In the News
National Association for
Children’s Behavioral Health Mid-Year Meeting
"Creating Trauma Informed Service Settings"
For Immediate Release:
Kerry Hoffschneider
Kerry@epworthvillage.org
(402) 362-3353 ext. 1144
www.epworthvillage.org
“Creating Trauma Informed Service Settings” was the theme for the recent mid-year meeting of the National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health held at St. Pete Beach in Florida.
Tom McBride, Executive Director of Epworth Village, Inc., serves on the board of directors for NACBH. Epworth is a non-profit, private family-centered residential/day treatment program serving males 7 to 18 with severe, emotional and behavioral disorders. Located in York and Grand Island, the agency serves approximately 400-plus family members each year in their state-of-the-art program.
NACBH has become a respected industry force in Washington D.C. Members of the organization are able to assist in the formation of policies and laws that affect how they are able to serve children and families.
NACBH covers a host of issues including; new standards for managed behavioral health care, changes to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, opportunities to connect with other child-serving systems, outcome measurements and policy updates. The organization also serves as a national resource or information clearinghouse for families, other mental health professionals, local government officials and the public. NACBH provides families with referrals to specialty programs, vital mental health data to policymakers and national policy updates to local government officials.
The NACBH conference theme was designed around the use of seclusion and restrain in mental health service arenas. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration along with the Center for Mental Health Services supported the development of a training curriculum to assist with the implementation of proven reduction and elimination practices for restraint and seclusion. Believing that this curriculum should not remain the exclusive purview of the public sector, NACBH held the first training for the private sector in December, 2004. Since that time, a more defined, in-depth curriculum has been designed specifically for “Creating Trauma Informed Systems of Care for Human Service Settings.”
Tom McBride along with Human Resources Manager Josh Stafursky and Director of Life Skills Training, Gordon Hall attended the conference to learn more about how to improve seclusion and restraint procedures at Epworth Village.
McBride said at Epworth Village, “Restraint and seclusion is only used when there is clear evidence that the child is in imminent danger of hurting themselves or others. Only trained staff members are allowed to implement this emergency technique and federal and state regulations are followed in the application of this process.”
“In Nebraska, child caring agencies such as ours are not allowed to utilize mechanical restraints, such as handcuffs or leg cuffs. We are also not permitted to use medications to simply control behavior,” he said, adding. “The use of restraint or seclusion must be ordered by an appropriately trained doctor, Advance Practice Nurse or other medically oriented positions that are defined by scope of practice in any particular state statute.”
McBride explained that the agency utilizes the concept of “Trauma Informed Care” and recognizes that, “the implementation of restraint and seclusion can have unwanted emotional and physical results to the patient and staff alike.” He added that the agency has data and review processes in place that are designed to assist them in reducing the use of the procedure. Epworth Village is also actively participating in “Coercion-Free Nebraska,” a program targeted specifically at decreasing the use of seclusion and restraint.
“As we continue to work with young people who come to us with severe, emotional disturbances and aggressive behaviors, we continue to believe our use of restraint and seclusion can continue to be reduced. Our current rate of usage is very low, but we believe we can do better because that is the right thing to do. It is our charge to ‘first do no harm.’ By continuing our training and investment in developing this agency ‘culture’ via our partnership with NACBH, we remain committed to providing the highest quality of care to those we serve.”