Residential Treatment
Handle With Care trains residential treatment center (RTC) and residential treatment facility (RTF) staff throughout the country, Puerto Rico, Canada and Europe.
HWC is a well established training program for RTCs, RTFs and group homes. HWC’s verbal intervention philosophy goes right to the heart of what good child care is all about. Organizations and schools contracting with HWC experience a decrease in physical restraint episodes, fighting incidents, physical assaults, runaways, and verbal threats.
Staff also report that they are more confident in their ability to manage a potentially dangerous, violent, aggressive, self-injurious or suicidal situation.
HOW HWC’S DE-ESCALATION AND HOLDING METHODS CREATE A CALM STATE OF MIND FASTER
There is a difference between “tentative touch” which can excite, overstimulate and further agitate someone and “definitive touch,” which is the quality of touch provided by firm-feeling and secure therapeutic holding method. Definitive touch acts as a calming or focusing agent that increases activity in the parasympathetic division (PNS), and lowers activity in the sympathetic division (SNS) of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) (Hsin-Yung Chen et. al., 2011). The increase in PNS and corresponding decrease SNS functions to 1. increase endorphin levels (happy hormones), 2. release both serotonin and dopamine (“happy” neurotransmitters) in the brain which produce a feeling of calm within our nervous system and 3. decrease heart rate and blood pressure (indicators of anxiety and stress).
This is exactly the biochemical/physiological reaction one would want when using a verbal intervention or physical holding method.
In other words, a firm or definitive physical hold performed by someone with a benign heart produces a more rapid return to a calm state of mind.
One NY RTF we train had this to say about the safety and effectiveness of HWC’s program
“We have never used a ‘seclusion’ or ‘time-out room, or a camisole or other mechanical restraint devices to maintain order. Other agencies have been less fortunate. This is particularly ironic because the agencies involved, with offer a ‘spectrum’ of care, have repeatedly transferred their difficult children to us. How then, do we maintain safety? Our in-house trainers, are certified (an annually re-certified) in the Handle With Care Behavior Management System [which includes both verbal and physical] intervention techniques. Should a physical restraint occur, staff have considerable training and experience in working together to gain control of a resident.”
HWC has been extensively evaluated by leading forensic (forensic pathologists) experts, state policy makers, chief medical examiners, law enforcement, schools, doctors, nurses, paraprofessionals, licensed social workers, teachers, principals, superintendents, state approval boards in Juvenile Justice, Education, Human and Family Services. HWC has also been reviewed by Dr. Michael Baden, formerly the chief medical examiner for NYS and arguably the foremost forensic (pathologist) authority in the United States.
HWC’s proprietary holding method, the Primary Restraint Technique® or PRT® is patented for its safeguards to prevent positional asphyxia. These safeguards are additionally designed to prevent any other type of medical emergency.
HWC OFFERS TWO TRAINING OPTIONS:
- On-Site Training: HWC sends a trainer to you
- Seminar Training: Your facility sends people to one of our seminars