Brian Donahue, Supervisor, Regional Emergency Response Team
Department of Developmental Services
Brian Donahue is in charge of the Non-Violent Management of Aggressive Behavior (NVMAB) program for the Department’s Southeast Region and provides NVMAB training on an ongoing basis to direct care staff, program staff, supervisors, and to community providers outside the department. The NVMAB course offers staff alternatives to restraint, so staff have more options to engage in managing aggressive behaviors than just restraining clients. As a result of Brian’s training, the need to use restraints has been reduced and has lead to fewer occasions where restraint was even necessary. This has lead to fewer injuries to both staff members as well as the clients they serve. In a calendar year, Brian trains up to 100 direct care staff and 60 to 70 people in a recertification program. Brian is also the only employee who also teaches others (about 30 to 40 annually) to become instructors in the NVMAB program. To quote from the nomination, “What he does as a trainer is work with the staff so they ‘get’ the concepts. He does not merely inform or provide people with stuff…he engages people.”