Podcast: De-Escalation Tales – True Stories About Keeping Troubled People Safe
De-Escalation Tales: True stories about how CPI training keeps people safe
This month’s episode of Unrestrained is unique in the history of the podcast. Rather than presenting a one-on-one interview with an expert in crisis or behavior management, we’re sharing examples of De-Escalation Tales, a series of informative, convenient, short stories told by CPI Certified Instructors about their real-life experiences successfully de-escalating challenging, disruptive, or dangerous behaviors in their workplaces.
Behind the scenes of Unrestrained: the origin of De-Escalation Tales
In early 2014, I was new to CPI and tasked with producing content relevant to our training. One of my first initiatives was to conduct an interview with architect Amy Schoenemann, the director of design development for PDC Midwest, a Wisconsin-based, architect-led design-build firm that specializes in senior living. Amy granted us an informative and inspiring interview about how physical environments are critical components of successful memory care programs.
My interview with Amy sparked excitement to hear more stories from the field, and soon after, CPI’s official podcast Unrestrained was born. As I developed the podcast, I had the opportunity to take the Four-Day Instructor Certification Program option of CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training.
The course was a revelation for me. From the introduction of CPI’s Crisis Development Model℠, the behavioral model that begins the training, through the Postvention strategies at its conclusion, I knew that the content in Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training was revolutionizing the way I would approach, interpret, and react to challenging behavior in the future.
#CPITraining revolutionized the way I manage challenging behavior, and the outcomes prove it!
Taking a cue from the success of storytelling programs such as NPR’s StoryCorps and The Moth Radio Hour, CPI decided to launch the storytelling series De-Escalation Tales in our Yammer Certified Instructor online community.
But everybody should hear these stories—now more than ever, it’s so important to see first-hand how CPI training can help provide safer, least-restrictive environments and optimal outcomes for individuals exhibiting challenging or crisis behavior. The only hard part was picking just five of them!
Five De-Escalation Tales
(numbered from the series)
De-Escalation Tale #1 – Guest: Mahdee Raiees Dana, administrator with Pathfinder, Inc., an intermediate care facility in Batesville, Arkansas. Mahdee describes how he recognized a bi-polar patient’s stage on the Verbal Escalation Continuum℠ and used an innocuous element of surprise to successfully de-escalate her suicidal ideation.
De-Escalation Tale #3 – Guest: Victoria Kim, social worker with the Special Education District of Lake County, Illinois. Victoria shares a story about how a Supportive Stance℠, patience, and redirection successfully de-escalated a boy on the autism spectrum who stepped off the morning bus in a state of agitation and headed into the traffic lane instead of toward the school.
De-Escalation Tale #5 – Guest: James Gulbranson, security supervisor with Minnesota’s CentraCare Health system. James shares a story that illustrates the importance of a team leader, team utilization, appropriate verbal escalation response, and use of the least restrictive physical intervention in successfully de-escalating an agitated patient brandishing his cane as a weapon.
De-Escalation Tale #9 – Guest: Albertus Kral, executive director of Ontario’s Little House Residential Care Services Inc., an organization that provides a home for children who can’t live with their families. Albertus tells the story of how he reassured a nine-year-old boy whose fearful, anxious body language told a very different story than his words. This tale shows the importance of kinesics—how body language such as gestures, stance, and movement communicate emotional states and stress levels—in successful de-escalations. As Albert says, “The words are one thing, but what are they really telling us?”
De-Escalation Tale #11 – Guest: D. C. Foster, behavioral health specialist at Arizona State Hospital in Phoenix. D. C. describes two men pacing in the psych unit and cursing angrily to unseen others, one in the dayroom and one in the patient dorm area. Unexpectedly, the two men meet in a single doorway, which D. C. describes as “an imperfect nexus leading to a perfect storm.”