We as caregivers should always keep foremost in our minds what type of impact we may have on the people we serve when we become physically present.
In The Mandt System we encourage healthy relationships. When an interaction is requiring our assistance we need to think about those healthy relationships. Ask yourself what type of relationship do I have with this person. If the individual we are interacting with feels belittled or dehumanized when we are present are we going to escalate this person or deescalate this person?
When teaching the program I always remind people that when we become physically present our reputation is on our shoulder. So when I think of physical presence and all of its power with very little interaction I always think about what is my reputation with the people I interact with on a daily basis.
When we think about physical presence we must take into consideration our size, in relationship to the person we are interacting with.
Our gender, especially if this person has a trauma history, if we don’t know as to if that history exists we should interact as if it does.
Our appearance, how do we present ourselves, our professional status goes hand in hand with this.
And our body language, what are we telling this person non-verbally, 55% of our information communicated comes from our non-verbal behavior.
So what is your reputation with the people and staff you interact with on a daily basis? Have you asked yourself this question? If not you should!
Sally L. Phipps – Mandt Faculty
