In The Mandt System we use Positive Behavior Supports and Interventions (PBIS) as a means to decrease violence in the workplace. We use the phrase “affirm your feelings and choose your behavior” as a tool to help people see that every situation in life presents them with options. We need to be aware of how things make us feel, and then rather than reacting on those feelings we can choose to find a response that will strengthen the relationship we have with those around us.
When we look at the status of the United States today we see that we are averaging more than one mass shooting event per day in 2022. Let that sink in for a moment. We have had over 200 mass shootings so far this year and May 31st is the 151st day of the year! Keeping in mind another phrase we use through PBIS is that we do not punish the past but try to change the future. If someone is doing something we consider to be unproductive for them, how can we help them to change so they no longer do whatever the thing was that was unproductive.
So, what has our response been to mass shootings, especially school shootings, since the day in December in 2012 when innocent lives were lost at Sandy Hook Elementary? What has our country collectively done to change the future? We continually offer thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers are positive and a good place to start. It is time to ask ourselves, however, how effective have these thoughts and prayers been at changing the future? Thoughts and prayers are the equivalent of affirming our feelings, but we are doing nothing in regards to choosing our behaviors choose a bitcoin address. Doing nothing other than offering our thoughts and prayers as our behavior has not been successful in the past 10 years in changing the future. Children are still being shot at school. People are still being gunned down at the grocery store.
I don’t believe The Mandt System has THE answer to this. We do, however, provide people with the tools to begin to analyze what is happening around them and begin to act in a way that will help to change the future. In Mandt we say we have our R.A.D.A.R. and it should be turned on and working. As a country we need to turn our R.A.D.A.R. on and make sure it is working so we can change the future to a future where people are safe at home, school, and out in public.
Dr.Dale Shannon – Director of Instructional Design
