Children often struggle to cope with anger, and angry feelings can boil over into aggression and destructive behaviour. This resource takes a different approach to anger, teaching children how to be angry effectively, rather than telling them not to be angry at all.

This group program provides step-by-step guidelines for building anger management and assertive emotional expression skills through tailored lessons, group activities and thought-provoking discussions. Participants will learn specific skills such as:

- Using I-Statements
- Standing Up to Bullies
- Disagreeing without Arguing
- Making and Refusing Requests
- Responding to Anger
- Finding Win—Win Solutions

Suitable for use with children and teenagers aged 5—18, this engaging resource will help children to overcome self-destructive patterns of passive, aggressive, and passive aggressive behaviour. It will be of great use to educators, counselors, social workers, youth care professionals, psychologists and parents.

Review

'How to Be Angry is theoretically sound, psychologically realistic and engagingly interactive…Anyone working or living with young people will be interested in How to Be Angry for the practical guidelines and engaging activities it uses to teach positive choices in anger expression and real-world skills for assertive communication. I can assure you that after teaching this curriculum and experiencing the rewarding comments of the students, this book, How to Be Angry, will never be returned to your book shelf.'
--From the Foreword by Dr Nicholas J. Long, Professor Emeritus, American University, Washington D.C., USA and President, Life Space Crisis Intervention Institute, USA

Author

Signe Whitson is a licensed social worker and Chief Operating Officer of the Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) Institute, an international certification program that trains adults in turning crisis situations into learning opportunities for children and youth with chronic patterns of self-defeating behaviour. Signe has over ten years' experience working as a staff trainer and therapist for children and adolescents in individual, family, group, and school settings. She presents across the United States on topics related to child and adolescent mental health. She is co-author of The Angry Smile: The Psychology of Passive Aggressive Behaviour in Families, Schools and Workplaces, 2nd edition.

Contents

Creating a positive group environment. Using the curriculum. Feedback.

Part 1: Exploring Anger Behaviors.

• Session 1 That Makes Me So Mad!: Identifying Common Anger Triggers.
• Session 2 Decisions, Decisions! Four Choices in Anger Expression.
• Session 3 Sugarcoated Hostility: The Five Levels of Passive Aggressive Behavior.
• Session 4 Behind the Mask: Exploring Public Faces and Private Realities.
• Session 5 More than Words Can Express: How Body Language and Tone of Voice Can Say It All.

Part 2: Developing Assertive Anger Expression Skills.

• Session 6 I Feel Angry: Using I-Messages to Express Anger Assertively.
• Session 7 Yes, No, or Maybe So: Assertive Skills for Disagreeing Without Arguing.
• Session 8 Keeping Bullies at Bay, Part 1: The Five Ws of Bullying.
• Session 9 Keeping Bullies at Bay, Part 2: Four Rules for Using Assertive Communication to Stand Up to Bullies.
• Session 10 "May I Please" and "No Can Do:" Guidelines for Assertively Making and Refusing Requests.
• Session 11 "That's So Nice of You to Say:" Assertive Strategies for Giving and Receiving Compliments.
• Session 12 On the Receiving End: Three Steps for Responding Assertively to Anger.
• Session 13 Four Square Problem-Solving: Finding Win-Win Solutions     

Part 3: Committing

• Session 14 What's The Plan
• Session 15 Putting It All Together

Author: Signe Whitson  Pub USA 2011 Pb large format 216 pages.