Some thoughts on Anger Management

I recently had the good fortune to meet with one of our Superior Court Judges in Orange County to discuss his views on anger management. As an approved provider for the Probation Department, he asked me if I thought anger management helps. My response was that all of my participants take a pre and post educational evaluation and almost unanimously they improve over the course of the program. He also asked if I only offer the "10-week" program. I informed him that I offer programs up to 52 weeks. In Orange County, participants are typically mandated for 10, 12, or 22-week programs and very rarely up to 52 weeks. I also informed him of our new curriculum, “Anger Management for the 21st-Century”, which is an educationally based model, introduced earlier this year. It is currently being used by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department's youth diversion program, the Capistrano Unified School District, as well as the Orange County Probation Department.

As with any curriculum, it takes time, energy and resources to learn the effectiveness, validity, and reliability of a new model of intervention. Currently, there are limited studies in the field of anger management that have clinically validated a single model with peer reviews. I believe there is latitude for a variety of models of anger management. Much more research needs to be done to decide what kinds of interventions work with the greatest result over an extended period of time. My exposure to the field is some what new, just a few years, and I am rapidly learning how important the intervention of anger management can be on those in need of help.

I also have been speaking with Raymond Novaco, Ph.D. He is a Professor and researcher at UC Irvine in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior and author of numerous books, articles and reviews in the field of Anger Management. He is the person who coined the term “Anger Management” back in 1975. He is currently reviewing our curriculum and has asked if I would be interested in doing some additional work together with him in the future. Dr. Novaco is also known for his clinically validated assessment tool, the Navaco Anger Scale (NAS) and Provocation Inventory (PI).

The Century Anger Management (CAM) model is based on 8 tools of anger control:
Tool #1 Dealing with Stress
T00l #2 Empathy
Tool #3 Respond instead of React
Tool #4 Change that conversation with yourself
Tool#5 Assertive Communication
Tool #6 Adjust those Expectations
Tool #7 Forgive, but don't forget
Tool #8 Retreat and think things over

For more information please visit our website at http://www.ajnovickgroup.com/. For more information on the interests of anger management providers there are two useful sites to review. http://www.namass.org/ and http://www.angermanagementproviders.com/