LRA has gained national recognition for our courses on incident management and conducting investigations. Since 1984, LRA has had many opportunities to work with clients in developing creative and cost effective ways to deliver training programs and other consulting interventions. In addition to the approximately 100 investigative and incident management training programs that LRA conducts each year, the following is a list of just some examples of LRA projects and experience:

1. Developed a process for evaluating the quality of investigations including a set of standards and methodology that allows investigators and the agencies in which they work to measure the quality of their work. We have assisted agencies in developing and implementing a self-assessment or quality improvement process for investigations at the following agencies

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (Adult Protective Services) (1996).

State agencies in Tennessee (1996), Pennsylvania (2001), New Jersey (2003) and New Mexico (1992) who provide services to persons with developmental disabilities/mental retardation.

Departments of mental health and mental retardation in Alabama (2002) and Kentucky (1995).

Res-Care, a national private provider of services to persons with developmental disabilities (1997).

2. Provided ongoing external evaluations of the quality of investigations in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

3. Developed a certified investigators program that has been implemented in both private and public agencies including oversight agencies. This program has been implemented state-wide in agencies providing developmental disabilities and/or mental health services in Pennsylvania (2001), New Jersey (2003), Kentucky (2005) and Iowa (2006). Several private providers of DD services have had staff certified before conducting investigations. This program requires that all potential investigators successfully complete training and pass an exam before they are permitted to conduct investigations. The training and examination are supplemented with an on-going process for evaluating the quality of investigations certified investigators subsequently conduct.

4. Developed an expanded five-day training program in Pennsylvania (Office of Mental Retardation) which all investigators in both public and private providers must attend to be certified. As of October 2006, 135 sessions of this course have been delivered by LRA with the certification of more than 2400 individuals. In addition to developing and delivering the training portions of the program, LRA has assumed a large part of the administrative responsibilities for registering and scheduling students, keeping examination records and notifying students of examination results. LRA has performed these tasks from its Austin, TX offices.

5. Developed an examination process for certifying investigators in other states that is maintained in-house including Alabama and Tennessee.

6. Developed and provided incident management training programs designed for both management and direct care staff.

7. Worked with Iowa (2006), New Jersey (2003), Alabama (2002), Pennsylvania (2001), Kentucky (2000), Tennessee (1995), and Louisiana (1990) in developing statewide incident management policies and procedures.

8. Developed multi-media CDs to supplement training on the investigation of incidents and evaluating the quality of investigations.

9. Developed and provided a training curriculum, Protecting People from Harm, designed to promote understanding among direct care staff regarding the circumstances likely to result in serious incidents, identifying strategies to respond to those circumstances and ways in which management and supervisory staff can support their efforts.

10. Delivered a train-the-trainers program for our Conducting Serious Incident Investigations course for several clients. They are now able to provide our curriculum on an on-going basis to meet demand for additional investigators, and as refresher training for those already trained. We have also delivered the train-the-trainers program to state agencies in Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, New Jersey and New Mexico as well as Mosaic, a private provider of developmental disabilities services.

11. Investigators are further supported in Pennsylvania by a web-based Investigators' Help Desk, which offers investigators a wide range of additional supports including: on-line access to manuals and policies; an opportunity to ask questions on-line and view written answers to other investigators' questions; and, additional training materials, including links to articles and WEB sites related to investigations.

12. Developed an incident management database which has been installed at the Developmental Disabilities Institute (New York) and the Center for the Disabled (New York).

13. In conjunction with Equip for Equality (protection and advocacy agency for Illinois), assessed the implementation of policy regarding restraint and seclusion use in state mental health and mental retardation facilities in Illinois. Currently, LRA and EFE are conducting a National Review of Restraint Related Deaths of individuals with disabilities which will include an in-depth analysis of these deaths and the impact of the restraints.

The following is a list of LRA training manuals and other training technology related to conducting investigations and incident management and offered in conjunction with our training:

Conducting Serious Incident Investigations, A Manual for Investigators

Curriculum for Teaching the Conducting Serious Incident Investigations
  Course, An Instructor's Manual

Curriculum for Teaching the Advanced Course in Investigations, An Instructor’s
  Manual

Curriculum for Teaching the Weighing Evidence and Drawing Conclusions
  Course, An Instructor’s Manual

Curriculum for Writing Investigative Reports

Curriculum for Interviewing Persons with Disabilities

Curriculum for Refresher Course in Investigations

Understanding Serious Incident Investigations, A Training Program for Direct
  Care Staff [with video]

The Role of the Supervisor in Conducting Serious Incident Investigations

Incident Management: Creating Effective Incident Management Policies and
  Procedures

Conducting Investigations [multi-media CD to be tailored by site]

Evaluating Investigations [multi-media CD to be tailored by site]