Behavioral Challenge. Custom Solution.

Joe closes every door he passes.

Background: Joe lives in a memory care community with a population of 27 residents. There is a central common area with 3 hallways. Every few hours Joe marches down each hallway and closes every door, he states “it is my duty”. The majority of residents prefer to have their suite door open during the day. As you can imagine this created a problem in the neighborhood.

Tapping into Joe’s life experience

SparkingJoy.org’s Sue sat down with Joe, his daughter and staff to address this recurring behavior. We learned that Joe spent 31 years in construction with the same company. His responsibilities included a wide array of duties including safety and inspection. We decided the best course was to validate Joe "in the moment” by crafting a creative visual solution.

Sue made an oversized custom graphic and placed it on an easel in the common area, along with a small orange construction cone. This served as a creative visual redirect tool. It cued him to stop closing doors. We validated Joe "being in his moment" as construction worker. He positively identified with the logo and the message.

Together, we validated Joe’s reality, eliminated the recurring frustration of fellow residents. Saved staff time and energies.

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