Special Incident Reports (or SIR’s) are the bane of a child welfare agency’s existence. Per state requirements, when a significant event occurs in a foster home or a residential facility, it must be reported to state and county organizations. Staff writes SIR’s for many reasons: runaway, drug use, refusals (school, medicine), aggressive altercations, and other events. While an agency may be stellar in its work, one SIR or event can lead to increased scrutiny by regulatory agencies. This extra layer of examination can then cause corrective action plans including staff training, changing of policies, even employee terminations or facility closure in some instances.
How can an agency reduce the number of incidents for youths in their care?
1. Identify the high-risk high-volume incidents. What are the issues that appear most with the youths, or lead to the highest consequences? Are there hospitalizations, calls to law enforcement, youth removals? Isolating the major problem helps the agency focus on what is the most important issue.
2. Use root-cause analysis. Using specific steps to ask “Why?” over and over again may lead to surprising answers.
3. Ask stakeholders to provide feedback. No solution will work without the input of all parties involved. This means staff, referral agencies, outside social workers, and other professionals. But most importantly, it means working with the youths and asking them for their assistance. Now some agencies will say, “talking to kids is like the fox guarding the henhouse,” meaning that they’ll say what makes life easier for them and more difficult for staff. However, youths have motivations and reasons for their behaviors. They also are inclined to adapt themselves when they have “skin in the game,” are active participants, and incentives are in place.
4. Try out the solutions as experiments, not fully-loaded initiatives. Not every action will work, but in many cases, there will be an improvement.
For example, if an adolescent female residential facility identifies their high-risk high-volume issue as physical altercations. The staff can look at all the variables that affect the fights, such as time of day, specific youths, precipitating factors, etc. Then they can use the root-cause analysis and ask why? Examples can be boredom, improper communication skills, lack of physical exercise, trauma triggers, lack of proper supervision, or lack of incentives to avoid fighting. The staff can then talk to the females and get their input for solutions. Maybe the youths need their own group time to work out their problems, with a staff member as a mediator. More exercise, meditation, or other activities to reduce stress. Maybe an increase in the allowance for avoiding aggressive behaviors. These and other ideas can be used to assist them in learning new skills.
Praxes provides consultation to agencies to improve the quality of care. For more information, please contact us.
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PRAXES is a nationwide behavioral health software, consulting, and training company. No one in the behavioral health industry has a better reputation, and if you give us the chance, we’ll show you why! At PRAXES, our services improve the efficiency and structure of behavioral health agencies serving children and families nationwide. PRAXES brings over 45 years of administrative and clinical expertise. With more than 100 client companies nationwide, we offer the expertise to advance the quality of behavioral health services. We accomplish these goals through our new clinical decision software, our training of best practices, and helping companies meet regulatory standards. At PRAXES, we believe in being creative and fostering new ways to serve children and their families. Our vision is to empower the families our agencies serve with skills that not only improve their functioning, but help them to thrive in their everyday lives. When you give us the chance, you’ll be connected directly to our friendly staff, so you can expect immediate attention to your inquiry. So, don’t wait, call now!
Dan Thorne has unique perspectives on the field of mental health. As a clinician, he has had over 40 years of experience working with clients in the Southern California area. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine, he worked with children in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. Here he honed his earliest techniques on at-risk children. After that, he obtained his Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton.
In the 1990’s, Dan turned his attention to the clinical and administrative side of behavioral health organizations. For three years, he was the Assistant Administrator of Starting Point, a chemical dependency facility in Costa Mesa, CA. In 2001, he took an opportunity to be the Director of Harbor View Community Services Center in Long Beach. When he arrived, the Center had only 80 clients and 13 staff. When he left, there were over 400 clients and 75 staff. Dan created several programs through their contract with the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Child and Family Services. Under his guidance, Harbor View became one of the leading providers of children’s services in Los Angeles County.
While improving the results of the client’s parents at the Center, Dan reflected on his experiences as a parent. His children themselves had special needs such as mental and intellectual challenges, and Dan knew the toll it takes on the parent. In order to help the child, the parent has to be healthy. From this concept, he created his parenting program. After years of refining it, teaching it to his staff at the Center, and then taking the results and comments from these efforts, he became the developer of the current PRAXES program. It is a culmination of Dan’s personal trials and tribulations as a parent along with empirical results and research of over 40 parenting programs.
Our vision at PRAXES is to advance the strength of parents and caregivers of children with special needs (mental health, intellectual, or physical) through education, support, and empowerment. Thus, they can live healthy and functional lives while caring for the child.
Apogee is a clinical decision software designed to help behavioral health practitioners with their treatment and patient engagement. It provides evidence-based and research-based components. Not only do they consist of elements from such practices as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Seeking Safety, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Functional Behavior Analysis, but also the Intensive Models for Parents, Youth, and Children.
PRAXES has over 30 years of accreditation experience. We know what it takes to get your organization accredited. Whether it’s Joint Commission, CARF, or COA, our team can provide an evaluation of your current status and review the standards which need improvements. We will assist you with the policies, documentation, and training required to be accredited.
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