A general semantics approach to clinical supervision with drug prevention counselors.

I am the Assistant Director of PROJECT SHARE, a 12 month Kindergarten through ninth grade New York City school-based drug prevention program serving over 26,000 students, teachers, parents, and other residents of Community School District 30, located in the western part of Queens County. We call ourselves the "United Nations" district because of the diversity of immigrant students who attend school here and the number of languages spoken. It is estimated that our 26,000 students speak more than 100 languages and come from over 140 countries. The poverty index of the district's 26 schools is approximately 70% (this reflects the percent of students receiving free lunches or on public assistance).

The goals of our program include delivering a clear no-use message to children; educating and motivating people to make healthy choices in their lives; reinforcing cultural norms that discourage destructive behavior; and reinforcing basic civic values.

Project share has been in existence since 1971. Over the years we have refined and updated our educational approach to drug prevention. When we first started there was little research on what was effective, and we basically relied on scare tactics and moral exhortations. These methods did not produce very good results. Since then we have adopted a more sophisticated approach known as "Results-Oriented Prevention Programming." This allows us to use a variety of strategies to impact specific targeted groups. For example, our Youth Advisors give classroom lessons and assembly presentations on such topics as coping with stress, good decision-making and problem-solving techniques, ways to bolster self-esteem, and lessons on the risks of drug-taking. They may offer students positive alternative programs such as music, dramatics, crafts, or athletic workshops. We also sponsor an elementary school animal club emphasizing concern for living things and respect for life; an annual fairy tale trial providing students an opportunity to become familiar with the workings of the criminal justice system by presenting a mock jury trial; and a mediation skills program providing students with alternative dispute-resolution techniques.

Our Youth Advisors are required to offer faculty, parent, and community presentations on a variety of topics including: how teachers can recognize child abuse; communication skills for parents; how to stop smoking; and many other practical topics.

Our program has applied for and won numerous federal and local grants to help us accomplish our mission. And we have just been nominated by our state funding agency for a 1995 National Exemplary Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Award. The goals of these awards are to (1) provide models of state-of-the art alcohol and other drug prevention programs that may be adopted by others and (2) focus national attention on exemplary alcohol and other drug prevention efforts.

My job as assistant director includes administering and supervising a staff of 23 Youth Advisors who are responsible for delivering our drug prevention services to the 26 schools in our district. I have held this position for 10 years. For 16 years before that I worked as a teacher Youth Advisor in the program.

In 1980 I received a Ph.D. in Organizational and Administrative studies from New York University. My dissertation involved using general semantics to reduce feelings of alienation among junior high school "problem students." As an administrator and supervisor, I have continued to use knowledge gained from general semantics. This paper will focus on some of the ways I have done this. More specifically, I will discuss how I have applied general semantics formulations in my work to facilitate better interpersonal relations and more effective organizational functioning.

The Map is Not the Territory

In the late 1970s and early 1980s salaries for our counselors, whom we call Youth Advisors, were quite low, even by the traditional standards of social service workers. Because of this we were only able to attract high school graduates or those who had a few college credits. These Youth Advisors were committed to delivering the drug prevention message to the children, but they lacked an ability to easily understand and implement the mandated paperwork.

However, with time and effort most mastered the rudiments, at least well enough to hack a bit of a path through the paperwork jungle. As the years went by, this group of Youth Advisors moved up the organizational hierarchy and assumed positions which required some supervisory responsibility.

The people they were responsible for supervising have been hired since the mid 1980s, a time when we were able to offer significantly higher starting salaries. Because of this we were able to hire college graduates and a few with masters degrees. These newer employees were as dedicated to the drug prevention cause as their predecessors. But unlike the earlier group they were able to master the paperwork with relative ease.

A few years ago our state funding agency extensively revised our paperwork forms and procedures. All staff were given training and an overview of the new paperwork protocols, and I told them to let me know if they had any difficulties in this area. In the days that followed it became clear to me that the new staff understood the procedures but the more experienced yet less educated staff was having problems. I came to realize that it would take a while before the senior staff would understand the new procedures. Now, unfortunately, the senior staff was required, as part of their supervisory responsibilities, to visit the more recently hired group to review their paperwork.

