User:Jiada~enwiki/SSLD

SSLD (Strategies and Skills Learning and Development) is a learning system developed by Ka Tat Tsang, University of Toronto, on the basis of his 30 years of experience in psychotherapy, counselling, education, training, consultation, and community service. SSLD aims at helping people to learn and develop strategies and skills that will enable them to attain their goals in life. Whereas SSLD was initially built upon social skills training procedures, the current model has a number of characteristics of its own:

1.	Learner-centered instead of trainer-centered 2.	Need-oriented and goal directed 3.	Multiple contingencies thinking 4.	Comprehensive conceptualization of human experience within the life-world 5.	Strategies and life-goals are considered in an extended temporal frame 6.	Innovation and creation of new strategies and skills through collaborative generation with clients, going beyond the confines of the practitioner’s repertoire 7.	Client-centered

SSLD practice typically starts with the engagement and problem translation process, through which the client and practitioner develop a shared understanding of the client’s unique needs and circumstances. What the client initially experiences as a problem is translated into an analysis of the client’s needs and aspiration within her or his particular context. This understanding will inform the articulation of goals to be accomplished by the client. Once the goals are set, the client will work with the practitioner to explore and develop the appropriate strategies and skills to achieve these goals. The strategies and skills cover the six domains of human experience: Motivation, biology, cognition, emotion, behavior, and environment.

SSLD analysis emphasizes human action. It does not assume that knowledge and thoughts will automatically translate into action. The intervention focuses on the building of actual strategies and skills people will employ in their real life context, and these will make a difference in their lives. The analysis focuses on the functions of human action, including behaviors that are usually considered problematic or pathological. A person with a substance-use problem, for instance, is understood as someone who is using the substance to deal with stress, gain social approval, develop affiliation, manage stress or emotional pain, or simply seeking pleasurable experience. A person reporting delusional thoughts is seen as someone attempting to cope with threatening or overwhelming circumstances in life, to make sense of confusing experiences, to reduce anxiety, to communicate, or to obtain understanding, support, and even help. Based on such functional analysis, the practitioner will work with the client to design alternative strategies to serve the same function, so that the client can have choices beyond the current strategies of substance use or delusional thinking.

This model has been applied internationally by professionals who work with clients with mental health issues ranging from schizophrenic disorder to social phobia and inadequate interpersonal skills, children with autism , couples with sexual and relationship problems , people with substance abuse or addiction issues , people with insomnia or sleep-related issues , and so on. The system has also been used outside of the mental health field such as in management training, with programs ranging from front-desk reception to cross-cultural competence for professionals. The system has also been utilized in community service, ranging from health promotion to community development and activism.

For more information, please visit the official SSLD website at: http://ssld.kttsang.com