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Human Services

Developmental Service Worker

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication

You are in charge of 20 mentally challenged kids and nine ward staff members. You left last Friday night for the weekend, confident that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen while you were off. Boy, were you wrong!

  • Residents who were left unsupervised walked out of the facility and got lost in the city
  • One resident almost died from drinking a poisonous cleaner, which was in an unlocked cupboard in the shower room
  • Personal staff items were stolen from the office
  • The ward ran out of food and had to borrow food from another ward

You have decided to address each of these mistakes in a memo. You will be handing a copy of this memo to all of your staff members, including the three staff members who were on duty during the weekend.

"With everything from basic interviewing skills to teaching the people we support to writing reports to participating in team meetings to giving presentations, communication skills -- written and verbal -- are critical to our services," says Susan Michael. She's a developmental service worker. "Basic people skills and teamwork will get the job done in the end."

Remember, you're addressing this memo to your staff. Tell them how you feel about all the things that have gone wrong over the past few days and make sure they know that they will have no choice but to follow your new rules. At the same time, let them know that they still have your confidence. It's never good to destroy your staff's morale.

As you address each of the mistakes, offer a way to avoid a repeat performance in the future.