ARL Training
At
ARL, our staff is our greatest resource. We invest a great deal of both time
and money into developing quality individuals into exceptional Direct Care Staff.
Our staff must submit to the mandated fingerprinted State and Federal Background checks.
In addition, ARL requires passing a local background check, a DMV check, and a
pre-employment drug screening.
If a staff member passes the screening process, they are put through a rigorous and comprehensive
training program provided by both Management of ARL as well as an outside professional trainer with
over a decade of experience in both working with and training staff to work with individuals who have
disabilities.
Our mandatory training includes:
Policies and Procedures-A staff orientation includes a thorough training
on the rules and expectations of each employee of ARL.
OSHA-Our professional contract trainer spends a half a day going over health
and safety issues related to OSHA, including bloodborne pathogens, sharps handling, spills and
injuries of bodily fluids, material safety data sheets and the safe disposal of materials that are
considered potentially hazardous.
CPR/First Aid-Although many trainers gloss over this information and the
techniques, we take a medial emergency that would require this level of care quite seriously. Our
trainer provides a training that is two days long and thoroughly prepares our staff to handle a life
threatening emergency with skills and confidence.
MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION-Many of the persons served by our program require
daily medications but are unable to keep track on their own. For that reason, our staff is expected
to supervise the self-administration services for those people. Since most of our staff does not
have a medical background, we require all ARL employees to undergo a comprehensive training program
that is specifically geared for the oversight and record keeping of this process. The safe
administration of mediations is paramount to the overall well being of any person we serve.
Seizure Training-It is not uncommon for the persons we serve suffer to from
seizures of different levels and frequency. Before our staff is allowed to work with an individual
known to have seizures, they are given a comprehensive training in how to recognize, deal with and
report a seizure in order to keep everyone safe.
Mandt™-Since many of the persons in our services have extremely challenging
behavioral issues, ARL offers this training, which is considered some of the most elite of its kind.
It is a combination of relationship building skills, paired with environmental assessments and a
legal, safe and non-injurious restraint technique if a situation becomes violent. Its foundation
is in PBS, or Positive Behavior Support training. PBS helps to identify what the antecedents and
consequences are to challenging behaviors so that environments can be modified and target behaviors
redirected toward more appropriate and/or safer behaviors. Staff is trained to prevent an
escalation of a target behavior. Unfortunately, there are occasionally times when despite
staff's best training and efforts, de-escalation is not going to happen. So for the safety
and welfare of the person in crisis, other people in close proximity and/or the staff themselves,
this legal, safe and non-injurious restraint can be used to regain control of the environment.
Defensive Driving-ARL provides transportation to most of the persons in our
program. We take safety very seriously and have recently added a course that is geared toward persons with special
needs. It helps the driver be more aware of safe vehicle operation, how to handle an emergency and how to assist the
persons being transported so that they have the best experience they can have, as well.
Boundaries Training-We've all heard stories about persons with disabilities
being exploited or abused. Unfortunately there are acts of seeming kindness that can be misconstrued
as exploitation and abuse. ARL's staff is thoroughly trained in what is appropriate vs what is
inappropriate on an ongoing basis. They are given a course regarding specific do's and don'ts in
their initial training. Follow-up training is done regularly by house managers and the Projects
Coordinator in mandatory monthly staff meetings. We feel like this is an area that simply cannot
be over trained.
PBS-In addition, the management of ARL is PBS trained and.
This means that appropriate, realistic behavior plans can be developed for each individual and
carried out with skill by the Direct Care staff. The result is the people receiving our services
having high levels of success.