Pressley Ridge International
- History
Pressley Ridge has always placed a high value on training and has been
committed to sharing any and all skills and technologies it developed with peers
at home and abroad. Since the early 1980s Pressley Ridge, has hosted many
international visitors who were interested in learning about the agency's
innovative and effective services. To better organize the increasing numbers of
visitors from the international community and to ensure application of their
learning in their home countries in October 1996 the agency established the
Pittsburgh International Children and Families Institute (PICFI). PICFI was
developed and implemented in collaboration with partners from the University of
Pittsburgh. Expand/collapse
PICFI was composed of a Fall Institute and Spring Practicum and targeted
developing countries throughout the world. The three-week Fall Institute hosted
senior administrators and high-level leaders in human services or education from
the participating developing countries. During their stay in Pittsburgh these
leaders learned about the youth serving systems of the United States and the
treatment philosophies, methods, and programs of Pressley Ridge and other
selected service providers. Based on this experience, they developed a plan for
change in their own institutions and/or countries and nominated program
implementation specialists from their organizations for an eight-week intensive
training in the spring. During the Spring Practicum, these direct care
specialists were immersed in one or two Pressley Ridge programs as a means of
obtaining the knowledge and receive hands-on experience to implement innovations
in their home countries. Each year a PICFI "class" of youth serving
professionals from up to six countries traveled to Pittsburgh to be part of the
Pressley Ridge experience.
In the fall of 2003 Pressley Ridge's international efforts were restructured
and PICFI was replaced by PRI. During its 7 years of operation PICFI trained 111
professionals, both high-level officials and direct care providers, from 23
different countries. A recent evaluation of PICFI's international impact showed
that Pressley Ridge's model of working with troubled and troubling children and
youth, and their families can and does work in contexts outside the US. The
PICFI alumni that were surveyed reported that they had implemented 33
Pressley-inspired projects in their countries, 25 of which are still in
operation. Since 1996, these projects served about 3900 children and youth, and
trained nearly 1200 professionals.
Some of the specific successes as reported by our PICFI
alumni:
Portugal - "The original project operated from
January 1999 till 2000, but it was integrated by
in a larger proposal for a new methodology as
a result of the recent change of the law. I am
now working in the agency head-quarters, and
now it is being used throughout the country in
an experimental phase. This larger project
it has been operating since October 2003."
South Africa-"For approximately
six years programs have been piloted and integrated
into the service delivery as part of the transformation
of the child and youth care system in South Africa.
Expand/collapse
"The adaptation and relevance of the programs
to the South African situation are very exciting
especially Professional Foster Care, Wilderness Camp,
and Family Preservation. The program are provided
in the context of the AIDS Crisis (foster care,
family preservation) and for young people in trouble
with the law (wilderness camp, family preservation).Some
government and NGO organizations have initiated the
program and they have been replicated in both
sectors nationally."
Ukraine - "Together with a
crisis center for battered women and state administration
we prepared propositions for upgrading the Ukrainian
system of social work to enable state
and non-government agencies to use the foster care
model for kids who are domestic violence victims." Expand/collapse
A model of
wilderness camp is totally new for Ukrainian system
of social work. As a representative of the police, I work on police participation in such programs.
Plus we are interested in developing a multi-organizational
model of work where within one program a few agencies
would effectively cooperate. We also developed
a special sub-course for students, and plan to develop one for professionals who want to upgrade
their knowledge in social work and on foster
care models."
Portugal - "In August 1998 we started the new Education
Program with a wilderness component - the therapeutic
camping program. Expand/collapse
The two-year experiential program
that finished in August 2000
showed a 46% success rate. After the experimental
period of two years, the program became part
of the Vila Fernando Educative Program. In January
of 2001, new juvenile legislation became effective,
and Vila
Fernando was one of the first centers to present
the "Education
Intervention Program" based on Re-EE and maintained
the Camping Program like a social skills program."
Pressley Ridge World Conference
Between September 30 and Oct 3, 1999, Pressley Ridge held its first
world-wide conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference's theme was Sustaining
Innovative Change and it proved to be a tremendous success with more than 200
participants from around the world. Both the First Lady of Portugal, Senhora
Maria José Ritta, and the Duchess Isabel de Bragança spoke at the event.
The conference celebrated the culmination of three years of PICFI fellows,
many of whom spoke about how PICFI helped them develop and implement programs.
Here were some of the conference's highlights:
- Dr. Nicholas Long introduced many to his life's work, Life Space Crisis
Intervention, covering the major evolutionary modifications he has made to the
original concept conceived by Fritz Redl. Long discussed why the concept is
right for today and a viable alternative to the reactionary and punishing
interventions in contemporary legal and educational institutions.
- Mary Lynn Cantrell from the Positive Education Program in Cleveland Ohio
presented the construct of Re EDucation philosophy and treatment technology.
- João Cóias a PICFI alumnus from Portugal discussed the Wilderness Camp
Program he created at Villa Fernando, which uses a treatment model based on
Pressley Ridge's Wilderness Camp at Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania.
- Zeni Thumbadoo another PICFI alumnus from South Africa spoke about the
programs in South Africa that have been developed or reinvented with the use of
Pressley Ridge treatment models, from community based health clinics to
Wilderness Camps now operating in South Africa.
International Learning Exchange (ILEX)
ILEX is an agency that connects American childcare agencies with European
professionals seeking professional experience in the field. These staff persons
usually spend one year in the US as direct care providers in residential,
diagnostic and community-based youth programs.
Pressley Ridge collaborated
with ILEX between 1997 and 2001. During these years ILEX fellows worked
alongside Pressley Ridge staff and function as both treatment agents and staff
trainers in programs at Ohiopyle in PA, White Oak, Grant Gardens and Laurel Park
in WV, and Baltimore in MD.
Pressley Ridge hosted fellows from Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Holland,
Belgium and Germany. For ILEX fellows to be placed by Pressley Ridge, their
representative agencies had to provide treatment models consistent with the
"educateur philosophy" prevalent in Western Europe - a focus on the total life
education of troubled children that uses the teacher/counselor position of the
Re-EDucation movement founded by Dr. Nicholas Hobbs.
