"Sticks and Stones" Part One: RA4CB

Residential Accommodations 4 Challenging Behaviors: What's In YOUR Home? (A 3-Part Series)

PART I : Protection

Separation and safety - the key ingredients. Couch and sofa cushions are not just something that fits neatly into your home seating installation. They are part of the recipe. Leaving a few cushions lying around in random spaces can be a good idea for multiple reasons. Their use as a barrier for personal protection will only harm the cushion - it serves as a quick barrier when behaviors suddenly change. These items can be used against you.

Sometimes a cushion is not enough, however. IF behaviors reach a level where striking behaviors are prevalent, and the difference in size is overwhelming, I recommend having a few exercise balls (also known as a stability or Swiss ball) of different sizes, ideally placed strategically in around your home in areas of high interaction. Holding the ball at shoulder-level in front of you creates a different kind of barrier. Unlike the cushion, creating space with the ball can keep someone from making contact with you using their hands and arms. With the individual unable to reach you around the ball, the barrier created here is another level of safety.

Holding the exercise ball in an upright fashion can provide important protection!

"The Uniform"

The right clothing can make a substantial difference when working in the field of mental health and cognitive disabilities - and in your home. Protective gear can be what you're wearing (as well as what you're not wearing). Safety gear can be worn subtly - gloves and special sleeves woven with Kevlar can help protect against teeth and nails in a discrete fashion. Do you wear glasses? I, personally, have had my glasses swatted off my face more than once, and getting prescription safety goggles to swap out as needed can help keep you from becoming increasingly compromised when managing a behavioral escalation.

However, keeping yourself and your staff safe while addressing those needs is a good way to keep an individual from becoming more isolated. It is always important to remember that, as stated by noted author and speaker David Pitonyak, "Challenging behaviors result from unmet needs" - but keeping yourself and your staff from risks while addressing those needs is a good way to keep an individual from becoming more isolated.

David Pitonyak, "Supporting People with Challenging Behaviors in the Community: No Easy Answers" (Workshop, Waisman Center, Madison, WI, 2014).

Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me at jeff.rumbaugh@thetranslation-bc.com. Thanks for tuning in and stay REAL!! Jeff 🫶🏼

"Sometimes all it takes is a good translator."