Are your Anger Management class court approved? I'm under court orders for Anger Management class.

Court order Anger Management classes. I have 30 days from September 22 to be registered and 90 days to complete it. I need to make sure this will work for Court orders so I'm not in trouble.
Asked by Bird
Answered
10/04/2021

This is a great question, thank you for asking.  In my experience of 7 years of providing anger management classes for the courts, they prefer that those classes take place in brick and mortar locations, typically in group settings. They do accept virtual groups.  They expect their providers to work either under their own license or under the license of the agency that they are working for and be trained specifically in anger management. It is also expected that the client seeking treatment go through an initial assessment that takes anywhere between 60-120 minutes that covers pretty much all areas of life.  Sessions are usually conducted from a state-approved curriculum. Once you complete the curriculum successfully, you are considered successfully completed and a letter is sent to your referral agent (court, probation officer, etc) and you are done.  Unfortunately, though I have the credentials to do so, I am not state-approved as a Better Help provider to provide state court-ordered treatment anymore.  Your best options to find anger management courses accepted by the courts are your local community mental health center (Summitstone Health Services, Centennial Mental Health, Jefferson Mental Health, Denver Mental Health, Aurora Mental Health, Adams Mental Health, etc)  If you happen to be in Southern or Western Colorado where I am not as familiar, just Google your location and regional mental health center and you'll find the closest mental health center.  Those will likely be the cheapest and will work on a sliding scale.  Because of what they do, they are also guaranteed to be state/court-approved.   Another option is to check around your local community to see if any of your local agencies that provide outpatient drug and alcohol treatment provide court-approved anger management classes.  Anger management classes are often provided by those agencies and they are often court-approved.  You can ask when you make contact with them if they are court-approved.  Many of them also offer sliding fee scales based on income and the classes are also offered in group settings which save you some money vs. individual sessions. Like with the mental health centers, you will be asked to complete an intake prior to your first group where they will ask you questions about different areas of your life and how you ended up in anger management classes.  You will be expected to complete their curriculum and once you have successfully done so, a letter of successful completion will be sent and you will have been considered to have completed the required treatment.  I hope that this all answers your question.  I wish that I could help more.  If you have any additional questions, please let me know.  

(LCSW, LAC, EMDR, Trained)