On courses commonly there are conversations about films that are worth watching to understand more about what we do and why.
Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer, finds his life turned upside down when neighbouring gay artist, Simon, is hospitalised and his dog is entrusted to Melvin. In addition, Carol, the only waitress who will tolerate him, must leave work to care for her sick son, making it impossible for Melvin to eat breakfast.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119822/
A truly amazing film giving the viewer an insight into the world of autism. This film is a dramatisation of the life of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has a Ph.D. and is an expert in the field of animal husbandry. The film show the problems she faced growing up, going through education and her difficulties with human interactions. She is a professor at Colorado State University and is a well-known speaker on autism and animal handling.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/
Below is the real Temple Grandin talking in the same year the film was released.......
A new doctor finds himself with a ward full of catatonic patients. He is disturbed by them and the fact that they have been catatonic for decades with no hope of any cure. When he finds a possible chemical cure he gets permission to try it on one of them. When the first patient awakes, he is now an adult having gone into a catatonic state in his early teens. The film then delights in the new awareness of the patients and then on the reactions of their relatives to the changes in the newly awakened. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/
A true account of a family with an autistic child (Kyle) and how the introduction of a pet dog helps Kyle in his daily life.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825222/
A troubled young boy, Oskar, is trying to cope with the loss of his father. Oskar starts lashing out at his mother and the world. The film mentions him being assessed for Asperger's Syndrome, but I believe the book did not mention it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477302/
We discuss this a lot on courses when people mention self injury. The skull is smooth on the outside, however, on the inside it is bumpy and the brain is moving in fluid. Helmets may give the onlooker the impression of safety however internally the person is probably experiencing traumatic brain injury.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322364/
All you need to know - Sheldon's regimented, deeply eccentric, and non-conventional ways. The foursome spend their time working on their individual work projects, playing video games, watching science-fiction movies, or reading comic books. As they are self-professed nerds, all have little or no luck with popular women. When Penny, a pretty woman and an aspiring actress originally from Omaha, moves into the apartment across the hall from Leonard and Sheldon's, , Leonard has another aspiration in life, namely to get Penny to be his girlfriend.
Challenging Behaviour is a term the healthcare sector has misused for years. When the term was originally introduced, it was an attempt to move away from the then widely used term "behaviourally disturbed". The healthcare sector recognised that the term had become associated with some very negative connotations and therefore should not, in good conscience, be given to an individual.
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A service director the other day commented how it was only on Physical Intervention training that the staff start questioning to the Nth degree about scenarios and possible outcomes of events. She stated that it would not happen on a first aid course. Well I know a first aid trainer who would disagree, however I have been on a lot of training as a participant in the last year (see biog) and can agree her point is valid.
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From Inception D8 was formed as a method of getting high quality training to those who care for individuals in distress. Part of that concept involves smaller companies and individuals who find accessing training prohibitive for various reasons. Apart from the obvious cost implications with running a full training course there are also the implications regarding closing a business to release staff for the course to occur.
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When under pressure we respond in a small number of differing ways. These tend to be in 2 main camps. Those who feel the need to control and those who have a more relaxed attitude. The question is which has a better effect on the person in distress? Picture this, you are under pressure and in distress and you shout at your partner "just get me my dinner!" and your partner replies "No, you will not talk to me in that manner! ENOUGH now."
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Over the last few years we have had a terrific response in terms of de-escalation with our course incorporating Affect Labelling. Emotions arise to make us pay attention to our environment. The more emotional our experience, the less we can think clearly, resist impulses, and engage in constructive problem-solving. By creating even the simplest label, we learn to express what we are experiencing. At a rudimentary level, we think about what is causing us to feel emotion and take action to experience either more or less of the emotion, depending on the situation.
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The mind shift almost always travels from introductions where people say / imply things that contradict the basic philosophy of the course to an ending where people state publicly (or privately to me) how they always thought like this. Usually adding something like - “it is great that a training like this exists so that all those other people I work with whose attitude needs adjusting can access it”.
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What would you do? This seems to be an innocent question with a straight forward answer. However, when asked by someone who works in healthcare industry, assumptions take over and most people are convinced they know exactly what that entails – lets look at the options
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The term debriefing is an industry-used term. In our industry while useful it is often misunderstood when talking about application at ground floor or grassroots level. When discussing the term de-briefing we @de-escalate.com have separated the term debriefing into different areas. I will discuss one of these here.
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If there is any indication or suspicion that anyone has suffered an injury or psychological trauma following the incident / use of physical intervention they must receive treatment and support as soon as is reasonably possible. Debriefing is misused as a term, and while analysis is important in a Positive Behaviour Support framework, your D.ESCAL8™ facilitator discussed these two areas and the differences between debriefing and offloading.
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Teaching different groups can lead to predictable responses. When you teach a group where half the participants work with younger kids (under 11 ish) and the other half work with young people (teens) there is a clear dichotomy in their attitudes and responses around problem behaviour. It all comes back to the issue around the distractor versus the reinforcer.
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I have wanted to do a post about Hanlon's Razor for a while and the mask issue has led to me combining that here. Our non verbal communication being misinterpreted or misunderstood should not be considered intentional.
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This is a series of images sent to me by the area boss. It's not merely about the evaluations people provide at the end. It’s about the deeper consolidation achieved through meaningful conversations within the team. These conversations foster understanding, collaboration, and alignment, which are far more impactful than numerical scores or rankings. The true value lies in engaging dialogue that strengthens bonds and resolves challenges. Success stems from shared insights and collective growth within the team. Conversations truly matter in building trust and unity.
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