The FRIENDS program is a series of Resilience programs developed by Professor Paula Barrett. The program aims to improve social and emotional skills, increase resilience, and prevent anxiety and depression during lifetime. As a preventive protocol, FRIENDS has been noted as "one of the most strongly supported programs for internalization disorder," with "a large number of large-scale type 1 controlled trials around the world" demonstrating its effectiveness (). The FRIENDS program is recognized by the World Health Organization as an effective evidence-based prevention program.
The FRIENDS program combines physiological, cognitive and behavioral strategies to help children, adolescents and adults cope with stress and anxiety. Studies have shown the effectiveness of FRIENDS in overcoming mental health problems such as OCD, anxiety, depression, autism and stress in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. In addition, the study also showed that protective factors such as self-esteem, self-concept, coping skills, hope and social support were enhanced in the program. The FRIENDS protocol is designed to be delivered in both clinical and educational settings by teachers, psychologists, and allied health experts. The FRIENDS program continues to be studied and developed by the author, Professor Paula Barrett, in Queensland, Australia, as well as a number of researchers worldwide including Professors Paul Stallard, Professor Elisabeth Utens, and Professor Bente Storm Haugland among others.
Video FRIENDS program
Histori
The FRIENDS program was developed by Professor Paula Barrett. Based on cognitive behavioral techniques, the gold standard for treating and preventing anxiety and depression, the protocol was originally developed for early intervention and anxiety prevention. Unlike other anxiety protocols at the time, such as Phillip C. Kendall's Coping Cat, FRIENDS used the group format and could be used in prevention, early intervention or treatment approaches.
In 1999, another round of research was conducted that resulted in the production of the third edition of FRIENDS for Children, which incorporated research feedback to tailor the program to be more teacher-friendly. Further research and development from the year 2000 in the future led to repeated improvements to the FRIENDS Program to make them what they are today.
In response to the devastating Queensland flood of 2010/2011, Professor Paula Barrett developed the Adult Resilience Program for Life. This program is designed to help adults cope with extreme losses and pressures that occur after natural disasters. The Adult Resilience Program was also launched for victims of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake to help the population cope with the loss of property and loved ones.
The Adult Resilience for Life program is further developed into the Uncompromising Adult Resilience Program by 2012. The program runs in a two-day format and teaches relaxation strategies and relaxation techniques for adults and parents.
Maps FRIENDS program
Format
The FRIENDS protocol has been adapted into four development-sensitive programs:
- Fun FRIENDS (4 - 7Ã, years)
- FRIENDS for life (8 - 11 years old)
- My FRIENDS youth (12 - 15 years old)
- Adult Resilience for Life (16 years and up)
Programs are usually delivered over 10 sessions with two booster sessions, usually 60-75 minutes. However, the delivery is flexible in different settings as long as the order, structure, and topic are respected. Two information sessions of approximately 90-120 minutes were conducted with caregivers and educators to provide strategies to improve resilience at home, strengthen program strategy, and behavior management techniques.
Specific Goals
- Improve participants' ability to recognize and manage one's own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors
- Building participants' skills in taking perspective and empathizing with others
- Increase competence to establish and maintain healthy and beneficial relationships
- Provide strategies for making constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interaction
- Increase the resilience of participants to not only overcome difficulties but also to take advantage of positive future challenges
- Develop skills to prevent and treat mental health problems
Content
The FRIENDS program is drawn from interventions based on cognitive behavior, acceptance and commitment, and a positive psychological approach. The skills covered in younger programs are represented in letters from FRIENDS acronyms, while adult programs use LIFE acronyms. All FRIENDS programs overlap in content; however, they differ in the method of providing skills with each program using activities that are appropriate to the development. Specifically, while younger programs such as Fun FRIENDS and FRIENDS for Life encourage more play based techniques including puppets, story books and coloring activities, My FRIENDS Youth and Adult Resilience programs utilize role plays, group discussions and written activities.
Overall the contents are as follows:
- F = Feelings: This program phase focuses on building participants' skills in recognizing and responding to their own feelings as well as the feelings of others. Throughout this stage, there is an emphasis on receiving feelings and choosing positive coping behaviors.
- R = Remember to Relax, Quiet time: The second stage of the program involves learning about the signs of physiological emotion. By recognizing these body instructions, participants are better able to manage their feelings when they have lesser intensity and are easier to manage. This stage also trains participants in strategies to relax including diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, massage and relaxation imagery. Adolescent and adult programs also use awareness strategies at this stage.
- I = I can try my best (Inner Mind Mind): In the third stage, participants are introduced to attention training and cognitive models. Attention and awareness have recently been identified as a key factor in maintaining the benefits of an evidence-based program. Attention training encourages participants to train awareness at the moment and focus on the positive things in our environment. Both anxiety and depression symptomology usually involve negative evaluations of self, others and the world. Cognitive restructuring encourages participants to identify unhelpful thinking styles and challenge these thoughts to have more useful thoughts, more pleasant feelings, and more proactive behaviors.
- E = Explore solutions and Overcome Plan Steps: The fourth stage of the program differs greatly between the younger and older stages of the program. Overall this phase focuses on coping learning skills and plans to address challenging situations including Addressing the Step Plan, Problem Solving Plan, Friendship Skills, Building Confidence, Conflict Resolution, Role Models, and Support Teams. Coping with challenging situations can be a daunting task, the Troubleshooting Plan and the Overcoming Plan Plan help participants choose action through brainstorming solutions, evaluate potential consequences of their actions, break down goals into smaller steps, and review the results of their choices. Overcoming the Step Plan is also used for exposure training, to help participants decide the cycle of anxiety and avoidance to overcome fear, as well as time management, which is especially useful for teenagers. Brotherhood skills vary at different stages of program development ranging from sharing, helping and listening in younger age groups to navigating cyber friendship in older groups. Role Model and Support Team are discussed as those who can support, guide or inspire participants during challenging situations. Conflict Resolution teaches skills in differentiating conflict styles (passive, firm, aggressive) and how best to achieve firm outcomes.
- N = Now self-reward: This stage involves participants who teach the importance of self-respect. Activities highlight the importance of self-respect for our efforts rather than the outcome. Interpersonal awards are encouraged such as time and activities with family and/or friends that conflict with gifts, food, electronics, or prize money.
- D = Do it daily: The most effective skills when practiced every day. This FRIENDS letter is to encourage participants to continue using the skills after the program is completed.
- o S = smile! Stay calm, and talk to the support team: The last stage of the program is the relapse prevention phase. Participants develop more applied knowledge of the program using the skills in relation to each other. Identifying future challenges and planning strategies to address these are the main learning outcomes. Older programs also include participants who teach about giving back to their communities and the effects of healthy/unhealthy living (eg exercise, diet, substance, sleep) on brain development and mental health.
Use in prevention
Studies of FRIENDS effectiveness in the prevention of anxiety for children aged 9-10 years have been mixed in the results.
International Translation and Use
The FRIENDS program is currently used in the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Portugal, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Finland, Norway, Netherlands and Singapore.
Although originally written in English, the FRIENDS program has been translated into Russian, Arabic, Finnish, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Spanish.
Author
The Friends program is written by Professor Paula Barrett who continues to develop and manage the FRIENDS Program both in his personal practice of Pathways Health and Research Center in Brisbane, Australia and also around the world. Professor Paula Barrett also continues to oversee the training of FRIENDS facilitators and licensees around the world.
References
External links
- the FRIENDS program website
- Pathways Health and Research Center - Program Distribution Friends from Australia and the World
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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