September Monthly Recap

At the September monthly meeting of the St. Paul Senior Workers Association, Dr. John E. Brose, presented a CEU on “Increasing Behavioral Health Competence in Care Centers.” Brose, PhD, LP, LADC, LMFT is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the owner and Clinic Director of Associated Clinic of Psychologist. He was also named 2020 Gerontologist of the year by the Minnesota Gerontological Society. In his talk, Dr. Brose said that we need to teach ourselves and our coworkers “how to manage the symptoms, not fix.” Among other things he provided a “Five-Step Client Engagement Protocol” which includes: 1) Before you knock on the door, think about the person on the other side of the door 2) Knock 3) As you walk toward the resident, have an exaggerated expression which is more important now because we’re all wearing masks which lessens the visual cues we can give to others (examples are to lean in, raise your eyebrows.” Be aware of the effect and tonal quality of your voice 4) Talk to the person like you do with your co-workers, chit-chat 5) Then begin the task you came into the room or apartment to do.

Dr. Brose said it’s so important to constantly work on client engagement and offered this reminder: “Patients never complain about dull needles but they complain about dull staff.”

Our next monthly meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 8:30 a.m. The featured speaker is Kay King with the local chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.