Therapeutic relationships help your clients become centered in four domains of psychological functioning.  This can be visualized using The Domain Compass:

·       In the East, there’s the domain of emotions, consisting of feeling and moods.

·       In the South, there’s the domain of cognitions, consisting of thoughts and beliefs.

·       In the West, there’s the domain of behaviors, consisting of both all external actions and the internal actions of the physical body.

·       In the North, there’s the domain of executive skills and self-regulation. 

1.  Three relationship qualities to strive for within the domain of emotions.

·         Focus on increasing clients’ awareness of their own emotions.

o   The Check-In technique helps clients express their feelings and moods in words or in various kinds of rating scales.

·         Help sooth emotions that become too powerful or chaotic.

o   The Low and Slow approach helps to cool down an overheating nervous system.

o   The Organized Activities approach helps to structure a chaotic nervous system.

·         Build up clients’ fragile and/or low self-esteem.

o   Praise works through high frequency repetition to help kids see their own strengths and worth.

o   Attention helps kids feel their own worth.  Often times, older kids in residential treatment still need the intense level of attention that people appear to intuitively give to pre-schoolers.

2.  Two relationship qualities that help kids within the domain of cognitions.

·         Increase external structures to reduce cognitive chaos.

·         Break sequences down into smaller chunks.

3.  Three relationship qualities that help kids become behaviorally and physiologically centered.

·         Attend to kids’ basic physiological needs (water, food, sleep, exercise, rest).

·         Become an active and skilled listener.

·         Co-regulate with kids through joining them in play.

4.  One key relationship quality that helps kids in the domain of executive skills.

·         Help each kid make and keep friends.