INNOVATIVE NEW SERVICE CATERS TO FAMILIES WITH AT-RISK TEENS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 12, 2010 --

Michael Harmann, MSW announces the launch of his new Connecticut-based firm, Adolescent Behavioral Consulting. The consulting firm, currently serving Fairfield County, offers intervention and coaching for families with at-risk teens and young adults and its’ services include in-home assessments, one-on-one teen/young adult mentoring for ages 15 to 25, recovery coaching, random drug testing, job placement, parent coaching, 24 hour on-call support and referral assistance. Preventative consulting sessions for families with pre-teens and young teens who are increasingly being exposed to the dangers of today’s adolescence are also being introduced by the firm.

Parenting today's adolescents can pose many unique and confusing challenges from drug use, sexual behavior, and breaking the law, to disrespecting teachers and parents, failing in school, and using poor judgment. "Adolescent Behavioral Consulting offers dynamic and pervasive support for parents concerned with the safety and future of their child," says Harmann. "Our clients work with individual masters-level helping professionals who are available 24/7 to coach parents and to help manage their at-risk teen or young adult in an effort to keep him or her safe from themselves and to reestablish peace in the home."

The innovative approach of Adolescent Behavioral Consulting gives families with at-risk youth an alternative or supplementary means of restoring balance in households when traditional options are either too broad or too limited. "Challenges that adolescents face today are unique," Harmann continues. "Often behaviors of at-risk teens and young adults are not severe enough for a rehab or behavioral modification program, but may be too severe for therapy alone. Our solution is a hands-on approach keeping the teen and family in their own environment, addressing the issues with the appropriate amount of effort and time, and leaving no stone unturned."

At-risk adolescents are typically in varying degrees of crisis. Harman's service begins with a phone call followed by an in-home meeting with one of their masters-level consultants and the parent or parents as well as with the teen or young adult. "We learn about the current situation and determine what intervention is appropriate," says Harmann. "We immediately begin spending as much one-on-one time as possible with the adolescent. We work to establish a relationship with the child to understand their point of view and the actual variables contributing to their self-destructive behaviors. Our customized plan includes accessing every area of the child's life from the friends they hang out with to the budgeting of their allowance in an effort to affect positive change. Meetings, outings, telephone communication, drug testing, and daily curfew check-ins are standard elements of the one-on-one intervention with the teen. During this process, we also work closely with the parents, coaching them to strategically adjust their interactions with their child to affect positive behavioral change. If and when appropriate, we make referrals to other helping professionals like therapists to offer additional support."

Michael Harmann, founder of Adolescent Behavioral Consulting, grew up in Weston, Connecticut and overcame his severe learning disabilities through special education programs during his childhood and early teen years and persevered to proudly obtain his Masters of Social Work from Columbia University at the age 27. At the age of 8 years old, Harmann began competing in Judo at the state-level and was honored with a black belt at a Sankaku International Tournament in 2000 at the age of 24. Harmann’s current professional success draws from his personal experience as a struggling youth searching for hope and confidence combined with his tremendous formal education as a young adult and his years of work experience including serving both adults and adolescents through several key positions including being a program director for a substance abuse treatment center as well as for a homeless shelter, a counselor for foster children and adolescents, a hospital social worker, and a treatment care coordinator for psychiatric patients. His most recent accomplishment was founding the Greenfield Lodge, a leading rehabilitation residence for sober living, in Los Angeles, California in 2006. In addition to his current consulting work in Fairfield County and managing his supervising team at the Greenfield Lodge in California, Harmann offers national online resources through the Adolescent Behavioral Consulting website, www.adolescentbehavioralconsulting.com, and he also offers parenting workshops addressing the management of at-risk teen/young adult issues.

“Parents need to know that they are not alone in their journey with their at-risk teen” says Harmann. “Not only are there are many parents going through similar difficulties, but there are also many resources and levels of options in our area for help. My firm, Adolescent Behavioral Consulting, will help parents identify the severity of the situation and direct them appropriately. In addition to our own services, we maintain strong ties with many of the rehab centers, behavioral modification programs, therapists, and attorneys in Fairfield County.”

For additional information, visit www.adolescentbehavioralconsulting.com or call (203) 644-6727.
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More information can be found online at http://www.adolescentbehavioralconsulting.com

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