Behavior Management Program 

In most communities, there are no available treatment options for individuals who have rational, targeted, behavior patterns designed to achieve specific objectives that result in legal involvement. There are treatment options for individuals who have substance/chemical dependency, anger management (considered to be a lack of impulse control), or domestic violence issues (considered to be the habitual manipulation, control, of significant others by the perpetrator). Treatment agencies, as well as judicial/court entities, hope that these programs address the lack of impulse control and associated behavioral problems incorporated within the substance abuse, angering behaviors, and domestic abuse. However, there are few to no treatment options for those individuals who use criminal behaviors to meet their specific, targeted goals. Examples of individuals appropriate for this program include individuals who sell illegal substances but don’t use them, individuals who use burglary as a means of financial support, and individuals who abuse animals because of the animal’s availability to vent their anger, frustration and need for control over a weaker object. Lighthouse Addiction Services has developed a program that specifically addresses the cognitive and behavioral components of these as well as other such targeted criminal behavior.

The Behavior Management Program is a sixteen week group counseling program that uses cognitive-behavioral interventions to influence both thinking and behavior patterns in the program participants. The group program utilizes a psycho-educational/discussion format. The program also includes an individual assessment and evaluation to assure that participants are appropriate for the treatment program. Mark Lipsey of Vanderbilt University analyzed the results of 548 different research studies and concluded that cognitive-behavioral approaches were more effective in reducing further criminal behavior than any other intervention. The Behavior Management Program at Lighthouse Addiction Services builds on the successful cognitive-behavioral interventions used in its substance abuse program, and applies the thinking and behavior intervention strategies to all criminal behaviors.