Interview with Ms. Judy Vreeland
Program Director, The Learning Center for Deaf Children
Framingham, Massachusetts.

TLC has been using Pro-ACT^® as a training curriculum within its noted and successful effort to establish and maintain a zero-restraint environment.

• Ms. Vreeland, why did TLC begin efforts to establish a zero-restraint environment?

  To be consistent with the values we espouse. We can’t teach children to manage anger, fear, and frustration in nonviolent ways if we use physical force against them. We can’t help them heal from trauma by traumatizing them with restraint.
  

• Please describe the design for the process of organizational change.

  The steps we took (it is actually more a circular process than finite linear steps) included the following:

1. Raise questions/challenge assumptions
2. Collect data
3. Research & outreach – learn from other programs
4. Involve the community (staff, students, families)
5. Create a project team
6. Define tasks
7. Support emerging leadership
8. Establish plan & process for ongoing work


• What role did you see for Pro-ACT^® in this organizational change?
  

  It fits in beautifully because of its strong emphasis on the responsibility of the professional –self-awareness, assessment of the situation, knowledge of the child, and selection of proper intervention strategies. It is all too easy to “blame” the child, to view restraint as inevitable because of his/her behaviors, and Pro-ACT^® does not allow that. I also like its honesty about the emotional and physical dangers of restraint and its emphasis on restraint as a failure of the treatment plan.

• What has been your experience with the use of Pro-ACT^® as part of your training component?

  Again, it is a beautiful fit – as long as it is presented as just one part of a training curriculum that gives equal importance to building relationships, modeling respect, reducing power struggles, understanding strength-based treatment, etc.

• What recommendations do you have for other organizations which contemplate the move toward a zero-restraint environment?
  

  It is essential to frame restraint as a treatment failure, not to allow it to be seen as an unfortunate necessity. Change efforts should then focus on the program – its treatment model, services, and training curriculum. It is a major undertaking that must involve all areas of service delivery and include input from all members of the community, including children, youth and families.