TD Bank Charitable Foundation donates $7500 to Latham Centers for staff training

Latham Centers has received a $7,500 grant from the TD Bank Charitable Foundation to fund Positive Behavioral Support Intervention (PBS) training for our staff. On July 9th, Latham Centers welcomed Paula Warchol, VP, Field Marketing Manager and Marius Dehelean, VP, Relationship Manager from TD Bank to our Brewster campus where they presented a check to Maggie French, Latham CFO and Heather Kelsey, Director of Development.

Ms. Warchol and Mr. Dehelean were greeted by staff and students from Latham School, and given a tour of campus including visit to our library, classrooms, dormitories, clinical building, and dining hall. Ben Mundy, Assistant Director of Adult Services, answered questions about the PBS model and shared the impact of TD Bank Charitable Foundation’s grant funding. “As a provider of services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Latham Centers is committed to ongoing training on positive, de-escalating techniques to manage behaviors of concern. A physical and social environment that is safe, humane, and responsive to a person’s needs and interests is a necessary building block for effective supports.”

A comprehensive PBS plan includes a range of intervention strategies designed to prevent the problem behavior while teaching socially appropriate alternative behaviors. The goal is an enhanced quality of life for individuals involved and their support providers in a variety of settings. PBS is designed to examine the motivation for unwanted behaviors and to teach alternative coping mechanisms. PBS recognizes that people exhibit challenging behavior for a variety of reasons: depression, boredom, frustration, sensory overload, or in response to difficult thoughts and feelings related to prior traumas. The PBS model teaches clinicians and caregivers ways to create environments and patterns of support that remove the reward previously gained from the unwanted behavior.

The new grant-funded PBS model will be fully implemented at our residential school campus and in our 12 adult group residences and shared living arrangements. We are deeply grateful to the TD Bank Charitable Foundation for their generous support of this initiative, and we look forward to partnering with them in the future.

Photo Caption: (left to right) Marius Dehelean and Paula Warchol (TD Bank); Maggie French and Heather Kelsey (Latham Centers).