What is Court-Ordered Anger Management?
Anger management typically helps people to cope with anger in a more healthy way. Feeling angry is normal. What’s problematic is what can happen when people are angry. Things like yelling, screaming, name-calling, road rage, breaking things, using intimidation or threats, stalking, abusing partners, children, or the eldery, are all things that can cause harm to others or get you into trouble at school, work, or with the law. You might also feel guilt, shame, regret or remorse for the things you did while feeling angry or in a rage.
Court-ordered anger management involves the same treatment interventions as non-court-ordered anger management, with the exception that usually the court wants a report of your progress at the end.
What is an Anger Management Program?
Therapeutic needs can vary on a case-by-case basis. If the court requires you to attend anger management sessions, or an anger management program, what we can offer you is therapy for anger management. This means that you can learn strategies for managing anger in a more effective way.
This will likely include activities for you to do outside of the therapy room (i.e., “homework”) and you can receive a letter at the end of your sessions indicating how many sessions you completed, what skills were taught, your progress, and your level of participation. Please note that letters must reflect behaviours observed in session, so arriving late or not completing homework assignments will not result in a favourable report.
Therapy for Anger Management can help you to:
- Recognize when anger is rising so that you can take steps to calm down before it’s too late
- Communicate assertively, without using aggression, passivity, or passive-aggression
- Behave in a calm and respectful manner even when emotions are running high
- Better communicate your thoughts and feelings, beyond just those related to anger
- Understand what led to you to require court-ordered anger management, and to resolve contributing factors or underlying issues so that this doesn’t happen again