A Program of Rutland Dismas House

Thresholds / Decisions

The Thresholds program was initiated in 1965 by Dr. Milton Burglass, a former prisoner.

Thresholds training in Rutland,

Vermont is developed and coordinated by Thresholds/Decisions of Rutland, a program of Rutland Dismas House.

THRESHOLDS / DECISIONS

Thresholds / Decisions is a structured course in decision-making developed by and for a community of volunteers.

The Thresholds/Decisions Program:

Understand and catalyze change in criminal behavior

Involvement of local citizens in making our criminal justice system more effective

Put the Community into the community correctional system

Thresholds/Decisions Programs:

The Thresholds curriculum is offered to inmates at the Marble Valley Community Correctional Facility in a week long training each Spring and Fall.

Thresholds/Decisions• “Community” training in decision

making and goal setting in which volunteers are trained to work with inmates and residents of Rutland Dismas House.

• The course includes 18 hours of instruction and interactive training in goals, strategies and specific tools of THRESHOLDS.

• Topics include: decisional living, language and behavior skills with the intentional use of symbols, imagery poetry, film and music.

Thresholds/DecisionsCommunity Training is also available for

Teachers, Mentors, Social Workers, Students (some credit is offered), Correctional Staff and

people who simply want to use Decisonal Living skills in their own lives for themselves, their

families and their friends

Thresholds/Decisions

Additional Offerings:

• High School Students • College Students• Upward Bound Students • The General Community

We also offer Artform WorkshopsWhere Music and Art are used Extensively in Decision Making.

Thresholds/DecisionsCurriculum

• Goal setting and decision-making

• Developing and carrying out long and short range plans

• Attitudinal changes, and consideration of a satisfactory life style

Thresholds/DecisionsDecision Making

The purpose of this decision-making program is to offer skills that will help you to increase the amount of control you have over your life.

Step 1See The Situation Clearly

• Isolate and define situations

• Separate external events from internal feelings

• See the real limits and possibilities in your life

Your Life is a Series of Discrete Events

See The Situation Clearly!

The arrow is your life and the ÒXsÓ are separate, discrete situations in yourlife. Life is indeed a series of separate situations and not one continuous, formless event.We are different from what we were in the past and we will be different in the future. WeARE capable of change! You can examine each event in your life as a separate situation.

What am I Feeling?

External/Internal

• There is more than one possible feeling that can result from any given external situation, and therefore more than one way of acting in response to it.

• Understanding this allows us to make decisions on how to act in any given situation rather than reacting automatically.

• If someone goads us, we don’t have to punch him; we can walk away, we can say something to him or we can agree with him.

External/Internal(Examples)

External Internal

Family Parents Divorced I hated It

School Quit in 11th Grade I was Bored

Job Construction: Got Fired

Hard and I hated The Job

Step 2

Know What You Want

• Find a direction in your life

• Set a specific goal!

• Be clear on what you want from a given situation

Which Road? What Goal?

How Do You Make Decisions?

What is Your Plan?

Reaction Cycle

Every Problem Has a Goal

Know What You Want!

FORWARD MOVEMENT

If you don’t know what you want, you may become stuck in a reaction cycle. Each situation sets up a reaction which causes a slightly different situation which sets up a new reaction and so on and so on…. If you are not aware of such cycles, someone else may be running your life without you knowing it. If you know what you want, you can break these cycles. You NEED forward movement toward a goal!!!

Step 3

Expand Possibilities

• Identify alternatives

• Create new ones to develop more than one way to reach a goal!

Expand The Possibilities

There is more than one way to reach a goal. Lots of possible solutions can be generated. Brainstorming should be used to look at ALL the possibilities. The symbol used here looks like the sun, its rays representing all the possible routes to a goal. There are 360 degrees of possibilities. DO NOT make judgments now of right or wrong, cool or stupid

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Step 4Evaluate and Decide

• Look at possible outcomes

• Consider risks

• What are the odds of success?

• Are there any alternatives?

• Be aware of your values

RISKS ODDS OUTCOMES

Evaluating means weighing all the possibilities against each other. By doing this you will learn how to deal with RISKS, ODDS and OUTCOMES. For example, is one of your possible courses of action worth the risk? What are the odds that you will achieve the goal? What will be the outcome for you if you choose this possibility?

Step 5

ACT

• Learn to map out goals, strategies and tactics for getting things done

• Self-monitoring is emphasized

Reach Your Goal

Put down in words or pictures what your goal is, how you intend to achieve your goal and in what time frame you will get there. DO IT!

ACTION PLAN

Strategies

1 Keep working 2nd job for 6 months

2 Look for rental near bus stop

3 Open savings account

4 Save $1,000 by June

5 Pop the question in July

Action Plan

Set Discreet Goals with Endpoints

Goals Date Time Status

Goal 1 April 4th 2:00 PM DONE

Goal 2 June 13th 6:00 PM On time

Goal 3 August 9th 4:00 PM On time

Artforming

Artforming is a Technique and a Skill

ARTFORMING

1. Equalizes everyone 2. Encourages decision-making 3. Shows us that no matter how

remote or familiar an object or situation

is, it can relate to us personally and

in our own situations

ARTFORMING (cont…)

4. Increases our awareness level5. Increases our perceptions

6. Helps identify similarities and differences

7. Helps us think things through 8. Helps us think, feel, experience,

decide, act and relate

The Artforming Process(Examples)

Question Purpose Task Type

What Stands Out? Recall Perceiving

(Awareness)

Objective

What Would You Change?

Opinion Getting in Touch

Subjective

When In Your life Have You Experienced This

Internalizing Insight Involvement