About Social Responsibility Therapy (SRT)
What is SRT?
SRT is a skills-based multicultural treatment that aims to decrease multiple forms of unhealthy, harmful behavior, increase socially responsible behavior and achieve healthy lifestyle goals.
"A healthy, positive life is simple." Less unhealthy, harmful behavior results in less negative consequences, less unwanted feelings and a more healthy, positive life. Since positive lifestyle change requires positive lifestyle actions, SRT develops healthy behavior and relationship success skills to replace past unhealthy, harmful behavior habits.
SRT targets primary contributing factors to multiple forms of unhealthy, harmful behavior
This is important because the referral harmful behavior is not usually the only harmful behavior. For example, it is not unusual for individuals referred for food abuse (i.e., overeating), substance abuse (i.e., drugs and alcohol) or sexual abuse (e.g., child molestation and rape) to also have a history of involvement in property abuse such as theft, gambling or overspending (1) and trust abuse (i.e., dishonesty, deception) to coverup unhealthy, harmful behavior. SRT intake screenings for multiple forms of unhealthy, harmful behavior revealed that adult female over-eater/obesity referrals, male youth substance abuse referrals and male youth referred for sexually abusive behavior all disclosed four types of unhealthy, harmful behavior on average (2).
In addition, one harmful behavior can set the occasion for or trigger another. For example, substance abuse can set the occasion for sexual and physical abuse including homicide (3), 34% of smoking lapses are triggered by eating or drinking (4) and bulimics are more likely to binge and purge after drinking alcohol (5).
Best practice for self-control development
Treating only the referral form of unhealthy, harmful behavior allows unhealthy, harmful behavior to migrate to another harmful behavior during treatment when it is being observed and shift back to the referral behavior afterwards. This behavior migration blocks self-control development (6).
Since the referral harmful behavior is not usually the only harmful behavior, Social Responsibility Therapy targets the primary contributing factors that support multiple forms of unhealthy, harmful behavior to prevent one unhealthy, harmful behavior from triggering another and; behavior migration from blocking self-control development.
Social Responsibility Therapy is a hybrid treatment that combines interventions selected for their research support and application to multiple forms of unhealthy, harmful behavior. Social Responsibility Therapy has been successfully implemented in outpatient, foster care and residential settings with adolescents and adults referred for unhealthy, harmful eating, substance use, sexual behavior with co-occurring problems.