Oftentimes when young children present for anger management issues, they are seen individually. It is seldom that a group approach to this problem is used. Yet, children between the ages of 5 and 10 are accustomed to learning in groups and, therefore, a programmatic group approach to anger management is both educational and therapeutic, as well as cost effective. The primary goals of this program, "Anger Management for Children: An Eight-Session Group Therapy Approach," involves learning. All too often, it is assumed that children already know how to express their anger appropriately and that they are intentionally behaving badly. This type of thinking is considered too punitive and in need of reframing. Therefore, the goals of this program are all learning-based and are as follows:

    The child will:

learn what anger is learn to recognize when he/she is angry learn to recognize what it is to be out-of-control versus in-control of his/her anger learn methods and techniques to control his/her anger learn alternatives to anger

     Furthermore, the program is designed to allow for multiple professionals to contribute to the experience. Specifically, each session is designed to be forty-five minutes to an hour, but is not necessarily therapist-specific. It is designed to be used in a clinic, hospital, school, and/or home setting where it may be necessary for multiple individuals to conduct one or more of the sessions. To demonstrate this concept, four presenters will be involved in this workshop. The program is designed to offer a systematic approach to teaching children, as well as to staff training. Therefore, a child-oriented manual, as well as a staff training manual, will be distributed. Lastly, after each session, parents/teachers/guardians/etc. are oriented to that learning experience, and will receive a companion manual as well. The eight session topics are as follows:

Lesson #1 – What is Anger? Lesson #2 - Anger is a Defense Lesson #3 - What Makes You Angry? Lesson #4 - Anger Control Lesson #5 – More About Anger Control Lesson #6 – Be Heard, Not Hurt Lesson #7 – Alternatives to Anger Lesson #8 – Wrap-up