Behavioral Services Part 1 - Behavioral Services Team
In a basic sense, behavior can be defined as anything people do that elicits a response.
However, for some, behavior becomes a difficult thing to manage, sometimes leading to safety concerns for the individual, and occasionally SCCMHA staff in certain situations.
In the ever-changing application of behavioral treatment, SCCMHA is always looking for ways to better serve those who seek assistance with our agency.
Enter the Behavioral Services Team, Behavior Treatment Committee and the Behavior Champions – three separate entities focused on providing the best care for persons served at SCCMHA.
These three teams work in tandem to not only avoid restrictions and encourage positive outcomes, but to ensure that the voices of persons served and SCCMHA staff are heard, respected, and applied to generate the necessary treatments.
In the first of our three-part series, we highlight how SCCMHA works to improve behavioral treatment in Saginaw County, beginning with the Behavior Services Team.
The SCCMHA in-house Behavior Services Team is headed up by Director of Services for Persons with IDD Charlotte Fondren, and further is made of Psychologist Evan Koehn, Behavior Intervention Coordinator Michael Essenmacher, and Assistant to the Director of Services for Persons with IDD Gretchen Phillips-Williams.
The focus of the team is to assess persons served in homes or with their families to determine if their services are needed in setting up behavior treatment plans. When needed, Evan provides testing and evaluations and, with the assistance of Michael, develops both Positive Support Plans and formal Behavior Treatment Plans. Michael also assists with crisis situations in his support of the team.
In the development of these behavior treatment plans, the Behavior Services Team ensures that steps are taken to motivate persons served to seek productive ways to manage their behavior, without keeping them from living their lives.
“We do our best to avoid measures that are intrusive or restrictive,” Evan said. “Our goal is to make sure persons served still have their independence, while working to assist their development.”
In the development of the treatment plans, the team uses recent research in the behavioral sciences field and previous plans to assist in the implementation.
All behavior treatment plans are enacted for a maximum of a three-month period, after which they are re-evaluated based on data to determine if the plan needs to be extended, amended, or discontinued.
“We never want any of these plans to be permanent,” Charlotte said. “We want our persons served to retain their independence, but also know that some need a little assistance. And we hope we can provide that.”
The data comes from observation and recording by SCCMHA staff, the families and/or guardians of the persons served, or from the team themselves.
The team leads more with positive reinforcement in their development of behavioral treatment plans, which yield better results.
“If the plans are implemented well, we don’t have to worry about them being too restrictive for the person served,” Evan said.
“I think we see how positive an impact we can have on them when we make those efforts.”