Safety at the Lurie Center: What You Need to Know
At times, our patients at the Lurie Center for Autism show behaviors that can be challenging to manage. In this handout, you will learn about our safety measures to make sure everyone who comes through our doors is safe, including your loved one, you and your family and our staff.
If you see a patient or family who needs support from the Lurie Center Safety Team or if your child is affected by another patient’s behavior, please ask our staff for help.
About the Lurie Center Safety Team
The Lurie Center Safety Team helps ensure a safe environment for our patients, families and staff. We pride ourselves on using a proactive, creative approach to managing safety concerns. We work with families and as a team. Our safety team and other Lurie Center staff are trained and certified in verbal, non-verbal and physical de-escalation techniques (strategies to prevent and manage a crisis or problem).
Your role in your loved one's safety
We believe that families and caregivers play the most important role in making sure your loved one is safe during their visit. You know your loved one best. This can be reassuring for your loved one, yourself and the care team when managing challenging behaviors.
Support from the Safety Team and local police
When needed, our Safety Team can provide extra support and offer different options to help manage challenging behaviors. Some options include going for a walk, moving to a quieter space, sitting in a beanbag chair or having a drink of water.
In some cases, if your loved one is trying to hurt themselves or others, the Safety Team may need to use hands-on strategies to help keep everyone safe. We ask that you stay with your loved one during challenging situations unless the Safety Team says otherwise. If your visit needs to end early, we will work with you on next steps.
If Lurie Center staff feel there is a situation we cannot safely manage on our own, the Safety Team might call for support from the local police department.