Anger In The News

Distance Learning is Wave of Future

Many universities are now offering students distance learning programs which greatly benefit students who may live in areas quite geographically distant. Anger Management is following the same societal trend, with new online programs being produced by providers across the country. As is true in any new industry, quality control is an issue, so "buyer beware" seems to be a good motto to follow. Century Anger Management takes pride in having developed on online program which is technically state-of-the-art and contains exactly the same material that we use in our local classes. This material has been approved by the Orange County Probation Department for use in one of our local programs; the Orange County Probation department is currently reviewing our online program also for approval.

Our 8-tool model of anger management which is contained in the online program is also approved by the California Department of Corrections for the training of probation and parole officers. Our model of anger management is now used across the nation, from Alaska to Florida and in some other countries such as the Bahamas, Cuba, Malaysia and China. It is the model of choice for many probation departments, social service agencies, church anger management programs, the Salvation Army, and private companies. 

We predict that other probation departments and courts across the land will develop criteria for approval of  online programs, as the need is so great.   When that happens, the Century Anger Management program (marketed as angercoachonline.com and angerclassonline.com) will be poised to apply for approval and continue to provide leadership in this new information-technology world. 

There are providers out there who feel that onlines programs should not be approved. We could not disagree more.  Quality and professionally produced online anger management programs are the wave of the future and will provide another vehicle for anger control in our world which ultimately will benefit all of society.

Important to Teach Empathy Skills in Anger Program

A core tool in the Century Anger Management model of anger management is that of developing more empathy - the skill of seeing and experiencing the world from the perspective of other people. Since it is so important, it is crucial to ask how an anger management professional can best teach this skill to participants? 

We have found that the trainer should start by simply making participants more aware of the concept that increased empathy can decrease anger because it is more difficult to stay angry at someone after you understand where they are coming from and how they are seeing things.

We then find it very effective to explain empathy by use of example or metaphor. We teach our trainers how to use these examples effectively with clients and then encourage trainers to develop their own stock of examples and applications. Story-telling is an extremely effective way to teach empathy because people remember stories much longer than lecture material.

Finally, we teach trainers to have participants rate themselves on empathy skills so they can identify areas of weakness which would need to be developed and practiced between sessions.

Conflict Resolution Skills training important in anger management

Anger is often generated when conflicts arise between people who do not know how to resolve them. Anger Management professionals should teach their clients the skills of conflict resolution. This is done by pointing out the various approaches to conflict resolution, some of which are passive and others more active. These approaches include the following:

• avoidance (withdrawing from conflict),
• accommodating (one person resolves the conflict by giving in to the other person at the expense of his or her own needs),
• Compromising (gains and losses are shared by both people)
• Forcing (one of both people attempt to satisfy their own needs regardless of the impact on the other person)
• Collaborating (both people fully satisfy the needs of other; each individual is a winner)

We teach our clients that the best approach to conflict resolution is sometimes compromise, but almost always collaboration. Collaborating, however, is difficult and requires both people to look beyond the immediate problem and to somehow get on the same side of the issue on a more general level. (For instance, "we disagree on how to raise our daughter, but we both agree something has to be done").

Collaboration takes creativity and work, but successful collaboration as a conflict resolution strategy can produce two winners and is the most assertive approach to conflict resolution.

For more information on our approach to anger management training, visit us at http://www.centuryangerrmanagement.com

Why Teach Anger Management in Classes?

Our model of anger management focuses on teaching anger management skills in a classroom/educational setting rather than a therapy-model one-on-one counseling setting. We feel there are numerous advantages to this model, although admittedly some people also need traditional therapy or even medication for their anger management.

In the classroom setting, participants have a mind-set of listening and learning rather than just talking or sharing their experiences. Many people feel more comfortable in this type of setting, knowing that they don't have to share their lives with strangers, as would be required in either individual or group therapy. In addition, we have found that our "classroom" model draws many people to our program that would not  otherwise go to a therapist for help because of the stigma involved.

The classroom setting allows the trainer to focus on specific skill-building strategies rather than focusing on past causes of the anger problem. While knowing the origins of the anger can be helpful to some people, for many this knowledge or "insight" doesn't necessarily change their behavior.

The classroom setting also allows the trainer to assign "homework" tasks between sessions to encourage participants to practice the specific skills they have learned. In our model, we teach  from a structured workbook which also allows participants to have a reference with them at all times  should they be anger-challenged in their daily lives.

More information about the Century Anger Management Model by clicking here.

Is Anger Management Superior to Anger Therapy?

There are many models of anger management intervention, which include medication, traditional therapies. and cognitive, educational skill- building models such as that taught and used by Century Anger Management.  Which is better? This question cannot easily be answered because human beings are very complex. What works best for one person  doesn't necessarily work so well with another person. Therapy works for some who have more deep-rooted issues, but many say that just understanding the origin of one' s anger ( which is often the goal of therapy) doesn't help in controlling it.  Medication may be helpful for severe anger (such as with a condition called Intermittent Explosive Disorder) or for underlying depression, but most anger clients do not fall into these categories.

