Program Information

We designed the Relational Chapters for you if you interact on a daily basis with people who, for the most part, are cooperative. We feel that the Relational Chapters provide an adequate level of interpersonal interaction skills for use in most of these situations. The most important part of any crisis interaction training is having the proper attitude and philosophy. Therefore, we stress the importance of de-escalating and interacting with people – not controlling them. If you can manage and control yourself, you can better interact with other people.

In the first three chapters, Relational Chapters, you will review what it takes to build Healthy Relationships in the workplace. These three chapters are the most important ones we teach!

Chapter One: Building Healthy Relationships


This chapter is the basis not only for this section but the entire course. In a five-day train-the-trainer course, we will spend almost the entire first day on this chapter to highlight its importance and to ensure we lay down the foundation upon which this course is built. Chapter highlights include:

• Foundational Beliefs
• Working as a Team
• Understanding and Working with Emotions
• Behavior Support and Supporting People
• Understanding Stress
• Crisis Cycle

Chapter Two: Building Healthy Communication


This chapter provides information on how communication takes place, and explores the different elements of communication. Communication is the key to resolving conflict and one of the keys to building healthy relationships. This chapter will provide information as well as opportunities to use this information in role-play and activities. Chapter highlights include:

• The Communication Process
• Nonverbal Elements in Communication
• Vocal Elements in Communication
• Verbal Elements in Communication: Strategies for De-Escalation

Chapter Three: Building Healthy Conflict Resolution

This chapter introduces basic approaches to conflict resolution. This chapter provides a definition for conflict and an approach, which ties conflict resolution into relationship building. We do not see the two as separate activities, but rather see conflict resolution as well as communication as two related tools to build healthy relationships. Chapter highlights include:

• The SODAS Method of Conflict Resolution
• Communication and Relationships
• Understanding Conflict Cycles
• Perceptions and Conflict
• Learning How to Resolve Conflicts

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We designed the Conceptual Chapters for you, if you interact on a daily basis with people who may become uncooperative. We feel that the Conceptual Chapters provide an adequate level of interpersonal interaction for use in most situations. We emphasize the use of a gradually progressive system of alternatives that involves the least restrictive means of interpersonal interaction.

Once healthy relationships have been established, there are four core competencies we want to give you so you can not only build healthy relationships but also use skills to address conflicts and meet unresolved needs. These next three chapters now focus on using skills and competencies.

Chapter Four: Trauma Informed Services


This chapter was written to help you work better with people who have experienced significant and in many cases ongoing trauma. There are people who may have experienced some type of traumatic event that was a “one time” occurrence, such as a natural disaster. Or they may have been victimized by other people: terms like abuse, exploitation, dehumanization, degradation can best describe what has happened to the person.

At a conceptual level, we want to give you the background information that may help you to become more aware of the effects of trauma on the people you serve, and provide a safer environment in which they can live, learn, work, and play with an increased feeling of safety. It may also give you the ability to support people and to respond to them in ways that do not retraumatize them.

• Two Models to Understanding Traumatic Stress
• Responding to Acute Episodic Trauma
• The Effects of Trauma – Betrayal Trauma

Chapter Five: Positive Behavior Support

This chapter was written to help people implement behavior support plans, not to write them. The more people know about positive behavior support, the easier it will be to help the people writing those plans by giving them the information they need. and to implement the approaches within support plans. This chapter focuses on:

• Two Views of behavior
• Antecedent – behavior – Consequence Model
• Setting Events
• Relationships and behavior
• Understanding Positive behavior Intervention and Supports
• Assessments
• Intervention Strategies
• The Crisis Cycle and behavior Support Interventions

Chapter Six: Liability and Legal Issues


This chapter provides an introduction to the legal issues surrounding the provision of services to people in educational, developmental disabilities, mental health and substance abuse, and other human services settings. Since none of us are attorneys, we cannot give legal advice, but we can give legal education by sharing the knowledge we have gained through the use of our skills and competencies as administrators, educators, social workers, expert witnesses, and direct support professionals. This chapter focuses on:

• Defining Liability
• Standards of Care
• Personal Liability and the Basis for Litigation
• Supervisory and Organizational Liability
• Reasonable Person Standard
• Reducing Exposure to Lawsuits

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We designed the Technical Chapters for you, if you interact on a daily basis with people who may become uncooperative and/or confused. We present a system of gradual and graded alternatives for de-escalating and managing people, using a combination of interpersonal communication skills and physical interaction techniques designed to reduce injury to all the participants in an encounter. The interpersonal skills from the Relational and Conceptual Chapters are reviewed and practiced, but emphasis is placed on learning appropriate physical skills while maintaining a high level of dignity and respect.

That same criteria must be present as we consider the possibility of an incident becoming a crisis. Just because there is a crisis and an increased risk of harm does not mean that we no longer treat people with dignity and respect. In these next chapters, we will focus more on teaching concepts than on teaching techniques.

Chapter Seven: Assisting and Supporting


This chapter will focus on assisting and supporting people who may be confused or disoriented, or who may have difficulty maintaining their balance. They may also have difficulty with following directions and responding to requests due to changes in medication, seizure activity, or other personal issues. In this chapter, we will not be focusing on the possibility of aggression. This chapter includes:

• Implementation of Physical Interaction Skills
• Introduction to Assisting
• Stance and Balance
• Body Mechanics and Movements
• Body Positioning
• One – and Two-Person Assisting
• One – and Two-Person Supporting

Chapter Eight: Separating


This chapter addresses questions that arise when people may grab you, or other people, or objects. Not all such acts, though, are aggressive in nature, and we will provide you with a model to assess the act of being grabbed. This chapter includes:

• Physical Interaction Concepts
• Non-Physical Ways of Separating
• Physical Releases from Holds
• Biting
• Hair Pulling
• Clothing Holds
• Finger Holds
• Separating Two People Who Are Fighting

Chapter Nine: Restraint


This chapter will provide two ways to restrain adults and two ways to restrain children or people of relatively shorter stature. This chapter teaches the application of the principles discussed above for the purpose of limiting and redirecting movement, but not immobilizing a person. Restraint, even when properly applied, can result in physical or emotional and psychological harm. The risks and benefits of imposing a restraint must be balanced against the risks and benefits of not doing a restraint. This chapter includes:

• Restraint Usage and Associated Injuries
• Risk Factors Associated with Restraint
• Minimizing Risk and Injury
• Three Types of Asphyxiation Associated with Restraint
• Monitoring Restraint Usage
• Standing Restraints
• Restraints of persons of short stature
• Moving People During Restraint
• Time Limits When Restraint is Used

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