Integrated Behavior Support
You have been to trainings about trauma-informed care, or autism, or person-centered planning, or mental health. And each of those pieces meets your needs for working with some of your clients. For you to succeed with some of the more complex folks you serve, those disciplines need to be brought together.
My integrated approach to behavior support is especially great for clients for whom “nothing works.” We might need to pivot away from addressing the problem behavior directly, toward improving quality of life and promoting wellness. Coming to work with the feeling that you have collected a set of tools that really helps people, addresses what’s really going on, and helps the service providers do their job with more ease and confidence — it’s a great feeling, and it’s possible, even with complex cases.
Training
It’s not about just covering material — it’s about transforming the work. Training adult learners requires energy, curiosity, and humility, and I find it to be lots of fun. When I see a direct support professional’s eyes light up when learning about relationship tools, or how people lean in when we talk about the universality of trauma, or make the connections to understand the non-verbal language of the people they support, it fills me with gratitude. Dynamic training with practical application energizes people to bring their best selves to work.
I am often invited to present on:
- Trauma-Informed Care for everyday life
- “Little t” trauma
- Autism, communication, and behavior
- Person-centered thinking for working with complex people
- Reducing the use of physical restraint
- Trauma-informed organizational cultures
- Inclusion for people with disabilities
- Serving youth with complex needs
- Empathy-based care
- Implementing the OhioISP assessment and plan
Consulting
Whether it’s a case consult for a team, or turning policy into sustainable practice, there are so many moving pieces. Everyone needs an assist sometimes. I’m open to helping you move through what you need, and I can make it fun. Presenting a dynamic training is one thing; applying a new idea sustainably takes time, systems, and much collaboration. You don’t need all of the answers at once. Let’s create a space to figure out the questions and go from there.
Frequently-needed consulting scenarios:
- Case consults for youth with complex needs
- Applying autism skills for the DSP/paraprofessional workforce
- Behavior support case consults
- Applying the OhioISP & person-centered thinking to people with significant intellectual or behavior challenges
- Trauma-informed biographical timelines
- Applying person-centered thinking to ICFs (Intermediate Care Facilities)
- Inclusion strategies for arts organizationsDual diagnosis strategies for I/DD agencies
- Developing sustainable training processes in Trauma-Informed Care
Collaborative Creative Arts Workshops
One of my mentors in trauma-responsive care once said “people think that the arts are the icing on the cake, but the arts are the cake itself.” My start in human services was as a teaching artist. I collaborate with a network of brilliant artists in dance, drama, visual art, music, and creative writing, all who share the values that underpin the work (and some who are licensed clinicians as well!). We put together workshops for communities and organizations that want to move from talking to doing — literally, doing the work of being human through the arts.