Anger can become a problem if it explodes out of control, leads to violence or harm, or is felt too often. Just like other big emotions, anger also can be managed with practice. In fact, research shows that CBT-informed anger management interventions can reduce recidivism, reduce violence and improve emotional self-regulation.
About Anger Management
The Anger Management curriculum from The Change Companies gives participants an opportunity to explore the role anger plays in their lives and offers strategies and skills for managing how they experience and express anger and other difficult feelings. The curriculum incorporates both cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness techniques to help participants increase their ability to think about their thinking. Developing this critical awareness can enhance emotional self-regulation and, in turn, promote healthy relationship-building, more effective communication and overall enhanced well-being among participants.
The Anger Management curriculum incorporates the evidence-based practice of Interactive Journaling®, a goal-directed, client-centered model that helps participants modify their behavior as they progress through the stages of change. Curriculum modules include:
Defining and understanding anger
This module normalizes the feeling of anger and helps participants understand the purposes of this emotion. Participants explore times when anger becomes a problem for them and learn common myths and facts about anger.
Responding to anger
In this module, participants consider their biggest anger triggers and examine harmful power and control behaviors that are often used in response to these triggers. They then consider their top values and apply them to equality behaviors such as communication, negotiation and fairness, honesty and accountability, personal growth, respect and nonthreatening behavior.
Looking at the effects of anger
This module allows participants to consider the short-term benefits and long-term consequences of unmanaged anger behaviors. Participants also learn about the impacts of anger on the body and learn bodily awareness skills to apply the next time they feel anger.
Understanding self-talk
This module shows participants how their self-talk about situations or events can lead to intense feelings and aggressive behaviors or manageable feelings and responsible behaviors. Participants learn to challenge unhelpful self-talk to get more manageable feelings and desirable outcomes.
Identifying risky thinking that leads to anger
In this module, participants learn eight thinking errors that can lead to unmanageable anger behaviors. Participants learn to replace thinking errors with more responsible thinking in order to change their response to anger.
Building healthy physical habits
This module emphasizes the connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind. It covers important physical habits like getting physical activity, making healthy eating choices, avoiding alcohol and other drugs and getting plenty of sleep. Participants learn and practice the skill of mindful walking.
Getting under the anger iceberg
In this module, participants learn to investigate the emotions found underneath their anger – emotions like discomfort, embarrassment, shame, guilt, jealousy, loneliness, anxiety or sadness. Participants learn to get curious, find the other feeling and work through obstacles.
Exploring how anger impacts relationships and communication
This module gives participants tools for communicating their feelings in ways that are helpful and that don’t do damage to important relationships. They learn skills for sharing constructive feedback, managing conflict and setting healthy boundaries. Progressive muscle relaxation is also introduced in this module.
Identifying goals and next steps
Participants review the skills they have learned, reflect on changes they have made and identify where they would like to go from here.
Who can use Anger Management?
This curriculum is a great fit for court-mandated anger management courses, risk-need-responsive interventions for justice-involved youth or adults, anger management groups in mental health or addiction treatment, or as a part of individualized treatment planning.
Just like happiness, sadness, guilt and fear, the feeling of anger is a natural and normal part of the human experience. Appropriately expressed anger can lead to a number of positive outcomes, like communicating frustrations, setting healthy personal boundaries, standing up for yourself or motivating positive action. The Anger Management curriculum from The Change Companies can help your participants get on the right track when it comes to the appropriate expression of this important emotion.