Prelude - A game of discovery and learning.

Batshaw Centres & Aggression Replacement Training

December 4, 2009

The core mission of Batshaw Youth and Family Centres (Batshaw Centres) is to provide psychosocial rehabilitation and social integration services to Anglophone youth and families in Quebec. It uses Aggression Replacement Training, also known as A.R.T. in over 35 programs. A.R.T. is “a proven a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed for aggressive children, adolescents, and adults”. Aggression Replacement Training is being used in schools, youth care agencies, and prisons across Canada, the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden,  Russia, Iceland and  Norway. Batshaw Centres believes Prelude will be an important new tool in its A.R.T. programming and more generally. It plans to pilot the game extensively in a variety of settings as a first step in building an integrated practice.

Robert Calame the Batshaw Coordinator of A.R.T. programming  is also Secretary of the International Centre for Aggression Replacement Training Advisory Board (ICART). Robert also presented Prelude to his colleagues and graduate students in Norway this month. Norway is home to the A.R.T-Center at Diakonhjemmet University College in Rogaland. It’s postgraduate training program trains students in the identification, treatment, and prevention of aggressive and anti-social behaviour, and teaches them skills for the implementation of ART in organizations. Diakonhjemmet College has trained over 2,000 ART practitioners.

ART has been implemented in numerous Norwegian homes for youth with behavioural problems. Additionally, the program has been approved for the prevention and treatment of behavioural problems in Norwegian schools. [Preschool centers (Dolmen, 2005), primary schools (Dolmen & Solid, 2005), junior high schools (Onsager, 2005), child welfare institutions (Hellerdal, 2005; Olsen & Boutera, 2005) and - with minor adjustments - also on persons with Asperger Syndrome (Husby & Sagstad, 2005) and autism (Moynahan, 2003).] Robert and his partner, Kim Parker, facilitated a Prelude workshop with about 25 graduate students and professors. Their response was enthusiastic. Discussion is now underway about piloting Prelude with an entire community in the north of Norway.