Meltdowns

Journal #5

All the residents at the ARC home can have very emotional moments accompanied with physical upsets. Recently I witnessed a resident experiencing a lot of emotional distress.  This particular case was when a resident was asked to perform an activity and he chose not to cooperate.  As a result of his decision he did not receive his reward for accomplishing the duty as asked.  He started screaming and swearing so loudly that he could be heard throughout the house for approximately an hour. I completely froze, I didn’t know what to do, and I felt scared and my own heart was beating very fast.  I made a decision to just sit and observe his behavior. The staff on duty attempted, without restraining him physically, to be contained in a limited area so that the rest of the residents would not get hurt. The staff needs to allow him time to cool down, but they are also required to follow his behavioral plan.  There is a plan already in place that is a specific behavioral plan just for him when he begins to act out.  There is also a clause that allows the resident’s advocate to go against the behavioral plan.  This is discouraged because if the advocates, in this case his mother, gives in to what the resident wants and this is not positive reinforcement. After the resident finished acting out and calmed down the staff recorded the incident, as required.  They describe what happened, who acted out and the report is than sent into the State of New York. A copy of this report is also filed within the resident’s personal file.