I had the privilege to attend a training session titled:
“How to address challenging and aggressive behaviors in community therapeutic recreation settings.”
This topic was present at the 2016 ATRA conference in the Chicago-area on Monday, Sept. 12th.
The speakers included:
Andrea Griffin, CTRS, CPRP, Tracey Craford, CTRS, CPRP, and Courtney Lucente, CTRS
I regret to say that I was running late and didn’t take a notepad t this session, so my blog entry is based on memory.
I did talk to one of the speakers at the end of this session and let her know that I like her philosophy.
They are a quality program.
They had talked about banning or kicking out a kid because of her behaviors.
The mother was irate. She said: “you’re the quality program. My child won’t get recreation otherwise. You’re qualified to meet the needs for kids with special needs.”
And they agreed. They really don’t want to leave any child out.
Danny Pettry: I really like there philosophy of doing what they can to get the child involved in programming.
The truth is: providing services for people who are aggressive is difficult.
And they had to do a lot of work to make it possible for the child (meaning child is safe, others in the program are safe, the staff are safe). While receiving recreation services.
They gave three case studies that consisted of males (adolescent ages). Small groups in the room read them to identify warning signs, triggers, and other needs. They worked together to create plans to help. They also worked together to connect the community centers database of information. They also worked with local police and churches in case a child runs.
Danny Pettry: Providing services for the community involves working with a lot of people. The person could have various diagnoses. Some could include: autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, conduct disorder, developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s, and many others.
Their staff was trained in Crisis Intervention.
Danny Pettry: My professional experiences have been in psychiatric hospital. There has been a major move away from using physical, mechanical, or chemical restraints. Based on the hospital training I’ve received there have been many injuries (staff and patient) and often death of patients who were not able to breathe during the restraints.
I felt glad I attended this session.
I regret I didn’t have any additional notes for you here.