At Century Anger Management, we have developed a brief skill-building cognitive model of anger management which is usually delivered to classes of participants, although it can be used in individual coaching. Is it the only model that works? Of course not.  And, we certainly don' t believe we are the ONLY answer to anger problems in the world.  But, we do keep data on clients that participate in our programs, and the results are very encouraging.  At the end of the course, 96% of participants rate the program as at least "8" on a scale from 1-10. Many of our clients refer others into the program.

For those that need additional help, we often refer them to individual therapy and /or medication management as a supplement to the skills they have learned in anger management.   

Is there state regulation for anger management training?

A commonly asked question about our training model is, "is your model approved by the state?" The answer unfortunately is "no," because,a s far as we know, there is no state in the union that approves or disapproves ANY anger management training program. Because of this situation, consumers who wish to become anger management professionals need to look at the professional backgrounds and reputation of the authors of any training program they purchase. It is also important to look at the number and quality of continuing education associations that allow continuing education credits for the program, as this offers some measure of quality control.

At Century Anger Management, our programs are written and produced by a licensed psychologist and licensed clinical therapist with combined clinical experience of 42 years.  Both actively teach the CAM model of anger management personally to consumers in Southern California for a combined average of 200-300 sessions a month. Our companies also sell home-study and online programs reaching many more angry consumers across the country.

Our training model is accepted by many continuing education associations, as listed on our website as well as  approved by the California State Board of Corrections for the training of probation, parole and correctional officers .

We feel there should be state regulation of anger management providers and our company will support all efforts to make that happen. In the meantime, we do our best to provide the highest quality training possible to aspiring anger management professionals to ensure quality control and to protect consumers from under trained providers.

More....... 

Why Choose Century Anger Management for Training?

If you want to become certified to do anger management, what are your choices of training programs? Actually, there are numerous "models" of anger management that work well- despite the claims of some that there is "only one training model that works." 

There is one particular company that claims they are number 1, with no proof that their model is better than other models. They warn that if consumers are trained by anyone else, they are getting second best. This statement is pure "marketing" and not backed up with any objective data that we know of.

Actually, consumers should look around and pick a training model that best fits their particular clients. Following is a list of reasons why we believe the Century Anger Management Model should be strongly considered:

1. It was developed by two very experienced clinical therapists, both with a Ph.D. degree, and both licensed by the state of California to practice.  This is important because anger management involves an array of clinical skills, both in assessment and practice. The 40-hour training program they developed includes many modules based on their years of clinical experience. This ensures the best possible background for those doing anger management individually or in classes or groups.

2. Century Anger Management is very user-friendly. We will support you during your training and after you have been certified. We answer all emails and all phone calls. We value our providers and do everything we can to keep providers current in our model of anger management.  Our certification is valid for two years- with very inexpensive upgrades available after that.

3. We have now trained hundreds of providers in California and elsewhere. While we can't claim that we are the biggest training company yet, we are growing and we try harder. Our model is used by many large organizations such as the Salvation Army, numerous Probation Departments, military installations, and County Mental Health Systems.

4. We offer two ways you can become certified - through Live Training or through our new home-study program. This makes it flexible and convenient for both local people and people across the country who can benefit from our model without having to fly to California to be trained.

5. Unlike most other training organizations in anger management, we offer many free resources to providers and consumers alike, to help people with their anger issues. This includes free newsletters, podcasts, articles, and other resource materials.

More information at http://www.centuryangermanagement.com/Training/tabid/56/Default.aspx

Century Anger Management Training Back on The Road

In response to numerous requests around the state, Century Anger Management will offer a series of Level 1 trainings to certify providers from Northern California to the Mexican border in its new and extremely well-received 40-hour training model.

The first "Live" training will be in The Bay Area on October 4th and 5th. This will be followed by a two-day live training in the San Diego area on November 8th and 9th, 2007. Following "live training", providers achieve Level 2 ("Anger Management Professional") by later completing 24 hours of online training. 

The Century Anger Management Model of anger management training is based on the book "Anger Management for The Twenty-First Century" which teaches providers how to teach the acclaimed 8 tools of anger management which has found to be so effective with consumers.

More information on our training model, continuing education credits available and upcoming trainings can be found at:

http://www.centuryangermanagement.com/Training/tabid/56/Default.aspx

Why the Century Anger Management Model of Intervention?

