The InVisionary

Not everyone communicates in the same way. At InVision, we appreciate that behavior is a form of communication. My job as a Behavior Specialist is to interpret said behaviors, validate emotions, help accommodate needs, and modify behaviors to support a safer and healthier lifestyle. To do that in an effective way, I am also tasked with getting those I work with to trust me, knowing full well that trust is hard-given and not always easily maintained – especially when working with people whose trust has been consistently broken throughout their lives. This is why being consistently open and honest is an essential component of InVision’s ethos. Trust is built from being able to believe another’s words and actions.

One promise I make to the people we support is that while I may sometimes make them angry, I will never lie to them. It is not my job to tell anyone what they want to hear, and I am often obligated to tell others things they definitely do not want to hear. One of the many benefits openness and honesty offers is that what I say has little chance of becoming confusing or convoluted. Mark Twain once said, “if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything,” and I wholeheartedly agree. I have enough responsibilities that I need to keep track of without forcing myself to remember storylines and falsehoods. While the people we support have needs unique to them that must be met to offer them the quality of life we all deserve, that does not mean that we should ever underestimate their capacities. Every single one of the people we support can recognize whose words and actions they can trust. In fact, I would argue that those we serve are each more finely attuned to recognizing honesty and genuineness than most others.

While InVision is certainly person-focused, we are still a large, multi-level team comprised of both in-home, office, and hybrid employees. Trusting in each other as a team is essential to the efficacy with which we accommodate the people we support. Therefore, we must also be open and honest with each other. To properly collaborate, we must be able to communicate and trust each other in our respective roles. With so many of us working in different settings, that trust within our team is even more difficult to obtain and maintain. Consistent openness and honesty is the key to ensuring we provide the highest quality of customized supports for the people we support at InVision. We owe it to ourselves, to those we serve, and each other to build that trust. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with every single person at InVision and hope that my dedication to our core values is trusted. I endeavor to build and maintain that trust through openness and honesty in all aspects of my role with every member of my team, which I consider to be the whole of our InVision family.