The Judge recommended that I go to Thinking for a Change, what does this mean?

Cindy CastilloArizona Law, FAQs

Thinking for a Change 4.0 (T4C) is an integrated cognitive behavioral change program under a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). Thinking for a Change incorporates research from cognitive restructuring theory, social skills development, and the learning and use of problem solving skills.
Thinking for a Change is comprised of 25 lessons that build upon each other, and contains appendices that can be used to craft an aftercare program to meet ongoing cognitive behavioral needs of your group. The program is designed to be provided to justice-involved adults and youth, males and females.

Thinking for a Change is provided by corrections professionals in prisons, jails, detention centers, community corrections, probation, and parole settings. The National Institute of Corrections trains T4C group facilitators who can train additional staff to facilitate the program with justice-involved clients.

Thinking for a Change 4.0 represents a significant evolution in the curriculum, both in content and use. It is the most sincere hope of NIC and the authors that the changes enable you and your agency to better serve your clients. Correctional agencies can consider Thinking for a Change as one option in a continuum of interventions to address the cognitive, social, and emotional needs of their client populations.

Thinking for a Change (T4C) is an integrated, cognitive behavioral change program for offenders that includes cognitive restructuring, social skills development, and development of problem solving skills. Whether used by schools to teach students’ critical life skills, or by correctional and probation agencies to reduce juvenile or adult offender recidivism, the evidence based Thinking for a Change Program develops participants’ social and problem solving skills through demonstrations and role-play activities and it teaches participants how to create change in their thinking and behavior in order to make better decisions in their daily lives.

Cognitive self-change teaches individuals a concrete process for self-awareness aimed at uncovering risky thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. It is taught by using the simple principle that our thinking controls our behavior and to change our behavior, we must change our thinking.

Social skills instruction prepares participants to engage in pro-social interactions based on self-awareness and consideration of the impact their actions will have on others. Participants learn how to: actively listen, ask questions, appropriately respond to other’s anger, give feedback to others, effectively communicate apologies, negotiate, effectively communicate a complaint, understand the feelings of others, and recognize one’s own feelings.

Problem solving skills combines both the cognitive self-change and social skill components together to provide participants with a specific step by step process for addressing challenging and stressful real life situations and conflict.

Background of Thinking for a Change

The Thinking for a Change program was developed by Barry Glick, PhD, Jack Bush, PhD, and Juliana Taymans,Phd, in cooperation with the National Institute of Corrections.

THINKING FOR A CHANGE PROGRAM DELIVERY

Thinking for a Change (T4C) program is made up of activities and concepts that group members learn to apply to their daily life situations. This curriculum has 25 lesson plans with the option of AFTERCARE lessons. AFTERCARE groups would be defined by a group time when participants could meet and practice/apply the tools and skills learned to their real life problems/situations.