In Action

 

 

 

 

Richard C. Brown, Jr. M.D.
Medical Director Boys and Girls Home Inc.

"When the emergence of Mental Health problems result in the decomposition of an individual’s mental status, the person can exhibit varying forms of behavioral health problems including, deterioration of Mental functioning, mood destabilization, and on occasion lack of behavioral control which can then precipitate a sense of “loss of control, vulnerability, helplessness and possible “fear of safety.” These symptoms may lead to acute inpatient treatment, or when more chronic,, residential placement. When the intervention or treatment requires removal of the individual from their familiar community environment, they can experience shame, humiliation, fearfulness and a loss of personal respectability. There are times when confusion or frustration becomes so intolerable that the individual may pose a lack of safety or dangerousness that requires intervention from the treatment staff. Historically this has been through the use of chemical restraint (or medication) or the use of physical or mechanical restraints, only leading to an increase in the experience of shame and loss of respect.

For many years treatment staffs have expressed concerns in the techniques that were used in the implementation of intervention for safety with patients. Although the use of de-escalation is not new to treatment staff, when there is a need for physical intervention, many fear the possibility of injury to themselves or their patients. The RES_PECT program resolves this dilemma in a whole new way. By using “conventional wisdom” and combining a holistic view of client diagnoses, behaviors, and medications in order to produce a more complete approach.

With the RES_PECT program, each patient learns to assume a sense of “empowerment” through “staff modeling” and maintaining one’s “wits” when in a situation which may seems dangerous or victimizing. The focus in each situation can then change from a conflict of “who’s in charge” to a “collaboration” of patient and staff, sharing a common safety.

Each article in this series will attempt to acquaint our readers with snippets of information as to how RES_PECT can augment treatment success and work collaboratively with every other treatment intervention in the stabilization of many Mental Health Disorders. "