If we discuss Happy, Relaxed, Engaged (HRE) children without making sure HRE is first extended to the adult workforce and families, we’ve missed the point. When learners are sandwiched between adults who are Happy, Relaxed, and Engaged, the impact is real and sustainable for the learner. It is the planned generalizability we really want to see.
However, it is difficult to brand HRE outside of children. It is also negligible not to think broadly about who we need to engage, who needs to be relaxed, and who needs to be happy. In any work environment involving vulnerable populations, the workforce as HRE should be prioritized, not from the standpoint of snacks, but from a space of developing critical thinking, autonomy, and leadership growth. As an example, having RBTs lead meetings with BCBAs is my norm because cultivating leadership as a reciprocal relationship is important for collaboration between these two professionals.
To be honest, Happy Relaxed Engaged is not something that I quickly absorbed as a professional, person, or parent. It felt entitled, and another phrasing that we should all embrace on top of all that we are holding. While I understood the collective effort to make a professional landscape and outcomes better, I thought it missed the adult in the picture: the families, caregivers and professionals. How do we create a daily service environment when families are stressed and people feel overlooked and undervalued? I initially saw the overlook of people deepen HRE.
I’ve given HRE some thought and started to develop it inside of how we think about people in The Huddle. This model of Clinical Self- Personal Self- Professional Self makes HRE achievable when organizations actively pursue the integration this tripartite model.
It’s a tall order when we consider HRE and what it takes to get there. It’s the investment in people power that best amplifies the observable happiness, relaxed, and engaged human being. Here’s the truth… Children, regardless of diagnosis, are sandwiched between adults in the role of teacher, educator, therapist, parent, family member, or designated guardian. Being sandwiched or impacted by these relationships would suggest that HRE happens best when the adults in various roles are Happy, Relaxed, and Engaged.
And we have got to get this…organizations cannot make people happy. It’s not about making adults happy. We cannot do this. There are not enough gift cards or snacks. We are not powerful enough to make people feel relaxed. It’s egotistical of us to think we can and must. It’s co-responsibility. Life is too complicated and filled with many contingencies.
We need to SEE people, enacting the Sawubona of “I See You”. When we see people, we enact HRE. Engagement undergirded with active listening leads to a relaxed and happy person. Seeing people means understanding their work background, skills, and valuing them beyond the level of hire. It’s incremental movement of ‘stepping into their personal greatness’ is where people want to be valued and engaged. And with this comes communication autonomy.
For People…parents, practitioners, providers, implementors titled as BTs, Paras, RBTS, and more. Engagement on the job is a pathway to being relaxed. Relaxation can impact happiness while on the job and support the person’s ability to shut out the noise of life…creating a joyful solace only when the environment sees them.
When we get this deeply, we will also see that while acronymed HRE, this is also not about making children happy. It’s Engagement that leads to valuing people. Valuing people makes them relaxed (around you), and then they become happier.
When we focus on cultivating environments where people are seen and valued, we HRE becomes less of a program but a principle about how we work. Getting this people-centered ecosystem right for adults first creates environments where children thrive.
Continued to BE Well.
