Step 9: Advance and Excel

Ensure a safe and effective organization by becoming the new experts in crisis management best-practices

Whether it’s accessing our members only free online webinars, arranging for a customized workshop at your organization, or real-time consulting during the annual instructor re-certification classes, you will have the expertise and resources to help advance your organization to 'point B': a Safe, Effective organization that can focus on its core mission.

Common frustrations that prevent an organization to advance and excel

I often hear about other organizations doing things differently that we do, and I am concerned that we may no longer be competitive in terms of the clients/students we can serve. Sometimes we feel like the last ones to find out when the goal post have been moved.

It seems that almost every few months there is a new concept or buzz-word in the restraint world and we feel a little bit at a disadvantage when stakeholders want to know our response to latest trends and whether or not they qualify as best practice.

My staff must get re-certified annually, but they never come back with any new information. I feel like I’m paying for something they already know. They often report that no new topics are addressed and that their knowledge in crisis management is starting to stagnate.

Our organization uses a variety of disciplines and systems to help us work with the individuals we serve, but it seems that sometimes others view us as primarily using restraint as a mode of treatment “You’ve restrained my kid time and again and it’s not working!” We understand that some individuals have multiple restraints, but we only use them for safety, and we have other systems in place to address behavior problems. We never get recognized for our successes and for reductions in restraint for individuals.

Typical goals and desires of organizations that want to excel in crisis management

I want to have easy access to new things happening in the area of restraint and teaching and behavior analysis so that other organizations can continue to look up to us.

I want to have access to an expert in the field of restraint who is not only aware of the latest issues as they relate to restraint use with special populations, but who can speak with my staff and/or provide presentations that will allow my staff to remain ahead of the curve.

I want my staff to actually get additional training every year and not simply re-hash the same old thing. In addition to ensuring that my staff remain physically competent I want my staff to come back intellectually stronger after each annual meeting.

We would like others to not simply “accept” our use of restraint as a necessary part of treatment, but look at us as leaders in the field who use restraint the most responsibly. We would like our learning experiences to be part of something greater than our immediate organization. We want other agencies to look to us for examples of how to do things properly when using restraint with special populations.

Advance model
The five components of the PCMA ADVANCE model, putting everything in place for an ever fresh, ever growing in house skill-set in Professional Crisis Management.

“Getting your organization to point B and becoming experts in safe and effective crisis management is like graduating with a Master's Degree from an Ivy League University. You feel like you have knowledge that many others don’t, and you also have the confidence that comes with it.”

Advance
“Advance”, the ninth and final step in the PCM system, is the third step in the Support Stage of the PCM. It is designed to ensure that your organization keeps an ever growing and fresh skillset in the area of PCM.

The PCM Advance Model explained:

The following are the elements that the PCMA offers its members during the 'Advance' stage of our Signature System.

Testimonial

"I have been a PCM instructor for the past 3 years and just completed the online instructor re-certification with Merrill Winston. I am consistently impressed by the quality of the content produced by PCM. Every re-certification course or interaction I’ve had with the PCM team has been meaningful and consistently rooted in behavior analysis discourse. The content of the online course was new and engaging. The course offered insight into difficult case scenarios that come up often in our clinics along with useful strategies and considerations for crisis management. In addition to review of the traditional materials, the new content was useful for our everyday practice and addressed so many questions I field from front line staff in a way that was engaging and fun! I left the webinar feeling energized and excited about disseminating what I learned to my teams during our next instructor trainings. Thank you for your continued dedication to maintaining the core mission and values of PCMA during times when in-person re-certification is not possible."

Charlene Gervais, M.ADS, BCBA

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Amy-Gable

Some organizations realize that stagnation leads to decline. They therefore create a culture of excellence in almost every area that they touch.

A sample of the Applied Behavior Analysis Associations we participate with:

FABA Logo