debor016

Here is a manifesto I wrote recently- let me know if you would like to add anything.   We act on our belief that everyone is doing the best they can. Every client. Every staff. We base our interventions on our knowledge that people act better when they are safer, more connected, and happier. We inform our decisions with our knowledge that fear does not produce lasting growth.   Kindness produces lasting growth. We believe that change happens within relationships. We know how neglect, trauma and attachment disruptions change the body, and use that knowledge to design our treatment. All behavior is communication and is adaptive. It is an attempt to solve a problem in the best way a person knows. Therefore, we attempt to understand behavior before we attorney to change it. With our clients we are collaborative ad respectful. We are also that way with each other. We individualize our approach because each person is different. We are patient and flexile, trying to help the person...

I recently had a meeting with the support, non-direct care staff in an agency. This included development, IT, administrative services, plant management, security, compliance, medical records and other. I gave them the handout I am sharing here. Please let me know by clicking "comment" whether you agree or can add ideas I have missed.   You may be the most important person in this child's life. You may be rebuilding his or her brain in your interactions.When you talk with the child, y our job is to change this child or family member's template or expectations about other people. The client has learned that people hurt them. You can help them learn that some people don't hurt them. Some people are kind, trustworthy and like them. In order to offer the most powerful change to this client: ·          Be pleasant and kind.  ·          Learn about the child's interests and follow up on them.  · ...

Recently I developed a list of steps administrators can take to create and sustain trauma informed care. I am sharing it here. Please let e know your reaction and tell me any other ideas I may have missed.  The following are specific steps that Senior Administrators can take to create and sustain trauma informed care in their agencies. • Develop a mechanism to learn of moments of success, such as patience and understanding helping a child or family, and praise the staff member personally • Establish communication forums such as Lunch with the CEO and listen. • Take clients to lunch. Ask them how you could improve your agency. • Call families who have been involved with the program a few weeks or a month. Ask them how it is going and how you could improve. • When you are asked to consult on a case, ask how the staff understands the behavior. • Develop and sustain employee recognition events and employee and client fun events. • Establish client councils • Have a client on your Board...

I am re-reading the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. If you haven’t read it, do so immediately! It is a wonderful story and conveys the inside experience of the children we work with. This time I was struck by a simple sentence “Doing what I was told had not resulted in my getting what I wanted.” When children are raised in a good enough family, they are often told no, or told to do things they don’t want to do. As life goes on, they gradually see that the adult saying no was often right and had their best interests at heart. Even when they don’t agree with the adult’s evaluation of the situation, they see that the adult has good intentions. Overall, they learn that the adult’s advice is trustworthy and they can turn to the adult for help. The adult is not only a source of love and comfort, they are a source of wisdom and knowledge. Some of the children we work with have not had that experience. Many of the adults they have loved and lived with have not had their best inte...