Constant Connection

Many people see our environment as emotionally sterile, intimidating, disempowering and intrusive. With your limited time and busy workload, how can you overcome this and create a safer, more positive, and engaged atmosphere for the people you serve in just one step?

Constant Connection means that each staff member begins the day by smiling, greeting, and checking in with each person he/she serves. Every day. It also means that throughout their time together, staff members will routinely take the time to acknowledge, wave, speak or smile – without linking it to a task, a request or a behavior. It also means that they will end their time together by smiling, saying farewell, and checking out with each person they serve.

Why would this make a big impact?

Imagine I tell you what to do. No big deal, right? Now extend that – the only time I speak to you is when I give you instructions, perhaps even about the most basic or mundane things of your day – get up, make your bed, brush your teeth, eat your breakfast, take your medications, go to work… Whether or not you choose to comply with each of these requests, you would begin to feel one of a number of emotions about me and our relationship: oppressed, depressed, anxious, and irritated come to mind. And soon, whenever I approach, those feelings may come up fresh and strong – before I even open my mouth!

That’s your amygdala speaking to you – a small part of your brain that warns you of danger, triggers the ‘flight, fight or freeze’ response, contributes to emotional memory and learning, and may even be responsible for fear conditioning. In other words, your amygdala is your complete 911 center – it sees, reports, dispatches and responds – almost instantly – to threats. Most importantly, it learns from new threats. It finds patterns in your experience, and gives the alarm – even if you are not fully cognitively aware of your environment.

Imagine this: You are in my care, and your only experience with me is that three or four times a day I want something from you – and usually it is something difficult, unpleasant, or unwanted. You may begin to associate my approach with that stress. Your amygdala, adapting to new threat situations, begins to react. Therefore, when I approach, you bristle in anticipation – making my job harder, your progress slower, and our environment more sterile, less socialized, and possibly more full of conflict.

Now imagine this instead: I approach you ten or twenty times a day – to say hi, to smile as I pass, to walk a short way with you, to ask you if you want anything, to make eye contact and wave from across the room – in other words, I approach, connect, and do no harm. I approach you ten or twenty times a day, sometimes only for seconds at a time.

I still have to ask you those three or four things that may be difficult, unpleasant or unwanted, but because those approaches are mixed in with, and fewer in number than, all the positive and neutral approaches, your amygdala may not develop a new threat template, you might not bristle simply because I approached you, and we may get some work done together.

There is an added benefit. Our relationship may begin to develop into one of comfort – and trust. Which environment would you rather work and live in?