Charley Joyce, LICSW
Charley Joyce, LICSW, has been a social worker for 34 years.
He began his career as a VISTA volunteer and has worked as the clinical director of a
psychiatric facility, as an outpatient therapist, as a foster care caseworker, as a
supervisor of foster care services, as a clinical director of treatment foster care
services and supervisor of outpatient therapists.
He is currently employed as a supervisor
for PATH, ND Inc. He teaches part-time in the MSW Program at the University of North Dakota
and on-line through the Foster Parent College, Eugene, Oregon. He has provided a number of
trainings for foster-adopt parents. His MSW is from the University of Iowa.
He has completed post graduate education in family therapy. He has been married to the
same person for 34 years and they have two adult daughters.
Articles by Charley Joyce, LICSW
FOSTER PARENT TRAININGS BY CHARLEY JOYCE, LICSW
Hoarding Food; Hungry for Survival
The focus of this training is on why foster youth hoard food as a result of being neglected in having their basic needs met. Non-traditional interventions that have been successful with pre-adolescent foster youth will be discussed. This training is not designed to address issues of hoarding food found in bulimic and anorexic disorders. The training is 90 minutes in length.
Behavioral and Emotional Challenges of Youth Served in Treatment Foster Care
This is a three hour training that focuses on characteristics of a psychiatric diagnosis and the meaning of the following psychiatric diagnoses: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder. The focus of the training is to de-mystify diagnosis and identify why foster youth might develop survival behaviors which appear psychiatric in nature. The diagnoses discussed are commonly found with youth served in foster care. This training is 3 hours.
Secondary Trauma for Foster Parents
This is a 90 minute training that’s content includes the history and understanding of trauma, symptoms of trauma response, how repeated exposure to traumatized youth can create secondary trauma in foster parents and what can be done about secondary trauma. An actual case history of a family that experienced secondary trauma will be discussed.
Mother Rage
Foster youth often react to foster mothers and fathers differently. Foster mothers can be especially targeted for the foster youth’s anger and misbehavior. Many times foster fathers do not experience the same level of anger directed towards them, which can create differences in how the foster couple views and responds to the foster youth. The training will trace the probable beginnings of “Mother Rage” to the youth’s disruptive attachments. Very specific interventions on how to respond to the dynamics of “Mother Rage” will be discussed. This presentation is a 90 minute training.
Helping Youth Transition to and from Home Visitations
A very difficult issue in foster care is home visitation and how visitations impact the foster youth, foster parents, and the child’s own family. This training will focus on why home visits are conducted, the connection between home visits and successful reunifications, foster parent concerns and feelings about the visitation process. Specific interventions on how to support the foster child in the visitation process, before and after visits, will be discussed. This presentation is a 90 minute training.
Wisdom of the Experts
This training is a series of stories from foster youth that are now adults explaining what the purpose and function of their behavior was while they were in foster care. As an example, it will include a story of a young adult’s explanation of how she would cause foster care placements to disrupt if she felt threatened and unsafe with the foster fathers. Additionally, non-traditional interventions for foster youth’s behavioral/ emotional challenges are discussed. All of the interventions discussed are presented through actual case histories. This presentation is approximately 90 minutes in length.
Defiance:
This is a two hour training which looks at the purposes of defiance in foster youth, how foster parents can respond and differentiating between anxiety and defiance. Specific interventions and safety plans will be discussed.
Grief and Loss in Foster Care:
This is a three hour training on the issues of grief and loss experienced by foster parents, foster youth, social workers and the child’s own family. Special emphasis will be placed on the stages of grief and loss as they apply to each entity. Specific ways to support and respond to the challenges presented by foster care grief and loss will be discussed. The dynamics of child removal trauma and being placed with “strangers” in foster care are also covered in a grief and loss capacity.
Working with the Child’s Family While in Foster Care:
This is a two hour training that places attention on understanding intergenerational dynamics as they apply to child abuse and neglect. Material is also presented from focus groups with foster parents on what is helpful in working with the child’s family. Short DVD clips are shown of adult youth reflecting back on their foster care experience and birth parents and foster parents being interviewed together on their relationships.
Wetting Behavior:
When It Rains It Pours: This is a two hour training on the reasons why foster youth might display wetting behavior. In responding to wetting behavior, the first intervention should always be a thorough medical evaluation. The training will focus on assessment considerations to determine influences in wetting if medical conditions have been ruled out. Four working hypothesis for wetting, applied to youth that have experienced abuse and neglect, will be identified which are: protective-anxious wetting; wetting as a means to expend anger and control; wetting that is reminiscent of other environments and wetting as a symptom of neglect. Specific interventions and actual case examples will be included.
Comments or questions? Contact me here cjoyce22@gmail.com.