16. The Aspect Compass & Meeting Kids' Needs

Becoming Centered

This podcast presents a powerful perspective for helping your child-clients become centered. It’s based on understanding your kids’ needs through The Aspect Compass, a model representing four aspects of the psyche: The Artist (emotions), The Scout (cognitions), The Warrior (behaviors), and The Chief (executive skills). Each aspect has unique needs that, when addressed, can help children become centered and balanced:

For the inner Artist:

• Getting sufficient attention.
• Experiencing a full range of feelings.
• Achieving emotional stability.
• Expressing feelings.
• Facing fears.
• Grieving.

Attention and validation are essential for children's emotional well-being. Offering appropriate outlets for expressing emotions through words or art is encouraged. Support in facing fears and containing grief, while directing processing of grief to a therapist, are all important ways residentials staff support The Artist feeling centered.

For the inner Scout:

• Developing awareness.
• Observing skills.
• Acquiring knowledge.
• Navigating effectively.
• Reporting skills.

Engaging in activities that focus on sensory perception and cognitive exploration helps children become cognitively centered. Physically exploring and navigating an environment will help kids experience behaving like a scout. Encouraging accurate reporting will develop their abilities to be an effective scout, and will help their inner Scout feel centered.

For the inner Warrior:

• Having a mission and plan.
• Feeling a sense of agency, achievement, and accomplishment.
• Sense that one’s behaviors are meaningful.
• Meeting basic physical and psychological safety needs.
• Maintaining physical health.
• Relaxation.

Helping children establish goals, fostering a sense of agency, and recognizing their achievements are essential for their behavioral well-being. Ensuring physical safety, health, and relaxation are also key components of centering the inner Warrior. Structured time for relaxing is an important part of helping the inner Warrior feel centered.

For the inner Chief:

• Enhancing self-awareness.
• Maintaining integrity.
• Cultivating wisdom.
• Fostering a state of appreciation.
• Building a sense of tribe/community.
• Encouraging service to others.

The Chief plays a crucial role in coordinating the other aspects and needs self-awareness, integrity, and wisdom. Developing a sense of appreciation, belonging to a community, and engaging in service to others are vital for the Chief to feel centered.

This podcast emphasizes that understanding and addressing these needs can help residential staff design therapeutic programs and create environments that promote positive learning and growth for child clients, ultimately helping them become emotionally, cognitively, behaviorally, and physiologically centered while fostering a sense of community and belonging.