“This made me feel like I have a lot of power, where I can pick where I want to go.”
So said a boy in one of SaintA’s Residential Treatment units about how things have changed in recent months. The boy, who we’ll call David, used to cut himself and attack staff. He has a history of violent, aggressive and sexualized behavior and experienced almost daily restraints. “He’s done a complete 180,” said Will Allen, manager of David’s Residential unit. The second shift supervisor on the unit, Blair Grover, said David used to have blowups that lasted from one to four hours; now he has almost none, and when he does act out, it is for no more than 15 minutes.