By Ian Miller
On January 14th, The Golden Scoop hosted Down Syndrome Innovations (DSI) as they held a training session on appropriate behaviors in the workplace and discussed methods to stay calm in stressful situations. I think everyone can use that! This session was the first of an ongoing series of monthly training sessions on a variety of topics created by DSI specifically for the employees of The Golden Scoop.
The discussion was animated, with employees actively volunteering their thoughts on the subject. Super Scooper Hank said that being in stressful situations “makes me nervous,” but he offered his preferred solution of excusing himself from the situation and going to a quiet room to listen to music for a while until he was calm again. Great suggestion, Hank!
Our two DSI hosts, Megan Deboom and Jack Anderson, were enthusiastic about the event’s success. “I think it went really, really well,” said Megan. “I was impressed with the questions people asked and the examples they had and how everybody participated.”
I asked what their thoughts on our partnership with DSI were, and Megan said, “I think it’s really great because we share a lot of clients, and so it’s great to be able to come help the community and support our clients out here and also to meet new people and celebrate local businesses.”
Amber reached out to DSI to request a mentoring partnership between the two organizations, Megan said. “Amber reached out to us and I was like, ‘That sounds like a fabulous idea, and I think we could support each other really well.’”
Jack agreed. “I think we’re just excited for the future opportunities [where] we can work together with The Golden Scoop!” said Jack.
Megan said she has been with DSI for seven years now, and Jack said he had been with them for over 10 years. Megan is a board-certified behavioral analyst for DSI and also their director of therapeutic services. Jack is DSI’s intake coordinator and skills specialist for their therapy team.
I asked Megan and Jack how they hoped our employees would use the skills they were learning from DSI, and Megan said, “I hope that your employees use these skills to feel more confident in their skills and abilities here at work and to be good problem solvers here at Golden Scoop or wherever else they might work in the future.”
I agreed, explaining a bit about our employee springboard program: “One of our big things is we view [their employment at The Golden Scoop] as kind of a springboard, so this is where they start but then they take these skills and the experience and we hope they find something that better matches them. So, hopefully they take the skills we teach them and the skills you teach them, and it makes them better employees elsewhere.”
“Yes, I hope that’s exactly what happens!” Megan said.
Find the Golden Scoop at these locations:
9540 Nall Avenue
Overland Park, Kansas 66207
913-284-804410460 W 103rd Street
Overland Park, Kansas 66214
913-232-9639Hours:
Monday – Closed
Tuesday-Saturday: 8am-7pm
Sunday @103rd: 9am-5pm
Sunday @ 95th: 1pm-5pm
