Canadian Association of Anger Solutions Professionals

Anger Solutions™ was developed in 1994 by Julie Christiansen, and has gone from an obscure program being used by a handful of people in the Ottawa, Ontario area to being recognized as the best alternative to traditional anger management programs in Canada.

The program is currently being facilitated through agencies across Ontario, in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and is moving into Western provinces in 2009. The Anger Solutions™ Participants’ Workbook has been translated into French and Spanish, and the program went international in 2008 when Julie presented on the benefits of Anger Solutions™ in reducing family violence in Preston, UK; and two social workers from the island of Trinidad & Tobago became Certified Trainers in Anger Solutions™ in the fall of that same year.

The program has maintained a success rate of above 80% consistently since its inception, and sustains a steady retention rate of over 90%. In 2008 the program was recognized by the Centre for Excellence in Children’s Mental Health as evidence based. The Anger Solutions™ Coaching Model for doing individual work was released in the summer of 2008, and Anger Solutions™ for Kids (AS4K) and Anger Solutions™ for Youth (AS4Y) are slated for release in 2009.

How CAASP Came into Being

Since the establishment of BODA reLEAF consulting in 1997 and Leverage U in 2009, Julie has facilitated the training of over 200 counsellors, social workers, and private practitioners in Anger Solutions™. She developed the Train the Trainer program in 2004 to meet the need of agencies experiencing high staff turnover, which often resulted in a loss of the program when trained facilitators moved on to new jobs. Since 2004, we have trained over 40 Trainers, several of whom have taken on added responsibility within a growing network of Anger Solutions™ Practitioners.

To meet the growing need for networking, continued education, and accountability within the network of AS Practitioners, it was decided in 2006 to create an association for AS professionals. The goal of the association is to facilitate communication and sharing of best practices in AS across the network, and to work together to pool our resources by way of collecting and compiling data on the success of our respective programs. As stated in our mission – we are dedicated to enhancing the professionalism of AS practitioners at all levels, as well as positioning Anger Solutions™ as the single, best choice for anger programming in Canada.

The association, while still in its infancy is developing a structure – another stage of that development comes with the realization of this stand-alone website.  Current technological advances mean that we can communicate more easily than ever before. To date, the association has developed these means of inter-communication:

·         Anger Solutions™ Coaches Corner – a periodical E-Newsletter that is sent electronically to all certified AS Facilitators and Trainers (current and lapsed).

·         Resources, reports, assessment tools, and a library of reading materials conveniently placed online (currently being moved to this site).

·         A directory of current association members in good standing

·         The CAASP Annual Retreat. 2008 was our first year hosting the retreat, which was generously sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association of Sault Ste. Marie, Giant Life Solutions, BODA reLEAF consulting, and Red Chair Branding. At this meeting, the group in attendance worked together to further solidify the structure of the organization, voting in a President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and Membership Coordinator, and establishing the bylaws of the association.  The retreat takes place at the same time each year – the final week of the summer before Labour Day weekend. It was agreed by all in attendance at the 2008 retreat that we will continue to host the retreat at the Kempenfelt Conference Resort in Barrie, Ontario for at least 2 more years.

·         Anger Pros Blog: http://www.angerpros.blogspot.com – a tool for passing on relevant information between newsletter publishings.  All updates about the CAASP Retreat can be found on this site.

·         Tele-classes for continuing education – now f*ree to all members in good standing.

As a member of the CAASP, you can take advantage of these opportunities to share information and be a part of the ongoing development of the Anger Solutions™ Program.