Sandy Self, Arlene Troynousky, and Kimberly Bohichik take part in a Crisis Prevention Institute training session hosted by Rumson School District.
The Rumson School District has continued its push to bring new and innovative ideas and strategies to their staff — and in November, the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) training provided school personnel with ways to de-escalate potentially challenging behaviors, both in and around the classroom.
The CPI is an international training organization that teaches more than 1.2 million human services professionals each year how to safely and effectively manage behaviors. The core principles driving the program focus on the care, welfare, safety and security of all students and staff.
“Rumson Boro continues to invest in providing tools and resources necessary for our staff to be effective and forward-thinking,” said Michael Snyder, Supervisor of Special Services. “By bringing this CPI training to Rumson, we offer strategies and tactics to handle different situations, so that they focus on providing the best and advanced education to our students.”
CPI certified instructor Kimberly Bohichik, MA, BCBA oversaw the first of two training sessions, which involved 25 staff members, including teachers, paraprofessionals, child study team, therapists, and administration. During the recent training, staff spent their day analyzing various proposed situations and potential approaches to de-escalation, engaged in demonstrations incorporating anxiety, precipitating factors, and setting effective limits, exercises deconstructing CPI’s decision making matrix, and examining the verbal continuum and how it applies to the student population.The training was well received, and additional sessions will be scheduled as the year progresses.
“I work with staff to increase academic engagement, and decrease potentially escalating behaviors, while being mindful of the care, welfare, safety, and security of everyone,” Ms. Bohichick explains. “We focus on making decisions based on likelihood and outcome, ultimately assessing the risk of each situation.”
To learn more about the Crisis Prevention Institute, visit their website at https://www.crisisprevention.com/.
