(20 ILCS 1705/33.3) (from Ch. 91 1/2, par. 100-33.3)

Sec. 33.3. (a) The Department may develop an annual plan for staff training. The plan shall establish minimum training objectives and time frames and shall be based on the assessment of needs of direct treatment staff. The plan shall be developed using comments from employee representative organizations and State and national professional and advocacy groups. The training plan shall be available for public review and comment.

(b) A centralized pre-service training curriculum shall be developed for classifications of employees of State-operated facilities who have responsibility for direct patient care and whose professional training and experience does not substantially include the minimum training required under this Section, as determined by the Department. The plan shall address, at a minimum, the following areas:

(1) Crisis intervention;

(2) Communication (interpersonal theory, active listening and observing);

(3) Group process and group dynamics;

(4) Diagnosis, management, treatment and discharge planning;

(5) Psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological psychosocial approaches;

(6) Community resources;

(7) Specialized skills for: long-term treatment, teaching activities of daily living skills (e.g., grooming), psychosocial rehabilitation, and schizophrenia and the aged, dual-diagnosed, young, and chronic;

(8) The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code;

(9) The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act;

(10) Physical intervention techniques;

(11) Aggression management;

(12) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation;

(13) Social assessment training;

(14) Suicide prevention and intervention;

(15) Tardive dyskinesia;

(16) Fire safety;

(17) Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS);

(18) Toxic substances;

(19) The detection and reporting of suspected recipient abuse and neglect; and

(20) Methods of avoiding or reducing injuries in connection with delivery of services.

(c) Each program shall establish a unit-specific orientation which details the types of patients served, rules, treatment strategies, response to medical emergencies, policies and procedures, seclusion, restraint for special need recipients, and community resources.

(d) The plan shall provide for in-service and any other necessary training for direct service staff and shall include a system for verification of completion. Pre-service training shall be completed within 6 months after beginning employment, as a condition of continued employment and as a prerequisite to contact with recipients of services, except in the course of supervised on-the-job training that may be a component of the training plan. The plan may also require additional training in relation to changes in employee work assignments and job classifications of professional and direct service staff.

Direct care staff shall be trained in methods of communicating with recipients who are not verbal, including discerning signs of discomfort or medical problems experienced by a recipient. Facility administrators also shall receive such training, to ensure that facility operations are adapted to the needs of recipients with mental disabilities.

(e) To facilitate training, the Department may develop at least 2 training offices, one serving State-operated facilities located in the Chicago metropolitan area and the second serving other facilities operated by the Department. These offices shall develop and conduct the pre-service and in-service training programs required by this Section and coordinate other training required by the Department.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)