Dr. Beale has specialized in designing non-traditional therapy programs for youth populations that are at risk or have trauma histories. Her programs have utilized adventure therapy (AT) to increase skills and resiliency, and include individual, family and group applications. She also worked on validating AT with clinical research in Trauma-Informed Day Treatment and implementing a new AT program with both home-based and multi-family group components. Bobbi is also a trainer and consultant on issues related to youth including: Trauma & Resiliency, Bullying, Supportive Behavior Management, Outcomes, Cultural Diversity, Evidence-Based Practices and Teambuilding.
Dr. Beale previously served as the Director of the Center for Applied Resilience at Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health in Canton, Ohio. She has been serving at-risk youth and families at C&A since 1991; first as a home-based therapist, then a program supervisor, program designer and division director.
Q: Why is your work at the Begun Center important to you, to our community, and to the world? We help behavioral health agencies and providers to stay up to date on effective and innovative practices for children, youth and families.
Q: What is a cause about which you are particularly passionate? Children and youth that experience trauma act out in ways that appear to be intentionally inappropriate, often impulsive, aggressive and/or self-centered. Traditionally adults have punished these behaviors in an effort to reduce or eliminate the unwanted behaviors. Unfortunately, punishments and threats are not only ineffective, but actually increase the trauma response. We need to stop punishing survival responses and increasing our relational interventions.
Publications
Book
Alvarez, T., Stauffer, G., Lung, D.M., Stacksteder, K., Beale, B., and Tucker, A.R. (2021). Adventure Group Psychotherapy: An Experiential Approach to Treatment. Routledge.
Podcast
Pondering Life Adventures: Episode 2: Who We Are As Parents
Pondering Life Adventures: Episode 1: It all begins with pondering stress in our daily lives
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Examining the Concurrent Validity of the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children
Research on Social Work Practice; November 2016.
The Use of Adventure Therapy in Community-Based Mental Health: Decreases in Problem Severity Among Youth Clients
Child & Youth Care Forum Journal of Research and Practice in Children’s Services; April 2013.
Presentations
American Association for Experimental Education conference, November 2020
- Organizational Resilience Panel: Approaching organizational culture from a trauma and resilience informed perspective
- Adventure Group Psychotherapy: Shaping the Environment
- Adventure Group Psychotherapy: Facilitating the Experience
- Adventure Group Psychotherapy: Foundations, Building Blocks, and Overview of the Facilitated Wave Model
- Adventure Group Psychotherapy: Assessment and Matching
Trauma Informed Engagement: The intersection of racism, bias and traumatic stress'. Association for Experiential Education conference, October 2020.
Trauma-Informed Care: COVID-19 and Provider Resilience. Ohio Children's Alliance annual conference, October 2020.
Multi-System Youth - Chapter 1: Supporting Youth with Intensive and Complex Needs / Supporting Youth with Intensive and Complex Needs online training series
Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI), Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD), October 2020
Activate Family Resilience. Ohio Recovery Conference, October 2019
Columbus Family Resilience: Practical Strategies. Ohio Prevention Conference, October 2019.
TAPG Best Practices Conference (Delkab, IL), June 2019
- The Best of Adventure Therapy: Co-Creating an AT Continuum of Care
- TIPs: Trauma Informed Psychoeducation for AT Providers and Consumers
Trauma-Informed Care Summit (Columbus, OH), May 2019
- The Impact of Trauma on Parenting.
- TIC From the Experts—Panelists Share Their Stories
32nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health (Tampa, FL), March 2019
- The Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition Journey: Comprehensive Strategies to Provide Effective, Sustainable Treatment While Building a Research Base with Our Most Vulnerable Population
- Working Together for Families Trapped in Crisis: Innovative, Interactive Interventions that Engage, Increase Resilience and Stabilize Families
The Impact of Trauma on Parenting. Ohio Children's Alliance Conference (Columbus, OH), October 2018.
31st Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health (Tampa, FL), March 2018
- The Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition Journey: Comprehensive Strategies to Provide Effective Treatment While Building a Research Base with Our Most Vulnerable Population
- Intensive In-Home Treatment Practice: Clinical Innovations, Practice Frameworks and Supports
Trauma-Informed Adventure Therapy with Current and Former Foster Care Youth. Professional Development Intensive at the 45th Annual International Association for Experiential Education Conference (Montreal, Quebec), November 2017.
Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition: Building an infrastructure for more effective youth and family treatment. Public Children Services Association of Ohio Annual Conference (Columbus, OH), September 2017.
Bringing Adventure Therapy Home: Intensive Home-Based Adventure Therapy. Therapeutic Adventure Best Practices Conference, June 2017.
Statewide Implementation of Intensive In-Home Treatment: Perspectives from Three States. 30th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research & Policy Conference (Tampa, FL), March 2017.
Adventures in resilience: Interactive interventions to facilitate change. Third Annual Ohio Trauma Informed Care Summit, June 2016.