The ability to individualize plans of service in human services and educational settings is vital to providing the best possible services. The Mandt System recognizes that this kind of flexibility also has great utility when providing prevention, de-escalation, and intervention tools to service providers in many different settings. This is why the Mandt System includes multiple levels of certification, E-learning options, student portfolios, and various technical tracks.
At the Mandt System, we sometimes get questions about ways to customize the course to fit the needs of an organization. First, there are various levels of certification. Here’s a quick overview:
Relational:
This level of certification includes skills that help team members develop healthy relationships so that they can prevent incidents from occurring. If incidents occur despite preventative measures, the Relational course also includes de-escalation techniques to help team members to regulate themselves so that they can engage in a process of co-regulation with the individuals that they serve. This is the entry level certification and includes the most important concepts of the Mandt System. It is a prerequisite for all other levels of certification. Organizations that may sometimes work with people who escalate but are non-violent, may not need any other level of certification.
Technical:
This level of training includes physical intervention skills. All physical intervention skills in the Mandt System have been put through a vigorous biomechanical assessment to make them as safe as possible. There are two chapters within the Technical course. The first technical chapter teaches safe skills for self protection. Mandt instructors who work for organizations that do not use holding skills and work with people who may become aggressive may choose to teach just this first Technical chapter.
The second Technical chapter teaches holding skills that may be needed to temporarily interrupt dangerous behavior to stop a person from harming themselves or others. While the Mandt System sees itself as primarily a restraint prevention program, we do recognize that restrictive holding skills may sometimes be needed to protect a person from harming themselves or others. Because the Mandt System teaches across a broad range of service providers, we utilize a system of suggested “Technical Tracks” to help Mandt instructors and the organizations that they work with select which holding skills may be beneficial for them to teach. Here’s a quick overview of the various Technical Tracks in the Mandt System:
Standard Track:
This track includes all of the holding skills (team and solo) as well as an option for supplemental skills for people of smaller stature.
Solo Track:
This track includes skills for team members who work alone and does not include any team skills.
Elementary Education Track:
This track does not include any adult holding skills.
Secondary Education Track:
This track does not include any of the holding skills designed for use with children.
Observer/Monitor Track:
This track is for employees who may be in advocacy or investigative roles that will not be involved with the use of physical intervention, but need knowledge of it.
The Mandt System also has Conceptual modules that allow instructors to teach a deeper dive into the subjects of PBIS and trauma informed care. For organizations that need it, there are also add-on modules, such as the Shield and Pad course, that give organizations other alternatives to the use of restrictive holding skills. Organizations that interact with very high levels of aggression may choose to add the ADV course.
John Windsor – VP Training The Mandt System
