Facilitation Technique Category: Anger Management

Activity Title: Anger-Coping Program

Source: Dattilo, John, & McKenney, Alexis, (2016). Anger Management.
Facilitation Techniques in Therapeutic Recreation. (pp. 207-228). State
College, PA: Venture Publishing
Equipment: Therapists will need stimulus cards or pictures involving social
interactions to evoke individual responses to unclear situations. Therapists
will likewise need an audio tape recorder with microphone, and equipment
for taping and showing the progress made over the course of the program
(Lochman, p. 65).
Activity Description: The Anger-Coping Program is designed to show
individuals how to think about various situations before immediately
reacting. The general structure for this program was designed for an
educational setting, but can be applied almost everywhere. There are 18
sessions designed to promote a slowness to react, while incorporating goals,
objectives, and exercises in the process. Role play is often practiced with a
peer, to increase chances that skill will be attained. The program facilitates
this goal through avenues that aim at improving perspective, increased
ability to recognize physiological anger, and improved problem-solving.
Quickly put, the 18 sessions each focus on something different. For example,
the first session focuses on helping the children to understand the purpose of
the group. Second, this session introduces Goal-Setting to the child. The third
and fourth sessions focus on the role of thought in the control of emotions,
more so practicing methods of self-control. Perspective becomes the focus of
sessions five and six, while session seven focuses on having the child notice
their own bodily reactions to anger and how thought can change this for the
better or worse. Sessions Eight, Nine, and Ten go into detail on actual angercoping, like defining both the problem and solution. The next three sessions,
require a videotape being made after writing a script to identify all the
appropriate ways to react to anger. Finally, the last sessions of the program
are all about application of new strategies learned to cope with anger
(Lochman, p. 66).
Leadership Considerations: At least one therapist must have experience
with aggressive or oppositional children. It is both optional and beneficial for
a therapist to have experience in group psychotherapy and also has some
familiarity with the childrens social setting (Lochman, p. 65). Role play is a
huge part of this activity, so any personnel involved in the 18-session activity
will be available for role play for various scenarios.

Adaptations: Though this activity is not limited to individuals with

disabilities, it is very straight forward. Any individual suffering from a
developmental, cognitive, or behavioral disability would be a prime
candidate for this activity. More specifically, a child with ADHD would be an
ideal example. There would be no adaptations, as the goals and objectives
vary per individual, not necessarily by disability. There is still 18 scheduled
sessions, in which the goal is to reduce intense reactions to negative
situations.
Adaptations Reference:
Dattilo, John, & McKenney, Alexis, (2016). Anger Management. Facilitation
Techniques in Therapeutic Recreation. (pp. 207-228). State College, PA:
Venture Publishing
Lochman, E., Curry, F., Dane, H., & Ellis, M. (2001). The Anger Coping
Program: An Empirically-Supported Treatment for Aggressive Children.
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 18(3), 6373.
http://doi.org/10.1300/J007v18n03_06