It wasn't long before I was hearing complaints from the new hirees that went something like, "How can my supervisor know less than me, especially since the supervisor has more experience on the job and it is his responsibility to explain the paperwork procedures?" And they wanted to know how they could avoid getting into arguments with the supervisors, when the supervisors incorrectly explained the paperwork.

A general-semantics-based response occurred to me when I heard these complaints and I explained that in this situation, and in many others, the map is not the territory. More specifically in this case, the label "supervisor" (the map) did not automatically equate with an ability to effectively understand and communicate paperwork procedures (the territory) to others. In an ideal world this discrepancy would not happen, but in the civil service seniority system it turns out that people may be assigned labels that do not reflect their ability to do the entire job. Also given the reality of civil service job protection, and the general antipathy of our staff to doing paperwork, I thought there was little incentive for senior staff to greatly improve their performance in this regard.

It seemed to me that since the drug prevention field is part of what has been termed "the helping professions," then the more knowledgeable supervisees could help their less knowledgeable supervisors learn the paperwork. Now, I thought this might not happen in a straightforward manner, since it has been my experience that people with the label "supervisor" generally do not like those with the label "subordinate" to explain supervisory job functions to them. So I suggested to the subordinates that they employ a strategy involving respectfully listening to their supervisors explain the paperwork to them and during this process gently and sympathetically point out the correct procedures to the supervisors. Also, rather than think of themselves as subordinates in the interaction, they could instead reframe the situation and imagine themselves as teachers of difficult students who think they understand the work. Of course, the teaching task in this case would be more challenging than usual because the supervisors really thought of themselves as teachers. But what is life without a challenge? With this in mind the subordinates could focus and direct their energy to something that would be useful to both members of the interaction. Also, it gave the subordinates a sense of empowerment, since they thought of themselves as teachers, for many an empowering role.

This reframing effort resulted in less angry subordinates and more knowledgeable supervisors.

The IFD Syndrome

The people we hire as Youth Advisors tend to be highly motivated and idealistic. Most believe that with zealous conviction and diligent effort they can make major changes in the lives of the students they work with. Unfortunately, many of these students come from backgrounds filled with neglect, abuse, and chaotic family conditions. To make matters worse, the Youth Advisor sees these students on a very limited basis, due to the restrictions of school scheduling policy, considerable parental distrust of school-based counseling, and significant degrees of student truancy. Elementally speaking, "Life ain't easy for a Youth Advisor."

To experience success in our field one had better internalize the extensional theory of happiness one finds in the general semantics literature, that is, have minimum expectations and be prepared to not get exactly what you want - but rather try to dispassionately work with the "reality" of the situation. The "reality" of the Youth Advisor's situation, as I see it, means you are having success if you make modest gains such as: decreasing truancy; opening up dialogues with parents, teachers, and students; or having students begin to do their homework, rather than expecting 100% school attendance, perfect student-teacher, student-parent interaction, or immediate significant academic improvement.

I explain this "reality" to Youth Advisors when they begin the job, but sometimes their enthusiasm and dedication causes them to disregard my advice and plow ahead with their idealistic goals and objectives. For many, this leads to what is popularly called "burnout" - a physical, emotional, and mental state of depletion caused by seeing one's strenuous efforts producing poor results. This "burnout" is compounded by the fact that there is often little organizational, societal, or economic reinforcement for one's efforts, for it frequently seems that the principal and the teachers are too busy to acknowledge the hard work of the Youth Advisor, that our society reserves preferred status for doctors and lawyers, and that the pay in the human services field just isn't that great.

When I begin seeing signs of "burnout" in a Youth Advisor, I talk to him about Wendell Johnson's IFD syndrome - that is, how one can go from idealization to frustration to demoralization. Often this concept is gratefully received and readily understood by the Youth Advisors who then may reassess their efforts in terms of what can more realistically be achieved.

The Use of Extensional Devices

Some general semantics extensional devices can make one's professional life more satisfying and productive. One extensional device to employ is to "date" a student, in the general semantics sense, that is. For example, I am occasionally greeted while walking down the street by a student I counseled many years earlier, who, at that time, seemed a hopeless case. He tells me he is now working steadily or is happily married or going to college. Without prompting I often receive an unsolicited testimonial such as, "Dr. Levinson, I remember when you said you need to work hard to have success, or when you said if you set goals you have control." I think to myself that [Ronald.sub.1995] is a far cry from that supposedly hopeless [Ronald.sub.1985]. I tell my Youth Advisors that even though their [Ronald.sub.1995] may seem to be a hopeless case now, you never know what [Ronald.sub.2005] will be like. Youth Advisors can use the dating device to keep their feelings of helplessness and hopelessness at a reasonable level at times when they are not getting anywhere with particular students.

