROGRAM@MSN.COM
FOLLOW US @THERASPORTS