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Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979

Section 13
Introduction: Train Your Entire Facility Staff!

Table of Contents | NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet

Getting Staff Support  
In this Series you will learn how to complete the following steps:
            #1. Assess the resident’s capabilities and limitations.
            #2. Construct the Success Therapy® project.
            #3. Implement the particular activity described.     
            #4. In-service staff regarding the goal for each activity.

Getting Administrator & Consultant Training Approval
After you begin to formulate an idea as to how Success Therapy® will benefit your Alzheimer’s and Low-Functioning residents, talk to your Administrator and your Corporate Consultant to get their approval and support.  Clearly, as you already know, if you have that, then getting the support of your Director of Nursing, In-service Coordinator, Charge Nurse, and so on will be easier.

Which is the Best Tool to Train Your Entire Staff?
As you will note, the Manual and In-service Sheets, located at the back of this Manual contain similar information to that found on the CD’s.  I have provided three formats containing similar content, because some staff are visual learners and others are audio learners.  For example, after you’ve successfully tried an activity with a resident, the In-service Training Sheet would then be your best training tool to supplement your instruction to a CNA to implement Culture Change in your facility.  However,  volunteer or new staff members may want an overview of more than just one activity.  Thus, the CD format may be preferred for listening in the car, or in the employees lounge with head phones. 

What is Success Therapy®?

However, keep in mind, the goal of the projects described in this Course is not the traditional goal.  The traditional goal of activities has been to “to produce a finished craft or product, or to have a ‘great/fun time.’” 

As you know, some of your Lower-Functioning and Alzheimer’s residents have lost the ability to experience a “great time” and can only express minimal emotion.  With each of the activities presented, the purpose is to provide a structured situation, far beyond the old days of a “hi-and-a-hug,” generic TLC visit.  Success Therapy®, ST for short, allows you an opportunity to say sincerely and genuinely to the resident, “Good, great!  You did a good job!  Let’s see if you can do that again!”

In some cases your words are practically a monologue
Your resident may only be able to understand the meaning found in your tone of voice and not be able to understand your specific words, as in the case of your end stage Alzheimer’s resident.  But a basic Success Therapy® premise is you never know what gets through, and you never “write any resident off” as totally unreachable and hopeless.

Is Success Therapy®  a “Therapy”?
According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of a “therapy” is “the treatment of any physical or mental disorder by any physical means.”  Success Therapy® projects certainly provide a physical means to deal with physical and/or mental disorders.  But is Success Therapy® a “treatment”?  Webster defines a “treatment” as “a way to deal with, in a specific manner.” 

As you read on, you will discover Success Therapy® proposes a very specific manner for dealing with your Low-Functioning and Alzheimer’s residents, whether you work with them in small group, sensory, cognitively impaired, one-to-one, or in-room activities.