SMG Recert and New WALES Position

I recently got my first day off since the end of the fiscal year. I actually got four days off, because WALES is closed both Good Friday and Easter Monday and I had a number of cancellations. Spent that time in Guelph. It synced up fairly nicely with my Safe Management Instructor recertification, which was on Wednesday, and allowed me to get a ride from my fellow Safe Management Instructor who lives near my mother. So collectively, I spent almost a week in Guelph.

I kicked butt at recertification. I always get anxiety, but I've only gotten stronger as the years go by. There are three components that you are graded on: a randomly assigned presentation on the prevention aspect of the course, which is given in advance, a written test, and three physical intervention techniques which are assigned day-of.

I lucked out. I got the Aggression Escalation Continuum for my presentation, which is a tool used to evaluate a person's mental state and their likelihood to aggress by looking at verbal, physical and gross motor cues. It also gives advice for staff responses depending on where the person is at. It is a very memorable part of the course content, and because someone else was assigned it as well, I got to co-facilitate it!

Instead of the standard written test, we got a new addition, which seemed intimidating but was fine. For the physical intervention bit, I got Standing Basics, Safety Position A, Safety Position B (all basically part of the same technique), Cross Arm Wrist Grab, and The Worm.

Safety positions are about as basic as things get. I had a bit more content to cover because they fall into three categories, but it's simple stuff. Cross arm wrist grab is easy because it follows the standard wrist grab and there are very few differences between them. The Worm is a hair pull release which I have actually used a number of times. It was probably the most complex to teach of the ones I was given, but it worked out fine.

I was the first to present for the prevention portion and the first to present for the physical component, so that caused a little anxiety.

We had the same instructor that we had last year, which was nice.

One of the Community Facilitators where I work got a job at the main office. She was covering a maternity leave, and this means that she will be leaving her position four months early. That means that, for the next four months, I will take on the role of full-time facilitator. I will not possibly be able to hold onto all my Direct Support Contracts, which means that I am dropping three of them. I was already planning on dropping two even without this change in position. Still, it's a difficult thing to address since I've been working with these people for four years.

I start my full-time position next Monday.

Bread 2019

Last week my old boss from the Summer Program started volunteering at WALES. He's going to be with us three days a week until the beginning of Summer Program, which he will be directing again.

This means that I finally got to give him his loaf of bread. At the end of every Summer Program, I give a home-baked loaf of bread to everyone on the team. Last year, however, because my employment with WALES conflicted with the end of Summer Program, I couldn't attend during Evaluation Week, and I wasn't able to give everyone their loaves.

First day of Training Week for the Summer Program we introduce ourselves with a Powerpoint presentation. In my presentation, I promised everyone a loaf of bread at year-end. I didn't forget.

Throughout the weeks, I gave the team pumpkin bread and banana bread, and I made blueberry, pumpkin, cherry, and lemon variations of tarts. But I promised end-of-year, classic, regular bread with my old Katimavik recipe. And it didn't happen.

I want to take things back to Personality Dimensions. At Extend-a-Family, we make a lot of use of this personality test which separates personalities into colours: Green (intellectual), Blue (empathetic), Orange (adventurous), and Gold (organized).

I've spoken on this a lot already, but I'm a fairly balanced Green/Blue with a slight preference for Green. I have absolutely no Gold, except in the category of relationships, in which my Gold is actually dominant. Despite being completely disorganized in every other aspect of my life, I have a hard Gold spike in relationships because I'm loyal and value traditions.

And baking bread is a tradition for showing my appreciation to the Summer Program, and even though I know no one else held me accountable, the fact that I was unable to fulfill my promise haunted me. So being able to give bread to one of the members of the team helped alleviate that.

So as to not leave the rest of the team out, I made loaves for all the WALES facilitators as well. That was pretty well received. I find that baking bread is one of the best skills I've developed. You can make it in bulk, it's simple, and when you off it to someone, they never forget you. I like to offer it nonchalantly and unprompted.

I know who from the Summer Program is returning to their positions, so I will be able to give them bread during Training Week. There are still a few people that I need to find a way to give bread to, so that I can feel complete.

Had that meeting with the Extend-a-Family bigwig about company culture. It wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be.

I had the first barbecue of the season recently. A friend of mine came over and brought steaks. I have never grilled a steak before in my life. Didn't know what I was doing. Didn't take long and came out phenomenally. That little $20 charcoal grill I bought two years ago is the gift that keeps on giving.