Behavior Management - Green Chimneys

volunteer rewards llama during a training sessions

Working Alongside Staff: A Volunteer’s Experience

August 12, 2019

Safety is one of the most important components of a therapeutic community.

Green Chimneys uses a variety of behavior support techniques that consistently manage the environment safely and effectively. These techniques, along with tools to make informed decisions in crisis situations, are provided for all direct care staff based on the Cornell University Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Curriculum, 6th edition. Staff receives extensive training and refresher sessions in effective de-escalation techniques, our preferred method of management.

Green Chimneys is committed to becoming a restraint-free environment and employs a behavior management system that promotes safety and healing by developing techniques and incentives for rewarding desirable behavior. The Safety Level System serves not only to prevent children from engaging in destructive or unsafe behaviors but to teach them effective alternative behaviors when faced with difficulties.

The system is designed to:

Motivate children to behave safely

Identify the individual progress each child has made in maintaining safety

Provide a consistent assessment tool that is coupled with the granting of specific and progressive levels of privileges and rewards

Treatment team members develop an Individual Crisis Management Plan for each student as a means of coordinating behavior management techniques across the various program areas in a consistent manner. This plan considers the child’s particular history, alerts, age, cognitive functioning and emotional development; provides a guide for crisis intervention that includes preventive measures and physical interventions (if and when necessary); and is designed for all staff working with that child to understand:

Specific warnings about particular safety concerns

Potential triggers

High risk behaviors

Specific intervention strategies

Their role in providing a unified approach in meeting each child’s needs

Peacock

Peacocks were the royal birds of Maharajas in India for centuries. Their beauty and impressive tail feathers make them an eye-catching addition to any landscape. At Green Chimneys, peacocks have roamed the campus freely for many years and the birds are a familiar and calming sight to students, staff and visitors. In late summer, the males shed their long tail feathers, an event eagerly anticipated by students who collect the feathers to decorate their dormitory rooms.