HUMN 6660: Social Change, Leadership, and Advocacy for Human Services Professional Practitioners

Scenario Background and Simulation Preparation

Getting Ready for the Online Simulation 

• In preparation for your simulation experience, consider the following technical aspects of the simulations:

• Find a location with reliable internet connectivity and minimal background noise. If you have the ability to create a hard connection to your internet, i.e., using an Ethernet cord, you may wish to do so to ensure your connectivity is reliable. 
  • Use a computer or laptop with a webcam and screen large enough to view the avatars well. Note: The avatars can see you and respond to you in real time. 
  • Check the microphone and speakers on your computer or laptop to ensure they are at a volume at which you can hear and speak to the avatars clearly. You may wish to use a headset with a microphone for a better listening and recording experience. 

• Your simulation will be recorded. 
• Sometime during Week 1 (or, in the case of late enrollees, sometime prior to or on the add/drop consensus date), you will receive an invitation in your Walden email inbox to register within our scheduling app portal. This is the first step in the simulation session signup process. Use the Register Now button from within the invite email to register for an account and begin the scheduling process. If you click this button after you’ve already registered, you’ll get an error notification. Therefore, please only use this button once.
• When you register, make sure to specify the time zone that aligns with your geographical location (if you don’t do this, then we cannot guarantee that you’ll make your appointment).
• After registering, go to https://portal.mursion.com in order to log in to your new account.
• After logging into your new account, you may schedule a simulation session appointment using the portal.
• Download the Zoom desktop app (if you haven’t already) before your appointment date and time. 
• Update the Zoom desktop app (if needed) before your appointment date and time.
• Test join a meeting at https://zoom.us/test and activate audio/visual feeds to ensure that peripherals are functioning appropriately. 
• Test your internet health at https://speedtest.net to ensure that speed and bandwidth will allow for smooth communication.
• Please join your session on time. If you are more than 5 minutes late, then we cannot guarantee that you’ll make your appointment.
• Feel free to reach out to us at simulationteam@mail.waldenu.edu with any questions or concerns.

The Simulation Scenario

In this simulation, you will be presented with three challenges surrounding your interaction with Sam, a new Human Services Professional Practitioner (HSPP) who you supervise at your agency. 

You are the program coordinator at Family Services Center. The center offers a number of programs for all ages of family members in the community, including individual and family counseling, addiction services, anger management, parent coordinating, and career services. Many of your programs are connected to the family court. Sam has come to you with a problem. His service user, Tony LaRocca, is refusing to continue to attend the anger management program that he is enrolled in. 

Sam is a relatively new Human Services Professional Practitioner (HSPP) and new to your agency. He comes to you for a supervisory session to ask advice for working with Tony—their first meeting did not go well. 

Sam’s goal in that first meeting was to confirm all of Tony’s intake information and discuss Tony’s goals. However, Tony became angry in the meeting and said he feels that there is nothing more for him to learn and that he doesn’t want do an anger management program. He says he is losing pay due to the amount of time the program takes him away from his work. Sam does not know what to do. Sam is scheduled with Tony for his regular follow-up meeting in one week.

Your objective for your meeting with Sam is to provide supervisory coaching. This includes putting him at ease so that he openly shares the circumstances and events of his meeting with Tony. Ideally, Sam reports on the interactions with Tony in such a way that he reveals the characteristics of his interview and assessment and the mistakes he may have made during the meeting. 

In addition to getting Sam to be open and to reveal his challenges and mistakes, your goal is to then offer Sam ways in which he could implement Motivational Interviewing techiniques in two ways. First, you can offer examples of Motivational Interviewing by recharacterizing possible missteps that Sam reported during his initial meeting with Tony. Second, you should offer general Motivational Interviewing strategies for Sam to incorporate in future meetings.

In Appendix A, you will find the case file of Tony LaRocca, which you as the supervisor would have access to.

Simulation Challenges and Objectives

Important Note: In the simulation experience, you will not be notified when you have met, or not met, a challenge and its objective. However, the avatar will respond by becoming more engaged in the conversation  when you “hit” the challenge and will react in a more disengaged manner if you “miss” the challenge. If you would like to keep track on your own, you may wish to have this document and your Week 2 Meeting Notes available as you complete the simulation experience. 

