Justice Phase

By Maia Christopherson

This is the fourth post in a six-post series discussing Discovery Ranch for Girls’ Phases of Change. In this post, we’ll discuss the third phase: Justice.

Beyond Duty

We have already explored the importance of Duty.  Understanding that we have responsibilities and obligations in life is part of growing up. It is one of the most basic, essential requirements of adulthood. It also has its limitations.

After World War II, for example, a series of tribunals were convened by which to prosecute the various war crimes and atrocities committed through the course of the war. The common defense offered up by the defendants was, “I was only doing my duty.” In other words, “I cannot be held responsible for the wrongs I committed, because I was ordered to do those wrongs by people in authority over me.” The world’s answer was, essentially, “No, there comes a time when more is expected of you. Right and wrong are more important than duty.”
 

Change of Focus

When we refer to justice, we don’t mean justice like Lady Justice and her scales. Justice, in the Discovery Ranch Phase System, refers to “the difference between right and wrong.” When girls arrive at Discovery Ranch, most of them have a skewed sense of justice. They will call unhealthy behaviors healthy, bad things good, and good things bad.

In those early weeks and months, students see therapy as something being imposed upon them from the outside. Their commitment to their own treatment is minimal. But there is something that happens around this point in the process. Students motivations begin to shift from external to internal.

When that happens, they begin experiencing a change of heart. They begin to take personal ownership of their therapeutic goals and progress. They also begin to correctly label the good and the healthy in their lives.
 

Willingness versus Willfulness

There is a concept in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) of Willingness versus Willfulness. The struggle between the idea of being willing to change or too willful to change is especially relevant to residential treatment. So much of the early effort in residential therapy is designed to help students just be willing to change. After they are willing, then the real therapeutic work can begin.

That shift tends to happen around this point in the process. It doesn’t mean students have learned everything they need to learn or mastered everything they need to master. It simply means they have become active, willing participants in the process. That willingness is based around their growing sense of right and wrong.

In order to complete their Justice phase, our girls have to meet the following residential, clinical, and academic goals:
 

Residential

• Understand and seek what is good and healthy
• Demonstrate excellence in all lower level responsibilities
• Take a proactive role in-house, ranch, and Peer Leadership Program (PLP) tasks
• Be a successful Manager in the PLP
• Consistently and independently follow the rules
• Exceed basic expectations of honesty and mutual respect
• Demonstrate an ability to set firm and healthy peer boundaries
• Make a conscious effort to build meaningful relationships
• Own Therapeutic Goals
• Do not engage in therapy-interfering behaviors

Clinical

• Complete Family Autobiography
• Finish Wall assignment
• Complete Willingness and Willfulness assignment
• Read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens and complete an assignment
• Complete How Does Passion Impact Me and My Future? assignment
• Complete a successful overnight family visit
• Use Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Diary Card independently
• Be vulnerable and proactive in all areas of treatment
• Begin to demonstrate the transition from external to internal motivation
• Do not engage in therapy-interfering behaviors

Academic

• Take initiative in academic planning
• Take ownership of academic goals and outcomes
• Challenges herself to full academic potential
• Averages 3–4 concepts per week in the recommended subjects

Earning Their Second Rein

When girls advance to the Justice phase, they receive the second of their two split reins. The second rein represents Justice, which means that the girls understand what is right and what is wrong. Our girls understand that they will never have complete control over the circumstances of their lives. They also understand that if they know the difference between right and wrong, and hold firmly to what is right, that they can keep their life on course.