Impulse Control Program

The Impulse Control Disorder track treats adolescents who present with a history of inappropriate sexual behaviors. Though many of these individuals have been victims of sexual abuse themselves, the program's philosophy stresses the importance of accepting responsibility for one's actions and not using past experiences as an excuse for problematic behaviors in the present.

To accomplish this goal, the program, under the direction of Michael Huffman, MA, a licensed mental health counselor with fifteen years of experience working with sexual offenders, utilizes well known “Cognitive - Behavioral” techniques that requires the resident to do the following:

  • First and foremost, all residents must openly and honestly acknowledge the behaviors that resulted in their hospitalization or previous incarceration.
  • Over time and with the support of a highly trained staff in an all ASL environment, the peer group assists the resident with documentation of their “Sexual Assault Cycle”, which in graphic visual form identifies the unique pattern of psychological triggers that typically precedes the aberrant behaviors, followed by the emotional reaction to the behavioral event.
  • resident is then guided through a learning process that is designed to explain and teach how excessive masturbation to inappropriate fantasies can contribute to the acting out, and how that ultimately leads to an internalized sense of low self esteem, which of course, triggers the cycle again.

Obviously, this highly specialized technique requires that the resident have the ability to communicate well through the use of American Sign Language, and to possess a normal intellectual potential (regardless of their past academic performance).

The residents in the ICD program are supervised 24 hours per day by highly trained staff who are specifically selected to work with these clever, and at times, manipulative individuals. Because appropriate but firm confrontation by both staff and peers is a critical component of the process, residents work in “quads” with no more than four residents assigned to a staff member at all times. Residents utilize a behavioral reinforcement program to earn privileges, and consequences tend to focus on utilization of a “Process Outline” where they are encouraged to identify feelings leading to problematic behaviors, and subsequently make the links to their past history of inappropriate sexual behaviors. Following the completion of the process outline, the resident must present their results to their peer group, and it is only after both staff and peers agree that the individual has sincerely and adequately come to understand the motivation behind their behavior, that the resident is permitted to retain their privileges.

The nature of the population makes it critically important that they be visually supervised at all times. Even while they sleep, a trained staff member sits in their room and is required to electronically “check in” every fifteen minutes, thus guaranteeing that no sexual acting out can take place among residents. Likewise, all residents utilize the rest room and private shower facilities alone with staff members standing outside at all times.

The clinical program includes the following:

  • Weekly contact with a Board Certified Psychiatrist with specialized training in child and adolescent psychiatry. All decisions regarding medication are initiated only by the psychiatrist and must be approved by the custodial parent or agency. Because our clinicians are on campus every day, the opportunity to assess clinical responses to medication can be made more efficiently and no adolescent remains on problematic medications unnecessarily. The physician also supervises the entire treatment team, orders appropriate lab work and interprets psychological test results.
  • Daily Group Psychotherapy, in ASL, with a Masters level therapist who is specifically trained to work with adolescent offenders.
  • Weekly Individual therapy, in ASL, with the same highly trained Masters level therapist.
  • Weekly Family therapy, either in person or through video conferencing. The family work is designed to explore family emotional responses to the sexual acting out, as well as to understand how the family environment may have impacted the development of the resident's difficulties.
  • Daily Recreational Therapy