Meet Senta Greene & Kathleen Van Antwerp, of Full Circle Consulting Systems
“Every family has its strengths, and every family needs support.” - Senta Greene & Kathleen Van Antwerp
Interviewed by Diane Cyr
Editor’s note
At some point, every parent of every adolescent hears these words: “You just don’t get it.” Guess what: It’s true. Most parents really don’t get why their 13-year-old slams doors, starts vaping, skips school or skateboards down flights of stairs. Fortunately, Senta Greene, a child-development expert, and Kathleen Van Antwerp, a leader in behavioral health and youth-and-family outreach, do get it. Their company, Full Circle Consulting, demystifies adolescent behavior for everyone dealing with kids, from parents and teachers to police and probation officers. The holistic approach of their curriculums and trainings—now used throughout the US and in several countries—isn’t about correcting and punishing behavior. It’s about understanding, guiding and transforming. Here’s what both women have to say about navigating those childhood years when everything gets turned upside down.
Why did you start Full Circle 18 years ago?
Van Antwerp: Senta and I have worked deeply in our communities with at-risk populations, including juveniles who were abandoned, homeless, incarcerated, pregnant or had HIV. We saw, historically, that educational and youth outreach systems were increasingly sending children from school into prison at an alarming rate. This school-to-prison pipeline, as it’s known, came about from looking at adolescent behavior but not understanding adolescent behavior through the child-development lens. When we have children who get in trouble, we need to use the science of child and adolescent development to design programs, not to punish children and adolescents, but to provide guidance to get them back on track.
When we began training law enforcement officers in this science, the response was overwhelmingly positive. These officers had had no background or training in this information and they were hungry for it. Now when they would see a 12-year-old who looks like a gang member, or like he’s going to cause problems in the community, they could approach that child developmentally, asking where is his family, what are his circles of socialization and support?
Greene: We also redesigned programs for community outreach built on the circles of socialization. Before, the community centers were not child-friendly—the walls were bare, the carpets stained. The officers would attempt to tutor and do homework, but the ratios were too large, with one officer per 20 youth. They would also play basketball or other sports with the youth or just hang out. We put in lights, colors, comfortable furniture; we added developmentally appropriate programs and opportunities to constructively engage in play with children and youth. We showed officers how to connect eye-to-eye with children, engage with them. These became places of growth and learning and family connection. One of our centers had 45 children attending the after-school program before Full Circle brought the science of child and adolescent development programming to the officers. After our training, the center had 350 youth per day participating in developmentally appropriate and family-centered activities.
Today Full Circle has a team of 30 experts in wellness, self-care, mindfulness, early childhood development, family engagement and parents-as-leaders, data analysis, special education, environmental design, sports youth development, diversity and inclusion—we are a holistic agency with focuses on juvenile justice, strengthening families and community, and education. And everything we do has the science of childhood development leading it.
How do you help with kids who are already in trouble?
Van Antwerp: We confer on special cases, working with youth mentors, court-appointed advocates and probation officers. If the court assigns a youth to a diversion program, we work with the parents in ten-week sessions, giving them the core information they need to strengthen their family. We always start by telling them every family has its strengths, and every family needs support. Most of these parents are overburdened and over-stressed and life to them is presented from a deficit lens. So when you come in and say every family has strengths and needs support, it shifts the dialogue immediately. We don’t approach from what you did wrong; we meet families where they are and provide tools to help strengthen their family immediately.
What’s one way these parents learn to strengthen their bond with their kids?
Greene: Let’s say a parent might be yelling at their child to gain his or her attention, or frustrated because their child seems not to be listening or responding on command. We can help parents understand that their children have their own thoughts, feelings and perspectives, and it’s important to be curious about what their behavior is communicating because all behaviors are forms of communication. We give parents strategies about how to engage with their child constructively and we always see the parents coming back and telling us, “I’m calmer and my child is calmer. I don’t know how to help him with his homework, but I’m sitting at the table and I’m asking questions and providing snacks, and it’s working.”
Van Antwerp: We say that your children need to hear you, not fear you. If a child is not going to school, we need to find out why. Are they struggling with learning? Instead of punishing them, find out what they’re curious about and what they want to know and be. If you want your child to go to college—and we find that all these parents do—we say take your child to the college in your community, go to the bookstore or the sporting event. Rather than punishing them or grounding them in their room, show them opportunities in life.
How do you work to empower kids themselves?
Greene: We work for the emotional health and well-being of all children, whether in public schools, charter, private or parochial. Adolescents can have challenging issues regarding social-emotional well-being, especially with being quarantined and dealing with the pressures of competing or performing, or of balancing being an athlete with a student. Full Circle provides parent cafes and student cafes where we find out what parents and students are struggling with and what matters to them. Full Circle guides the conversation and asks families what impacts them during times of challenge. These cafes give students and parents a space they can turn to every month to be with their student and parent peers, make connections, and speak the truth about what’s concerning them.
Van Antwerp: Our approach is that we never come and say, “We’re going to talk and you’re going to listen.” We say, “We’re here to create the third space. You bring your information and expertise and we create a space of learning together.”
What makes you hopeful or pessimistic about today’s adolescents?
Greene: We always look and continue to look to the children. Our hope is in the youth, in knowing that they’re speaking up and they’re showing up. They are very clear that they are not going to sit back and allow certain things to happen. We are championing the youth and, if anything, adults need to get out of the way and let them rise. We are the facilitators and their guides and mentors along the way.
Our pessimism lies more in the institutions that reject change and reform—the ones that want to check off that they’ve had a training or a workshop and it’s done. Established institutions need to have an awakening and redefine how they connect to children, youth, and families. We always say that we don’t want to reform, but reinvent.
But on balance, we have more optimism. Full Circle shows up, stands up and speaks up for children, youth and families.
What’s one piece of advice you’d like to give every parent of an adolescent?
Van Antwerp: To always remember to love them through the behavior. As child development specialists, we know children need discipline and guidance, not punishment. So guide them to a behavior that is constructive.