Rehabilition Therapist Education, Training, and Supervision
Education
Rehabilitation Therapists have a post secondary education within the human services field. Educational backgrounds include; social work, psychology, sociology, teaching, recreation therapist, occupational therapy assistant, kinesiology, addiction studies, and rehabilitation studies among others.
Rehabilitation Therapist Training
Lawlor staff participate in bi-monthly training that is invaluable in updating and maintaining their skills. Lawlor provides in house training and welcomes professionals from the community to share their knowledge. Lawlor staff also participate in OBIA Level One and Level Two training.
Lawlor Training Includes:
Certifications: First Aid and CPR, Safe Lifts and Transfers, CPI: Non-Violent Intervention and Health and Safety Training.
- Rick Hadleycrane, the Toronto Manager, provides First Aid and CPR training.
- Courtney Enright, an Intake Co-ordinator, is our resident CPI Nonviolent Crisis Intervention trainer. Courtney also assists in the development of crisis intervention plans for clients that require extra support.
- Chas Harding, a Kinesiologist and the Barrie and area manager, provides Safe Lifts and Transfer training to our staff to reduce the risk of injuries and accidents.
- Brianna Kattenhorn, a K/W manager and a member of the Lawlor Health and Safety Team, provides annual Health and Safety Training, which includes personal protection against infection and quarantine policies. She also reviews concerns at our bi-monthly staff meetings.
Other In House Training:
- Wheelchair mechanics
- Physiotherapy 101: Terminology and Practices
- Maintaining Professional Boundaries and How to Work as an Effective Team
- Professional Documentation: Writing clear objectives and collecting relevant data
- Applied Behaviour Analysis. Cognitive and Behavioural Planning and Programming
- Suicide Intervention
Community Professional Presentations:
- In May 2009, Jeanette Podolsky of Speech Therapy Centres of Canada discussed the role of the Speech Language Pathologist in assessing and treating the client with an acquired brain injury.
- In March 2009, Amy Barker of West Park Hospital provided a presentation on Applied Behaviour Analysis and Data Collection Methods.
- Jane Storrie, Nueropschologist, provided a very informative training session on the topic of Depression, Suicide, and ABI in January 2008.
- Kindree Rowland, S.L.P accepted our invitation to provide a presentation at our staff meeting in March 2008 on the topics of the role of the SLP, programming, implementation, documentation and goal planning. Kindree focused on the Goal - Plan - To Do - Review System.
- In July 2008, The Mix Community Club, North America's only non-profit social club, provided a community workshop that focussed on social and community integration.
Supervision
Rehabilitation Therapists work under the direction of a regulated health care professional. Reabilitation therapists facilitate recommendations by the attending rehabilitation team. They do not perform assessments or make recommendations. Practice guidelines from the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario have been incorporated into Lawlor Therapy Support Services training manual. Our service enhances the rehabilitation team to assist the client to achieve their maximum rehabilitation potential.
To ensure quality assurance standards are met, rehabilitation therapists communicate with their manager regularly and meet with them monthly to review client progress, barriers in reaching rehabilitation goals, client feedback, supervising regulated health care professional feedback, and other client issues.
Rehabilitation Therapists participate in performance evaluations where feedback from clients and supervising regulated health care professionals is reviewed.
Lawlor Therapy Support Services establishes a good fit between the client and the rehabilitation therapist. Experience, personality, and education are matched with a client's needs. Curriculum vitae's are available for review.
