- Tom Caplan
Tom Caplan . [Gitterman, A., & Salmon, R. (Eds.). (2009).(In press) Encyclopedia of social work with groups. New York: Routledge. ] is a
Canadian ,Montreal -basedpsychotherapist . He is an Adjunct professor of the School of Social Work atMcGill University , and Director and Supervisor of the McGill Domestic Violence Clinic, with research affiliations with McGill University,Douglas Hospital andConcordia Universities.Caplan's signature therapeutic model is the Needs ABC model of therapy. [http://www.amazon.ca/Needs-ABC-Acquisition-Behaviour-Psychotherapies/dp/1861770537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219465544&sr=8-1 Needs ABC -Tom Caplan] [Citation |last=Caplan |first=T. |year=2008 |title=After the Fall: Using the Needs ABC model with couples affected by Domestic Violence. In J. Hammel (Ed. Intimate partner and family abuse: A casebook of gender inclusive therapy (pp.45-58). New York|publisher=Springer Publishing Company]
Academic background
Caplan studied under Annette Werk and Judy McGill, among others, with an initial focus on the theory and practice of delivery therapy in a group environment to men involved in domestic violence.
Caplan's focus has historically been on group therapy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_therapy] and and his model hasbeen extended to encompass couples and family work, which can be consideredas a subset of group therapy, with the couple and/or family seen as a "smallgroup".
Needs ABC; a psychotherapeutic model
Three important goals govern the Needs ABC:
* Safety: The facilitator should help the clients to connect to the setting and to the process of therapy. This helps participants to begin experiencing a sense of safety that can lead to greater participation and self-disclosure;
* Ownership: Once a sense of security has been developed, the next goal is for the client to take responsibility for his problem and collaborate with the leader and other participants in the development of appropriate strategies;
* Understanding: The facilitator should assess a client’s emotional states during the therapeutic process and to help them understand what these emotions represent, and why and how they behave in the dysfunctional ways that they do.Needs ABC is an integrative model within the larger umbrella of
cognitive behavioral therapy .References
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