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The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

What is Behavioral Relaxation Training? Session 179 with John Michael Guercio

The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

Matt Cicoria

Science, Mental Health, Skinner, Behaviorism, Behaviorconsultant, Aba, Behavioralpsychology, Health & Fitness, Appliedbehavioranalysis, Autism, Acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy, Fba, Social Sciences, Verbalbehavior, Bcba, Functionalassessment, Discretetrial

4.8648 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2022

⏱️ 75 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. John Michael Guercio joins me again to discuss a topic that we briefly covered in his last appearance; Behavioral Relaxation Training.

In this show, John does a deep dive into this work, drawing on the research of Drs. Roger Poppen, Duane Lundervold, and of course John himself. 

Along with the aforementioned Drs. Poppen and Lundervold, John is the co-author of the third edition of the text, Behavioral Relaxation Training. He is also the author of Assessment of Adult Core Competencies: Teaching Skills to Adults with Autism and Severe Behavioral Challenges, which we discussed at length in his earlier appearance in Session 140

We discuss how BRT was developed, its current applications, and the training required to do it. We also spent a good deal of time talking about becoming trained to implement BRT, scope of practice issues, and protecting client safety. So in case we were not clear in the discussion, if this is something you'd like to do, please seek out the appropriate training and supervision.

For Patreon Subscribers, there is an additional 10 minutes or so where John tells a fun story about meeting his childhood football hero, and how said hero invited him to his house for wings and beer. How cool is that!?!? I hope Tom Brady hears this so I can have a similar experience in the next 10 or 15 years, lol. 

Here are links to resourced mentioned in the show:

This podcast is brought to you by:

  1. Behavior University. Their mission is to provide university quality professional development for the busy Behavior Analyst. Learn about their CEU offerings, including their brand new 8-hour Supervision Course, as well as their RBT offerings over at behavioruniversity.com/observations.
  2. Tate Behavioral, a progressive ABA provider located in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. If you’re a BCBA looking to work for a supportive and innovative team, and live in the heart of charming New England, visit their jobs page by clicking here!
  3. The Secret Agent Society Small Group Program helps kids 8 to 12 years old crack the code of emotions and friendships through an animated ‘secret agent’ theme.  With a sophisticated digital health platform now at the heart of the program, you can deliver groups face-to-face, with telehealth, or a combination of formats. Follow this link to book a live demo from anywhere around the world. Also, don’t forget to mention that “Matt sent you” to have your SAS Provider establishment fee waived (a minimum $500 USD value)!
  4. The Whoop Strap! I've been wearing the Whoop Strap for over a year now, and I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed getting quantitative information on all aspects of my health, including sleep analytics, heart rate, along with heart rate variability, calorie burn, exercise intensity, and Whoop's proprietary "strain" score. I could extol this neat device's virtues indefinitely to you, but instead, you can go check it out for yourself. To get your first month free, head over to behavioralobservations.com/whoop! Also, feel free to join the Behavior Analysts who Whoop Facebook group!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey everybody, welcome to session 179 to the behavioral observations podcast.

0:04.5

I'm joined again by Dr. John Michael Gersio to discuss a topic that we touched on briefly in his first appearance on the show, and that's behavioral relaxation training.

0:13.9

In the show, John takes us through a deep dive into BRT, drawing on the research of doctors Roger Poppin, Dwayne Lunderwald, and of course, John

0:23.2

himself.

0:25.5

John, along with Dr. Poppin and Lunderwald, is the co-author of the third edition of the text

0:30.7

Behavioral Relaxation Training.

0:33.1

He's also the author of Assessment of Adult Care competencies teaching skills to adults with autism

0:38.8

and severe behavioral challenges, which we discussed at length in his earlier appearance on

0:44.2

session 140.

0:47.7

So in this particular episode, we talk about how BRT was developed, some current applications,

0:53.3

some potential applications.

0:55.0

We also spent a lot of time talking about how to get trained and trained competently to implement

1:00.6

BRT and how to protect client safety in the process.

1:04.9

And in case we weren't clear during the discussion, this is something you really want to get good

1:08.3

training and supervision, and it's not something you just want to read a blog post about or something like that and go off to the races, if you will.

1:17.3

For Patreon subscribers, there's some bonus content.

1:21.1

There's an additional 10 minutes or so where John tells a really fun story about meeting his childhood football hero and how this particular

1:29.2

childhood football hero invited him to his house for wings and beer. It's kind of a really fun story.

1:35.3

Totally off topic, but just kind of interesting. And so I want to share that for folks in the Patreon group.

1:45.2

If you are not in the Patreon group, there is a,

1:48.6

uh, uh, uh, for if you go to patreon.com forward slash behavioral observations,

1:53.3

you can sign up and, uh, there is a, uh, ad free and even introductory comment free

...

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