• Challenge 1: Sam, a Human Services Professional Practitioner (HSPP), arrives for an impromptu coaching session with a problem related to the service user he has been assigned. Sam is visibly frustrated.

Performance Objective for Challenge 1: Learners will start a coaching meeting with Sam appropriately by setting the stage for a professional and positive interaction through confirming the purpose of the meeting, setting expectations, inviting an open dialogue, and deescalating any frustration or tensions about challenges encountered in his last session with his assigned service user, Tony. Learners will ask for more specific details about the first meeting between Sam and Tony.

• Challenge 2: Sam shares the details of his case with the learner. The learner, as a supervisor, will know the background of the case from the case file, but the learner needs to elicit more details from and characteristics of the last meeting to provide adequate coaching to Sam.

Performance Objective for Challenge 2: Learners will seek details from Sam about the specific meeting with Tony that did not go well. From Sam’s report, learners will identify 3 mistakes that Sam made with Tony (the assigned service user) related to Motivational Interviewing practice. Learners will coach Sam on how to recharacterize his reported interactions with the service user in the context of Motivational Interviewing.

• Challenge 3: Learner demonstrates knowledge of Motivational Interviewing by providing three Motivational Interviewing strategies for Sam to use.

Performance Objective for Challenge 3: Learners will discuss with Sam three strategies for effective Motivational Interviewing techniques that he can use in his next meeting with Tony (the assigned service user). Learner will set up a plan to follow up with Sam on his progress with Tony.

Simulation Preparation

• Review the Week 5 Assignment, Week 5 Learning Resources related to the simulation, the Scenario Background and Simulation Preparation (this PDF), and the Week 3 Simulation Meeting Notes. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the technical aspects of the online simulation.
• Complete your Week 3 Meeting Notes.
• Keep in mind that you will not be assessed on your performance in the simulation; rather, this exercise is a tool for practice and reflection on coaching.

The CANs and CANNOTs of the Avatars

• The avatars CAN:
  • Interact with and respond to you in real time while experiencing a wide range of emotions
  • See you and hear you o   Improvise according to what they know or don’t know

The avatar CANNOT: 

• Perform certain physical functions such as switching seats, standing up, leaving the room, etc.

Meet the Avatars

The following information provides insight into the different avatars you will engage with or observe during the simulation experience. Be sure to review the information prior to your experience to get to know the avatars and familiarize yourself with their backstories. 

You will begin your simulation with a welcome from Micahel, our Simulation Guide. He will greet you prior to your simulation and he will explain the simulation protocols. Michael will always be standing by during your simulation if you run into any technical dificulties. At the end of your simulation, you will be reunited with Michael to breifly reflect on your experience. 

Sam will be the avatar representing the Human Services Professional Practitioner (HSPP), and once Sam appears on your screen, your simulation will begin.  

APPENDIX A

Service User: Tony LaRocca Case File 

Tony is 34 years old, married to Sabrina, 30, and together they have two children, Tony Jr., aged 6, and Cecelia, aged 4. Tony is a roofer by trade, and last year he fell off a roof, breaking his left leg. He was in a cast for 2 months, and he was unable to work. Now, he still has problems with bending his knee, which makes it difficult for him to work full days. He spends a lot of time at home, and there have been many arguments about small irritations. One day Tony got so angry about how the kids’ toys were left around, he pushed Sabrina against the wall, causing her to hit her head. The police were called, and Tony was warned, but no charge was laid. Just before Christmas, the family was at a small family gathering and Tony had a lot to drink, so Sabrina drove them home. On the way, Tony wanted to stop at a fast-food place to get something, but Sabrina was eager to get the kids to bed, and she said no. Tony quickly got angry, and with his left hand, he slapped Sabrina in the face while she was driving, causing her to swerve into the next lane and sideswipe the car there. Fortunately, it was near a stop and neither car was moving fast. The police were again called and this time a Tony was charged with assault. Tony appeared in court, and the judge diverted him to complete an anger management program and complete 100 hours of community service at his church. If he completes these diversion assignments, his charge will be set aside.