Another useful extensional device is indexing. Sometimes demoralized Youth Advisors complain to me that the teachers as a group are impossible to work with, or that none of their students are making any progress in counseling. Rather than waste time arguing against these allness statements I suggest we index and look for examples of teachers who are being supportive and students who are making some progress.

In other words, just because teachers one, two, and three aren't being supportive doesn't mean that teacher four is behaving in a similar manner. And just because students one, two, and three are not making visible progress doesn't mean that student four is following suit.

Generalizing or blanket statement thinking may prevent the Youth Advisor from being aware of his successes with individuals. Indexing provides the Youth Advisor with a way to look for success in order to combat negative thinking and to try to replicate success with others. It focuses efforts on a constructive outlook to build for better results in the future, and it takes the focus off unproductive complaining.

Delaying One's Reactions

Youth Advisors complain to me that they often feel a sense of being "dissed and dismissed" by the educational system. For example, even though they are charged with the important responsibility of delivering a drug prevention message, unlike teachers, they must recruit their students and set up their own schedules. They also work a longer day than teachers, work all summer, and make a smaller salary. In addition, the physical facilities that are allocated for their work tend to be such spaces as book rooms, gym locker rooms, supply closets, washrooms, or often no space at all - in which case the counselor meets with the students in the auditorium or cafeteria.

In spite of these hardships most Youth Advisors maintain good spirits and a sense of mission in their work. This helps sustain them through the day as they engage in the good fight to prevent drug abuse among their charges. Unfortunately, I have observed that Youth Advisor morale can be dampened and even drowned if they experience a lack of camaraderie or acceptance from the school staff. For example, when the Youth Advisor reports for work and greets the principal and the teachers with a smile and a pleasant "Good Morning" the response will often be a scowling look or a total dismissal of the greeting. The typical reaction of the Youth Advisor, particularly one who is not familiar with the New York City Public School System, is often a feeling of dejection or anger. This "signal" response may be felt physically as a sinking stomach or a blow to the chest, and more significantly, being dejected or angry can interfere with the calm, clear thinking that is needed during the day to do effective work.

I sometimes suggest to the Youth Advisor that instead of immediately responding to and taking personally the "cold shoulder" attitude of some school staff, he may instead want to step back and figure out what is actually going on in the situation. For example, he may want to consider that perhaps some of the school staff feels too harried and preoccupied to be civil to anyone in the morning, or perhaps some of the staff really dislike being in school and are too self-pitying to be gracious to others, or perhaps some staff, over the years, have developed a habit of reacting negatively to any new person who comes into the school. Just stopping to consider these possible explanations seems to have a calming influence on the Youth Advisors.

A similarly distressing situation that Youth Advisors encounter are the school staff cliques. At lunch time and during breaks, such cliques tend to clannishly exclude outsiders. The Youth Advisor has an additional problem. Unlike other school staff members, such as teachers, cafeteria workers, and custodial staff, the Youth Advisor is the only Youth Advisor in the school. I try to point out to the Youth Advisor that even though the teachers may be behaving in a somewhat boorish and uncivil manner, he does not have to take it personally. If he can delay his response to his immediate thoughts and feelings he can ask himself the following questions: Why are the teachers behaving this way? Am I doing something that is causing their poor behavior? Is there anything I can do to change their negative responses? By being able to delay an immediate response the Youth Advisor takes control of his emotions and can often figure out ways to cope more productively with the situation.

I will suggest to the Youth Advisor who would like to be part of particular social groups at school to concentrate time and energy with those staff members who seem more open to relationships. Also, it has been my experience that individuals in cliques may become friendlier to outsiders over the course of time. Delaying one's reaction can be helpful to the Youth Advisor while he waits for this process to occur.

Conclusion

In past educationally-related work I have used general semantics productively in counseling junior high school students and in teaching college students. From my experience, whether one counsels, teaches, or administers, employing the formulations of general semantics will help get the job done more effectively.