Choice Theory, developed by William Glasser, is a useful framework for working with young people with challenging behaviour.
According to Choice Theory - everything we do is an attempt to meet one or more of our basic needs.
Our five basic needs are:
- Love and belonging - to love and be loved, to belong and to feel connected to others
- Power and recognition - to have control over our own lives, to achieve and to receive recognition
- Freedom - to have freedom to express ourselves and be independent
- Fun - to have fun and enjoy ourselves
- Survival - to have food, shelter, sleep, physical and emotional safety.
Outside factors never 'make' us behave in a particular way - we always have some choice about how we behave. We are responsible for the choices we make.
If our needs are not being met we will feel a sense of frustration or anxiety because our needs are not being met. We will continue to act, even in harmful or destructive ways, until our needs are met.
The case study below illustrates these principles further.
It is drop in time at the Youth Centre and Bill and Ted are playing pool. Bill and Ted are having a great time while other young people are standing around watching and waiting for their turn. When Ted sinks his last ball Bill yells "Yes I won! Let's play again". George who is standing quietly waiting for his turn says "No It's our turn now. Pass us the pool cue". Bill ignores George and commences to set up another game and have the opening shot. George complains to the youth worker saying "Hey, it's my turn now!". Bill loses his temper, picks up a pool cue and waves it threateningly at George.
Which of the 5 basic needs is Bill attempting to meet?
Bill may be seeking to have fun, feel a sense of belonging with his friend Ted, or to have control over his own life.
Suppose the youth worker reacts in the following way:
"Bill I've warned you about this before, I've had enough of you- get out of the centre!" The Youth Worker frogmarches Bill out of the Youth Centre and locks the door after him.
According to Choice Theory, Bill will probably continue to act out because his basic needs (fun, belonging, control) are not being met by this response. Bill might start banging on the window to show he is still in control, he might call out to Ted to come outside to connect again with his friend.
A better, and calmer, response from the Youth Worker might be:
"Bill, you have had your turn. You have a choice - If you say sorry to George and let him have his turn you can stay at the Centre and have a go at another activity or you can leave the Centre and come back tomorrow. What do you want to do?"
According to Choice Theory, this approach is more likely to be successful because Bill is provided with a choice. Providing young people with a choice allows them to save face in front of their mates and meets their need for control over their own lives. Note this doesn't mean that Bill can do whatever he wants. He can choose only between two appropriate behaviours.
Write down another response that the youth worker could try in this situation, which still meets Bill's needs:
Choice Theory is based on the belief that a trusting and respectful relationship between young people and youth workers is essential. Young people are always treated with respect and are always held accountable for their actions.
Youth Workers encourage, support, listen, accept and respect rather than blame, complain, nag, threaten or criticise young people.
The role of a Youth Worker is to help young people learn appropriate ways of having their needs met, rather than forcing them to behave.
To provide a brief intervention and talk to young people about their behaviour the youth worker can sit down quietly with Bill and ask:
- What do you want?
- What are you doing to get what you want?
- Is it working?
- Are there other things that you can do to get what you want? Are you prepared to try something else?
- Can we make a plan of what you could do instead?
Directing our actions, thinking, feelings and physiology
Choice Theory says there our behaviours are influenced by:
- our actions
- our thinking
- our feelings
- our physiology.
Looking back at the example of Bill, Bill was waving the pool cue. He may be thinking "This isn't fair!", he may have been feeling angry and his heart may have been beating fast.
We have the most control over our actions, we have a lot of control over our thinking, less control over our feelings and even less over our physiology.
If we change the direction of our actions and our thinking we can change the direction of our feelings and our physiology. For example - Bill may come up with a plan to walk away next time, and tell himself "I choose to walk away and do something different".
By developing a plan with Bill based on his actions and his thinking he is likely to change his feelings and physiology.
Remember the aim of Choice Theory is for young people to accept responsibility for their behaviour.
Taking proactive steps
There are proactive steps you can take to help meet young people's needs. Brainstorm some proactive strategies which will meet each of the 5 Basic Needs.
Love and belonging - to love and be loved, to belong and to feel connected to others:
Power and recognition - to have control over our own lives, to achieve and to receive recognition:
Freedom - to have freedom to express ourselves and be independent:
Fun - to have fun and enjoy ourselves:
Survival - to have food, shelter, sleep, physical and emotional safety:
Examples of strategies you could try -
- Hold team building and team activities at the centre
- Make a real effort to get to know each young person individually
- Have art work displayed or photos of projects that young people have achieved
- Involve young people in planning and running activities, especially fun activities and provide positive feedback.
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Working with Young People with Alcohol or Other Drug Issues: A self-paced learning package Published: 2006 Funded by NSW Drug & Alcohol Workforce Development Council. Written & compiled by Kristy Delaney, YAPA, and Matt Stubbs & John Howard, Ted Noffs Institute. Additional material by Nick Manning, YAPA, & by Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. Opinions are the author's.
Be careful! YAPA and the authors took reasonable care to ensure that this information was correct at the time of publishing. However health information, and government regulations, laws and standards are complex and changing. The authors may not have health, safety, or legal qualifications, and information provided is general - it is not specific health, legal or professional advice. Do not rely on it - check with other publications and authorities and if necessary get qualified, medical, legal or professional advice for your situation.
