"Just Enough" Support -- Not Too Much, Not Too Little,But Just Enough....
No matter how supportive and helpful others try to be, individuals who have survived a moderate to severe brain injury and the rehabilitation that follows, sometimes don't want all that "help". Like anyone else, they want private time, "couch potato" time, and opportunities to go out without someone "supervising" their every move.
Yet as brain injury rehabilitation providers, many of us tend to have a bit of a "double standard". We tend to avoid "allowing" our fellow human beings to make mistakes, to suffer the consequences of bad decisions, or to "waste time", while someone without an identified brain injury is free to live as they wish.
As service providers, we at PACE are attentive to the legal liabilities for service providers and funders and the nature of brain injury means that decisions and their possible outcomes can be difficult to think through and anticipate. Nevertheless, we are committed to assisting the Members of our Communities to live as "normally" as possible.
Thus, we provide "just enough support" to ensure the individual's safety and to work with them toward their identified goals. Ultimately, our job is to fade ourselves out of their lives as much as possible, replacing professional support with natural community relationships, whenever possible.
Just Enough Support
This commitment makes good clinical sense by avoiding dependence on "paid relationships". It is an ethical approach in terms of providing the "least-intrusive, least-restrictive" intervention necessary. Finally, it is also the most cost-effective long-term alternative - by developing a natural support network and encouraging independence, costs gradually decrease.
Just Enough Support
So far, we have discussed the "just" enough part of the support. We also focus on the just "enough" part of the support. We gauge how much support to provide based on the current skill levels of the individual defined through objective and measurable observations. We share this information with the Member to explain why we are or are not assisting him or her in specific areas and to develop a plan together to work toward decreasing professional support needs.