Your Friends & Neighbors and its subsidiaries are approved to provide behavioral services through Medicaid.  We employ several trained and certified people who specialize in providing these services.  Our Behavioral Clinicians each have extensive experience in the fields of mental illness and developmental disability.
 
Some individuals display inappropriate or “maladaptive” behaviors that interferes significantly with their participation in learning and community integration activities.  Our primary approach toward inappropriate behavior is to assist individuals in learning new, appropriate behaviors for each community situation.  Training programs are designed to increase the self-sufficiency and competency of persons served and allow them to exercise more control in their environment.
 
If an individual displays frequent or intense maladaptive behavior, an individualized strategy will be developed by the program planning team and a formal “Behavior Plan” will be written.  Approval from the person served and/or his/her guardian will be obtained prior to implementation of any such strategy.
 
Our starting point for behavioral analysis involves our own Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST).  Using this assessment and a highly structured functional analysis interview format, professional workers forge a three-part behavioral strategy (what to do to avoid the hassle in the first instance, what we can teach the individual to do more constructively serving the same function, and what we should do once the behavior occurs).  The organization’s Clinical Review Committee reviews all behavioral strategies. This group, comprised of the company’s experienced clinicians and Chief Operating Officer, Ernie Beal, meets weekly to systematically review all significant behavioral issues, hospitalizations, major behavioral incidents, and any staff request for technical assistance.   
 
Our organization has long been noted for its success in dealing with individuals who display serious behaviors.  This reputation has been enhanced by our strong adherence to one basic guideline: once we accept a person for service, we do not reject them from service for displaying the behaviors of which we are paid to support.  That guideline encourages our staff to go to extra lengths to ensure that we are employing every conceivable behavioral strategy.