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When Someone You Support Says No.

When compliance becomes the goal, it can be easy to stop asking why someone is saying no.

In this powerful clip, Karyn Harvey shares a story that challenges us to look beyond “non-compliance” and consider what a person may actually be communicating. Trauma, fear, sensory needs, past experiences or simply a preference can all sit behind a refusal.

Good support isn’t about getting people to do what we want. It’s about getting curious, listening and asking better questions: Why? What might this person be telling us? What could we do differently?

Repeated exposure to abuse, social exclusion and rejection has had a devastating effect on the people we support. Trauma affects the way brain’s develop and function and leaves a lasting impression.

Our training module “Trauma-Informed Care” will help you to understand the biology of trauma. This module will help you to be able to recognize and most importantly support and heal the trauma that people have experienced.

Want to see how Open Future could work for your team? Schedule a Zoom demo of our site and then have 24 seats to our site for one month. No obligation. No contract of use. No cost. Click here.

P.S. Open Future is now SCORM compliant. Use our courses on any Learning Management System (LMS)!

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Seven Ways to Cause a Crisis

The song ‘Seven Ways to Cause a Crisis’ highlight what do we do that actually causes a crisis to happen in someone’s life?

What do we (ie: support staff, team, system. support plan) unintentionally do that causes crisis in the people lives that we support? Are we sometimes the cause of the very behaviors or actions that we are complaining about or that we may be wishing to change? Although we do not do this purposefully, we do though sometimes fail to pay attention to some fundamentally important parts of people’s lives. And when those fundamental things are being ignored, it is the perfect opportunity for something to go really wrong. We, as direct support professionals need to be aware of the relationships, homes, safety, support, choice and control of the people we support to help prevent a crisis from occuring.

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DOES YOUR TONE OF VOICE CHANGE?

http://youtu.be/IkLEpi9AAHI

Are you training staff that are new to the field? Check out our module “Introduction to Your Role”. This module , written by David Pitonyak, provides the perfect platform to embed understanding, respect, and person-centered values. Having spent most of his career working with people who are said to exhibit “difficult behaviors”, Pitonyak explains that most people exhibit difficult behaviors because they are misunderstood and/or because they are living lives that don’t make sense.  “Introduction to Your Role” is a great module to help your new and experienced training staff help the people they support better.

This module offers a succinct introduction to the role of the support staff person, and therefore is a great starting place for new employees and people who are new to the field.

This module includes video presentations from Lynda Kahn, Gary Kent, Sam Sly, Dave Hingsburger, David Hasbury, Simon Haywood, Marc Tumeinski, Beth Mount, Bernard Carabello, Simon Duffy, and Margaret Cushen.

On successful completion of this module, learners will be able to:

– Define and describe a developmental disability and its causes.

– Describe other commonly associated conditions.

– Explain how a developmental disability can impact the person’s life.

– Describe a range of experiences that impact the person’s life including segregation, congregation, negative perception and treatment, socal devaluation, loneliness, poor health, poverty and abuse.

– Explain the importance of the person’s history and the involvement of their family.

– Define John O’Brien’s five valued experiences and explain how they can support a good and meaningful life.

– Using the Code of Ethics developed by the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals you will be able to explain the purpose of the following concepts and how they refer to your role:

person-centered support

promoting physical and emotional well-being

integrity and responsibility

confidentiality

respect

justice, fairness, and equity

relationships

self determination

To ask questions or for information about our free trial please email hello@openfuturelearning.org