If it's not documented it didn't happen.

So this is to go along with a couple of pieces of content I have posted elsewhere,  about documentation and it’s really important to recognize that if you are working, with people with a disability, either in a housing situation or in a day/ community center it’s important to realize that if you haven’t documented it, it didn’t happen, and everything needs to be documented as it protects everyone so this isn’t just clients and supports staff but it’s family and other in your care team, and if you document things that don’t seem to be a big thing but they can be if you start to see a pattern of behavior and this can go towards a person funding and ratios of care. So, a person who is struggling in a sil (supported independent living,) at a one to three ratio might need extra support this then would provide the evidence for that person to have extra support and it might be a two-hour shift where the basics are done such as showers and toileting, feeding, and housework.

We need to have a cultural change that allows support workers to feel safe speaking up about unsafe conditions so clients who are struggling can give them the extra support they need and report near misses without feeling like they are going to get into trouble or that they need to cover it up, as unfortunately, we see that there can be a disconnect between the support workers on the ground and the head office and they might not even have a housing manager to sort out housing issues.

Like the small everyday arguments between clients or even between clients and staff, because not everyone is going to get on with people and we need to be able to accept that not everyone is going to like you, but you need to respect both the client and the workers but being able to speak up is important as it goes towards being able to accept support and not to have others be jealous of that support as it does happen, and people need to accept that support is given to those who need it to take the burden off family and friends to be able to level the playing field. 

Also in other posts, we have talked about good and bad support and we need to have training around how important documentation is as it does become a legal document and this is where signing it with your full and legal name is important and it’s not about options it's about what the client has done in a day and what they have done independently, or has asked for help with as some people do struggle to ask for help as they have often had so many people say no they think that is the default answer and then when they get help with the basics it can be a game changer it means they have energy for the things that make life worth living, that might be going to the community center, going to the markets or having a hobby.

It's also really important to know how to document and spell and there are a lot of free courses that you can use if you struggle with technical writing there is plenty on LinkedIn or Alison, but I would caution people away from using Reddit as it is so easy to unintentionally put up offensive or identifying information.

 So let's start documenting what has happened without fear of a support worker being the bad person.