Anger management intervention begins with the initial contact with the participant. In this initial contact we will talk about the participant’s needs and his or her personal and behavioral qualities that will be assessed through the Conover intake assessment. This assessment is used to gauge the client’s level of functioning in the areas of:

1) Interpersonal Assertion, or how effectively the individual uses direct, honest, and appropriate expression of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when dealing with others

2) Interpersonal aggression, or the degree to which the client’s communication styles violates, overpowers, dominates, or discredits another person’s rights, thoughts, feelings, or behaviors

3) Interpersonal Deference, or the degree to which a person’s communication style is indirect, self-inhibiting, self-denying, and ineffectual for the accurate expression of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

4) Empathy, which is an individual’s ability to sense, understand, and accept another person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

5) Stress Management, or skill in dealing with stress and anxiety and

6) Change Orientation, which indicates one’s degree of motivation and readiness for change.

The next step is to start the classes. Anderson & Anderson recommends at least 26 classes to get the best you can from the program. For those who are mandated by the court, the number of classes to be attended will be assigned by the court.