KINNECT

Research as to the effectiveness of KINNECT is ongoing and includes a published study in the Journal for residential treatment for adolescents and an individual study by the University of Iowa as part of a trauma informed environment. KINNECT is used in many school, residential settings and shelters across the western United States.

KINNECT is a combination of 3 evidence-based models, team building curriculum and the research continuum for complexly traumatized children. Those components are the Sanctuary Model, Classroom/Camp Based Intervention (CBI) and Project Adventure activities. The sessions are formatted after the CBI structure with an opening sequence designed to promote attunement through repetitive affiliative activity, a set of activities that are the core of each session and closing rituals focused on affect management and reflection . The theoretical framework considers the extensive work from the Sanctuary Institute in regards to systemic conditioning and reactivity. The SELF model from the Sanctuary curriculum (Bloom, 1995) is used as a guide for theme and session discussions. The core activities are drawn from a number of sources including Project Adventure publications, psychodrama activities and affiliation based games. The sessions are contained and predictable using the CBI structure.

While KINNECT can be used for all kids and families it has the structure and format that can bring aggressive behavioral kids to a more centered, integrated place as well as isolating anxious kids. The rationale begins with
key points identified by Dr. Margaret Blaustein and Kristine Kinniburgh in their development of the ARC model a promising practice in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network database. Those points are Need for intervention that:

  1. Can address continuum of exposures (layers of chronic and acute), including ongoing exposure

  2. Is embedded in a social/contextual framework

  3. Is sensitive to individual developmental competencies and deficits, and flexible in its approach

  4. Addresses individual, familial, and systemic needs and strengths (Kinniburgh & Blaustein 2010)

KINNECT was developed in response to a request for additional interventions for residential youth and was
structured in a way that mirrors the format of a Classroom/Camp Based Intervention (CBI) session, CBI is another evidence-based model that is registered as a promising practice in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) database ( Johnson-Macy & Macy NCTSN.org, 2014). CBI has been measured and tested in 15 different countries with various populations of children ranging from single event natural disaster to ingoing war and genocide. The structural aspects of CBI create predictability and consistency, the foundation of safety.

Population

At the adult level we know that the largest mental health provider is the prison system and this does not vary much when looking at adolescents and children, group care generally has an institutional framework. The existing system for adolescents and children supports behavior management strategies that essentially condition compromised children to being competent only in institutional settings. As illustrated in the sidebar below compromise in multiple domains leads us into a trap that guarantees a constant flow of children into the adult prison system because we do not take these variables into consideration when intervening with system involved youth. System involved youth interact with and often victimize non-institutional children, not because they are bad children but often because they have a distorted sense of who they are in society, in combination with poor impulse control. KINNECT uses activities that encourage co-operation, affiliation and conditioning to rebuild a sense of belonging for many children who are in environments that are chronically challenging. Additionally, KINNECT reinforces the development of relationship skills for staff working with all children. In an ideal situation a 20 session round of KINNECT would be followed by 12-18 sessions of CBI.

Sample Session:

KINNECT Class One of Safety: Safety-Flight, Fight, Freeze

Materials Needed: Writing Utensils, Paper, Balls of Different Sizes, Parachute, Music

Introduce and Discuss Group Social Contracts

  • Respect Self

  • Respect Group

  • Respect Environment

Beginning Attunement Exercise

Rolling a ball around a parachute to music that has a tempo that is upbeat, the goal being that the children begin to operate and anticipate the ball coming to them in relation to the children on each side of them.

Games:

You, Me and Lisa - The participants form a circle and the facilitator demonstrates how the game works by saying the name of the person on his or her right, saying their own name and then saying the name of the person on their left.  The person to the left goes next copying the facilitator by saying the facilitator’s name, their own name and then the person on their lefts name until it has gone around the entire circle.  After the group is comfortable you can do it for time to see how fast you can go.

Commonalities- Divide the group on into 3’s, 4’s 5’s etc. using a piece of paper try to discover how many things the group has in common.  These are things that are not visible like glasses, or brown hair etc. Things like number of siblings, visited particular states.  Give approximately 10 minutes, and then have the groups share their commonalities with the entire group.

Team Juggle – Ask the group to circle up, include you in the group.  Announce that you are going to toss a ball around the circle, making sure everyone gets the ball as a pattern is developed before it comes back to the facilitator.  A couple of guidelines, you cannot hand the ball to the person next to you and if the ball is dropped it goes back to the facilitator and the pattern starts over again. Once the pattern is established introduce another ball, and another etc., challenging the group. Keep in mind rhythm and tempo.

Topics for Discussion

  • What did the participants do to succeed? Acknowledge that the participants utilized mainly nonverbal communication, typically not many words are said, rhythm, tempo; including timing, adjusting height of toss, waiting etc.

  • What do these activities have to do with Flight, Fight, Freeze responses?

Ending Activity: Tai Chi

A simple form of a Tai Chi kata called the box in some dojo’s done to music that is meditative in tempo and volume, designed to bring the heart rate down and to return to a more integrated, calm state

References

Retrieved from http://www.nctsn.org/treatments that work Classroom, Community, Culture Based Intervention (CBI®) Bibliography: 2003-2014

Wietse A Tol, Ivan H Komproe, Mark JD Jordans, Aline Ndayisaba, Prudence Ntamutumba, Heather Sipsma, Eva S Smallegange, Robert D Macy, Joop TVM de Jong. School-based mental health intervention for children in war affected Burundi: a cluster randomized trial; BioMed Central Medicine 2014, 12:56; doi:10.1186/1741-7015- 12-56

Tol, W.A., Komproe, I.H., Jordans, M.J.D., Gross, A.L., Susanty, D., Macy, R.D. & de Jong, J.T.V.M. (2012). Mediators and Moderators of a Psychosocial Intervention for Children Affected by Political Violence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Tol, W.A., Komproe, I.H., Susanty, D., Jordans, M.J.D. Macy, R.D., & De Jong, J.T.V.M. (2008). School-based mental health intervention for political violence-affected children in Indonesia: A cluster randomized trial. JAMA, 300, 655-662.

Jordans, M.J.D., Tol, W.A., Komproe, I.H., Lasuba, A.C., Ntamutumba, P., Susanty, D., Vallipuram, A. & de Jong, J.T.V.M. (2012). Comprehensive psychosocial support for children in areas of armed conflict. International Journal of Mental Health Systems.

Jordans, M.J.D., Komproe, I.H., Tol, W.A., Susanty, D., Vallipuram, A., Ntamutumba, P., Lasuba, A.C. & de Jong, J.T.V.M. (2010). Practice-driven evaluation of a multi-layered psychosocial care package for children in areas of armed conflict. Community Mental Health Journal, DOI 10.1007/s10597-010-9301-9.

Jordans, M.J.D., Komproe, I.H., Tol, W.A., Kohrt, B., Luitel, N., Macy, R.D., & de Jong, J.T.V.M. (2010). Evaluation of a classroom-based psychosocial intervention in conflict-affected Nepal: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02209.x.