Our program was born when Kurk Lalemand developed the first Non-Abusive Physical Intervention (NAPI) program in the country in 1977. Though revolutionary for its time, Lalemand’s team soon recognized that “reactive” physical techniques alone were insufficient to keep people safe—preventing the incident, through verbal de-escalation training, must be the goal. This passion for prevention brought a strong psychological component to the program and resulted in its new name: Non-Abusive Psychological and Physical Intervention, or NAPPI.
NAPPI was one of the first programs with content that addressed Trauma-Informed Care. In 2012, the course content was reviewed to address the growing understanding of the vulnerabilities or triggers of trauma survivors. The traditional service delivery approach may exacerbate these triggers, but using your knowledge of Trauma-Informed Care will enable you to be more supportive and avoid retraumatization. Fostering a culture of empathy helps staff build partner relationships with patients, fellow staff members, and management. Decreasing both the frequency and intensity of incidents reduces the risk of injuries and workman’s compensation claims, and leads to better morale and retention.
In 2020, NAPPI changed its name to Welle. NAPPI had great principles, but felt that the acronym “Non Abusive Psychological and Physical Intervention” limited its scope or potential. Specifically, the ‘I’ in NAPPI referred to intervention. We are more than an intervention company, we are a behavioral safety management company. We don’t just act when a violent incident occurs, we take a holistic approach and treat the whole person or situation, hence the name Welle. We address why the person or people were agitated, and what environmental, social or mental factors contributed to the escalation. It is important to intervene when there is a violent outbreak, but Welle wants to take it a step further and gather information from all factors in order to PREVENT escalation in the future.
Then COVID happened. At the height of the pandemic, we helped frontline healthcare workers as best we could. As lockdowns eased, we discovered that behavioral safety was becoming a problem in areas outside of healthcare. For example, we helped train museum employees to de-escalate situations when patrons refused to adhere to masking policies. Welle’s approach to trauma-informed behavioral safety management has proven to be applicable across a wide range of organizations, and this included the social trauma of the pandemic.
Most recently, we were the first in the industry to bring full EMR integration. Our Red Scale Documentation app has been launched for Epic. This app helps healthcare workers assess, document, and flag behavioral issues in convenient ways using consistent language, to ensure clear communication and improve safety. This app provides a huge advantage in constantly reinforcing and retraining the Welle System and bringing the classroom to the floor.