“PsychoHeresy” is a book written by a former Santa Barbara City College administrator, Martin Bobgan, and his wife Deidre Bobgan. The basic premise of the book is that a little over 100 years ago, the field of psychology and psychiatry did not exist. Instead we had something called “soul care.”
The Bobgans demonstrate an irrefutable index of studies that show that the modern practice of psychology is replete with failure for a variety of reasons, including theoretical models of behavior that have no basis in reality. The word clap trap comes to mind.
What the studies show is that there is something superior to a stranger with a diploma on the wall trying to make sense of a person’s problems based on some scheme of human behavior they learned in graduate school. Namely, the counseling should be done by someone who is known, trusted and respected via established relationships,and who can thereby hold the counseled personally responsible for their actions.
This subject matter has relevance to our criminal justice system. Our society, long ago, moved from punishment as a core value of incarceration toward the noble but weakly-defined notion of rehabilitation that did not fare much better.
Nowadays, the buzz words that define our new approach is the promotion of “equity and well-being,” as described in Santa Barbara County’s plan to “elevate care” for youth in custody who should otherwise be in state prison because they are no longer juveniles by a long shot. This is in keeping with the state’s desire to forgo their responsibility to run prisons for both adults and youth in order to save money by dumping the problems back on counties.
Hence, we now have 25-year-old “children” in a glorified version of juvenile hall!
The program is based on a bill, SB 823, designed for youth to be placed in the least restrictive appropriate environment that would reduce and/or eliminate racial and ethnic disparities while decreasing the use of confinement in the juvenile justice system.
The youth at the center of this program in Santa Barbara County are primarily Hispanic males who committed the following offenses: 7, who are there for assault with deadly weapon/assault; 5, robbery; 2, murder/attempted murder; 2, sex offenses; 1, shooting at an inhabited dwelling. In addition, 82% had gang association and 90% committed an offense resulting in harm (physical, psychological and/or monetary) to their victim.
Taking a lesson from a toddler/kindergarten-type approach to promoting excellent behavior among these former gang bangers, our local youth are provided an Excellent Behavior Card.
When a youth exhibits excellent behavior, a staff member will use a specific hole punch and punch one of the numbered boxes on the card. One box is reserved for a single observation of excellent behavior, and there is no limit as to how many punches a youth may earn in a day.
Once the youth has filled their card, the youth is allowed to select a “Golden Egg” from the Treasure Chest. Each golden egg contains a prize ranging from a special snack to an extra telephone call,or a meal with administration.” Why not a Happy Meal to go with that?
Even better? Green space!
“Current research suggests that detention facilities with higher proportions of natural vegetation within its perimeter exhibit lower levels of self-harm and violence between youth and toward staff. Additionally, research suggests beneficial associations between green space exposure and reduced stress, positive mood, less depressive symptoms, better emotional well-being, improved mental health and behavior, and decreased psychological distress in adolescents.”
There you go! If only we had turned prison yards into gardens! Either that, or maybe they should be supervised and counseled by somebody who walked in their shoes, including former gang bangers and drug addicts, who have successfully reintegrated back into society? I know a few!
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
