Our Mary in a Minute series about people making an impact on the Mary Cariola Community.
Meet Nick Ziemann from Webster, NY. Nick is a Behavior Intervention Specialist. He provides in home behavior guidance to individuals and their families through our Behavior Management Services Program and to individuals living at our Bailey Road residence.
A little about me. I grew up in Ilion, NY. Upon graduation from SUNY Geneseo, I intended to teach English-Language Arts. I started working at Bailey Road after graduation and spent a lot of time with the individuals. It was great to join a team of people who had the best intentions for everyone who lived at Bailey. Watching the breakthroughs and the commitment from everyone, I knew I wanted to stay long-term. I’ve worked at Mary Cariola for 13 years.
Every day is different. Most days start with checking email, then confirming everything that is on my calendar with the rest of the team. It’s almost guaranteed that something unexpected happens and there’s an email or phone call that sends everyone. separate directions. There are days that don’t have a rhyme or reason to them while there are others that seem too quiet to be true which is when a get a lot of reports /plans written. I write the Behavior Support Plans and do my best to hypothesize why people do what they do. If the hypothesized function of the challenging behavior is correct, then I’m able to write a plan that helps build up skills to decrease the challenging behavior
We’re always encouraging families and new employees to see that behavior is a communication. We have to figure out what the person is telling us and what is the best way we can meet that need in a different way, because challenging behavior rarely happens without a purpose behind it. There is a reason for the behavior challenge, and we must use our resources to find it.
On mental health. We need people who are empathetic and understanding that mental health struggles and behavior challenges go hand in hand. It is possible for someone to a have a dual diagnosis, but not have the ability to communicate it. Mental health struggles should be acknowledged as a contributing factor to challenging behavior and addressing it should go hand in hand with appropriate behavioral supports.
Proud moment. Early in my time at Bailey Road, I had the opportunity to advocate for one of the residents. I thought it would be worthwhile to get a first-generation iPad and try to build communication through the ProLoQuo2Go App. For a year, I worked with the teacher at school, and we slowly increased vocabulary through trial and error. By the time graduation happened, we were getting full sentences with accurate requests. It continues to expand to this day along with the library of music increasing with preferred songs along with an avenue of communication with his family via FaceTime.
I wish other people knew more about Mary Cariola Center and the work we do.I’d like people to work a shift and see everything that happens daily, especially the level of commitment it takes to keep everything running smoothly. The residences never close and anything can happen at any time, and if there is an emergency, the only thing we are concerned about is making sure we reach a resolution where everyone is safe and happy.
When I’m not working, you will find me at home with my family on weekends. My kids are very active and like to do anything outdoors. I’ve also been trying to work through my backlog of books, which feels endless at times. When spring hits, I’ll be watching a lot of baseball and hoping my team can repeat as World Series Champions. Any time I can get together with friends, there is always a new board game to try out.
