It’s not “Collaborative Problem Solving” anymore!

While Dr. Greene originally called his model “Collaborative Problem Solving” — and referred to his work by that name in his books and scientific papers until 2013 — he now refers to his model as Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS).

The name change was prompted by the actions of Massachusetts General Hospital, which demanded in 2008 that Dr. Greene relinquish his intellectual property (he refused) and took legal steps to prohibit him from referring to his model as “Collaborative Problem Solving.” Handing his model over to a large hospital conglomerate was unfathomable, but after five years of litigation in federal court, the endgame was, shockingly, achieved: since 2008, MGH has been marketing a product called “Collaborative Problem Solving” through its “Think:Kids” program.

Confused? Let’s clear things up:

• Neither the director of Think:Kids, Stu Ablon, nor MGH had any involvement in originating or developing Dr. Greene’s approach, though there’s been a lot of confusion about that (read more here)
• Dr. Greene has not been associated with “Think:Kids” or MGH since 2008, nor with Ablon or any other individuals who are marketing and providing training on “Collaborative Problem Solving”
• Ablon was found by a federal jury to have infringed on Dr. Greene’s copyrighted materials
• Dr. Greene does not approve of what MGH and Ablon have done with his work nor the distinctly non-collaborative way in which they came to independently market a variant of that work

Dr. Greene founded the non-profit Lives in the Balance in 2009, which provides vast free resources on the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model and provides training on the model to parents, educators, physicians, clinicians, and treatment facilities all over the world. Dr. Greene does not receive a salary from Lives in the Balance.

An ethical complaint was filed against Ablon with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists, Division of Professional Licensure (click here) encapsulating many of the above issues. While the Board did not find that the factual allegations in the complaint were untrue, remarkably, it took no disciplinary action. Under Massachusetts General Law, all complaints, correspondence, and materials related to this complaint are a matter of public record.

“Don’t ever confuse what is legal with what is moral…you’re either principled or you’re not.”
—Oprah Winfrey