Why choose the Century Anger Management model of intervention as your source of certification training in anger management?  That is a good question.  We are not the oldest training provider in the nation, and we certainly aren't the most well known, primarily due to the fact of being in existence for about 3 1/2 years.  As the founders of Century Anger Management we created this model because we felt that the current state of anger management certification should be expanded.  As with the treatment of any disorder, there are often numerous approaches to helping people.  Some approaches work better than others; however, we  have created a model that is helping people each and every day.  We also developed this model because we didn't want people trained by us to feel obligated to follow strict purchasing and marketing requirements of our products/brand  in order to be listed a  provider.

Anger Management has become a business, like any other industry.  Our primarily goal in developing our model and certification training through Century Anger Management was to professionally train anger management providers in a model that works and that helps consumers.  Our second motivation was to develop a business that made sense for everyone, us, the consumer, and our providers.  Making a buck is not our primary motivation, our primary motivation is produce as many professionally trained anger management providers as possible in the Century Anger Management model of intervention to help the general public.

Criticism?  The only criticism of our model comes from our competition, not from consumers, agencies, business or law enforcement.  So, any bad press about us is really just propaganda and is baseless in our opinion.  It's unfortunate because in the end, I believe we all want to serve the same purpose:  Help consumers who are seeking problems with anger and stress. 

Can more than one model of anger management co-exist?  Absolutely in our opinion.  While we also take the position that anger management is NOT psychotherapy, there are literally hundreds of psychotherapy models that work, depending on the problem. There are many models of anger management in existence, and upwards of about 6-8 training providers if you do an internet search for "anger management certification, anger management providers, anger management programs, anger management training". 

Does the best one mean the most popular one on the internet?  I guess, if you knew nothing about internet marketing.  Internet marketing is complex, but can be misleading to the consumer because internet popularity is not an objective criteria for "best", it just means most popular by criteria set by the search engines.  Try doing an internet search for "best ice cream".  The most popular website is http://www.bluebell.com/.  Personally, I like Ben and Jerry's, but I guess based on search engine popularity, bluebell is the winner....

We believe we have a quality training program that will help the consumer.  We have hundreds of testimonials to support this.  We have numerous approvals and many agencies, probation departments, governmental agencies, and private practicioners using our model every day. Our model, like may others is educational in nature, but based on many empirically validated cognitive-behavioral techniques.  It includes the following tools:

Tool One — Dealing with stress. This tool teaches skills in effective stress management strategies to help reduce physical, mental and emotional signs of stress.

Tool Two — Empathy Development. Teaches skills in emotional intelligence and empathy.  Empathy is the ability to feel what another person feels.  Empathy skills reduce anger responses.

Tool Three — Respond instead of React. Teaches ways to deal with situations using better judgement and impulse control.  Not reacting to situations can often be a valuable tool in dealing with difficult situations or people.

Tool Four — Change Self-Talk. Changing self-talk can help us become more positive as well as develop more positive outcomes in our lives.  Proven techniques and methods explored

Tool Five — Assertive Communication — An exploration of harmful communication styles and a detailed disscussion of the effectiveness of being assertive.  Training in expressing feelings and needs.

Tool Six — Adjust Those Expectations. Managing expectations can help reduce frustation.  Clients are exposed to 5 skills for managing expectations more effectively

Tool Seven  — Forgive, but don't forget. This chapter explores effective ways for forgiving others while not giving up your rights as a person.

Tool Eight — Retreat and Think Things Over. This chapter explores the "freeze frame" technique as well as the concept of "staying in the box" to calm down.

Almost all quality anger management models in existence today include skills in communication, empathy, and stress management.  We know these areas are important because there is enough research available to support this.  We also know that skills/techniques in forgiveness, expectation management, learning better judgment and impulse control, taking time-outs and improving internal dialog also work, which is why they were incorporated into our model.

How many people reading this blog have actually conducted and written a literature review for a topic of research on your own?  Unless you have completed a masters or doctoral degree you probably have not done this.  How many readers can honestly say you know how to do this and/or can   assess someone's else's research?  Research takes a long time and is tedious.  We did the work.  We created what we believe is a state of the art model of anger management. 

We are not the most popular training provider on the internet, likely due to the fact that our main motivation is not to be internet marketers.....but, we do have a world class model of anger management that will benefit anyone who seeks training as a professional provider of anger management.  We allow our providers the freedom to advertise as they choose, and we don't condemn our trainees if they can't or don't want to buy many of our client workbooks or other related products.  We give discounts and we help our providers anyway we can.

Anyone who is already trained in another model of anger management, we welcome you to view a complementary copy of our curriculum.  Just send us an email and we will respond.  Don't pass judgment until you make a determination on your own.  Judgment and curiosity are like two sides of a coin.  Curiosity leads to many possible conclusions.  Judgment on the other hand leads to only one, and it may be a poor judgment based on false facts or what some else told you.

Anyone who has questions or would like additional information about our model please feel free to contact us either through this blog or on our website at www.centuryangermanagement.com

Tony Fiore, Ph.D.
Ari Novick, Ph.D.