All services offered are predicated upon the Pathways to Excellence program, and are designed to blend those principles with target goals of contracting entities. Examples of this basic approach are illustrated in the substantive content posted on this website. The probation school program discussed in Phase IV is illustrative of a micro application of the Program, with specific goals being set by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The text of the speech given in Toronto applies the totality of the Program to the issues of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice, and was in direct response to the goals stated by Toronto's Urban Alliance on Race Relations, the contracting agency.
In each instance, the contracting entity had specific goals regarding a target audience, and my obligation was to deliver accordingly, within my experiences and the basic Program principles discussed on this website.
Staff Training
The general goal of staff training has been the application of Program principles to increase motivation, skill level and confidence of a collective staff. Some of these principles are discussed in Phase II, and generally include such things as creating common goals that all staff will buy into; establishing baseline standards for business related behaviors and creating an effective strategy for raising those baseline behaviors, and laying a foundation for further growth in the future. Frameworks are employed to create a commonality of thought and focus for the increased efficiency of the staff members and the organization.
Contract Presentations
Settings in which contract presentations have occurred, and are available include:
1. Law Enforcement and Social Services agencies;
2. Maximum security minors;
3. County Bar Associations;
4. Individual Law Firms;
5. Classroom Settings;
6. Teacher Training;
7. School Assemblies
All of the above involved the application of Program principles and Client principles to reach a target result with a particular audience. This has included a wide range of topics including: motivation and direction of Inner City youth, incarcerated minors, and at risk youth generally; Juvenile Crime; duties of elected officials to provide the children's education as required by law; creating pathways out for children at risk and in jail; systems for making decisions, and hundreds of presentations on issues dealing with drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and the impact of such substances on Life.
Within the next few months, a CD ROM will be available which incorporates a set of principles with Boot Camp students which had never been tried before the taping, and which has since become a very effective tool in directly communicating with incarcerated minors. The essence of the presentation is to show the minors how their minds have been programmed to view life as they do, and why the fundamental assumptions upon which those decisions were made were incorrect. Success in this endeavor opens up huge possibilities for improvement, as it creates a new, and positive life framework through which to process information and make decisions..
I am also anticipating the opening of a Pathways to Excellence on line course for teachers in early February 2003.
Implementation of Group Home System and Operational Access Manual
The California Group Home system provided the first major opportunity to test the utility of a host of basic Program principles in a day to day living environment. The underlying theoretical bases of this material are contained in Phase III, with a resulting Group Home Manual and Access Manual being produced and implemented in the Group Homes in which I worked, and several others who still use the system today. The service being offered here is to assist Group Home administration and staff in implementing the Group Home Program, including staff training and direct teaching sessions to Residents of the homes.
Individual Assistance in the Personal Application of Program Principles
As mentioned in the posted text, I consider the Pathways to Excellence Program to be something separate and apart from myself. In offering to assist others with their experience with the Program, it is primarily from the basis of having worked the Program for 34 years rather than as its author. In the process of living it for all of that time, I have learned a great deal, and for those who choose to try it, I believe that I can be of assistance in accelerating one's progress, or in helping someone get started. Accordingly, I have been, and continue to be available to discuss Program matters and individual progress on a one on one basis.
I also have been asked by parents to provide individual counseling to teenagers on a wide range of subjects, and do so whenever I can. The years in the Group Homes, and in Juvenile institutions yielded much information about stabilizing behaviors within the juvenile population, generally.
