Lesson 1: The slow blink
Trust starts when you lower the threat
Psychologists at the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth tested the slow blink in 2020. When owners slow blinked at their cats, the cats were more likely to slow blink back. When a stranger slow blinked, cats were more likely to approach the stranger's outstretched hand than when the stranger kept a neutral face.
A hard stare reads as a challenge. A soft, slow blink says you are not a threat. Then you wait.
On your shift
Many of the people we support have been let down by people who promised and did not deliver. Your slow blink is being boring on purpose. Arrive when you said. Keep your voice and pace steady. Say clearly when something is difficult.
Trust is not something you ask for. You earn it by being predictable.
Trust and Integrity. Honesty and transparency in every partnership. You see it on a shift when a worker turns up on time, twice in a row, and says so when a plan changes.
Lesson 2: Choice and control
Offer your hand, then let them decide
In 2021, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Nottingham Trent University trained members of the public in a simple set of guidelines called CAT: give the cat choice and control, pay attention to body language, and think about touch. They filmed 100 cats meeting 120 people.
After the training, cats showed more friendly behaviour and fewer signs of aggression and conflict. The method is plain. Offer a hand and let the cat choose. If it moves away, let it go. Do not pick it up or follow it.
On your shift
We do not ask participants to fit our roster. Offer the choice, then honour the answer, including "not today". Two options you can live with are better than one plan you insist on.
The person is the author of their own life. You help them hold the pen.
Person-Centred Care. Care tailored to individual needs and wants. You see it on a shift when the day is built around the person's goals, routines, culture and communication style, not the task list.
Lesson 3: Attention
The scratch was never the first signal
The same researchers listed what a cat does when it has had enough, long before claws come out:
- Turns its head or moves away
- Ears rotate or flatten
- Shakes its head or licks its nose
- Fur along the back ripples
- Tail swishes quickly
People who miss these call the cat unpredictable. The cat was being very clear.
On your shift
Every person has their own early signals. Their Positive Behaviour Support plan tells you what they are. Read it, and the OT profile, before the shift starts, not during it.
When someone refuses an activity, do not just log the refusal. Look for the reason.
Understanding the why. Supporting the how. Creating space for possibility.
Compassion and Connection. Connection as the route to real outcomes. You see it on a shift when a worker notices the trigger before the distress, not after.
Respect and Responsibility. Respectful, dignified interactions with accountability. You see it on a shift when a worker arrives having already read the PBS plan and the OT profile.
Lesson 4: The box
A place to retreat is how you settle
In a 2014 study at a Dutch animal shelter, researchers from Utrecht University gave some newly arrived cats a hiding box and some none. Across 19 cats, those with a box reached a settled stress level around day 3. The cats without one took until day 14 to get there.
Hiding was not the cat refusing its new home. It was how the cat coped with it.
On your shift
A quiet room, a pair of headphones, a way off the bus at the next stop. Build the exit into the plan before anyone needs it. Knowing it is there is often what makes staying possible.
Protect people's right to take up space, and their right to step out of it.
Calm, safe spaces make daily life easier, and easier days create room for independence.
Inclusivity and Equality. Celebrating diversity and individuality. You see it on a shift when a worker protects someone's right to take up space, adapts how they communicate, and respects choices that are not their own.
Lesson 5: The mother cat
Teach, prompt, fade
Animal behaviour writers describe a mother cat bringing her kittens food in stages as they grow, and doing less of the work each time. Whether that counts as deliberate teaching is still debated. As a picture of how our method works, it is hard to beat.
Teach
The mother cat
Brings back food that is already caught. The kittens watch and learn what it is.
You
Show the skill in full, in the real setting. A team leader meets the person first and models the support.
Prompt
The mother cat
Lets the kittens take over part of the job while she stays close.
You
Stay near and cue while the skill is forming. Prompt less each time it holds.
Fade
The mother cat
Steps back. The kittens do it on their own.
You
Remove the prompt the moment it is no longer needed. Doing nothing at the right moment is the highest skill in the job.
Not just support that stays, support that knows when to step back.
Why this matters to us. We do not build a business on making people need us. Success is measured in independence gained.
What this looks like on a Tuesday
Meet David. He is 22, plays guitar and wants to get to his Tuesday lesson on his own. He avoids the bus because of sensory overwhelm. David is an invented example.
- Slow blink. The same worker, every Tuesday, on time. David knows who is coming and when.
- Choice. David picks the route, the seat and whether today is a bus day at all.
- Attention. His plan names his early signs. You notice them at the stop, not three stops later.
- The box. Headphones in his bag and an agreed plan to get off early if he needs to. He rarely uses it. Knowing it is there is the point.
- Teach, prompt, fade. First you ride together. Then you sit further back. Then you meet him at the music school. Then he texts you that he has arrived.
Sources
- Humphrey, T. and McComb, K. (lead researchers) and colleagues (2020). The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication. Scientific Reports. Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth.
- Haywood, C., Ripari, L., Puzzo, J., Foreman-Worsley, R. and Finka, L.R. (2021). Providing humans with practical, best practice handling guidelines during human-cat interactions increases cats' affiliative behaviour and reduces aggression and signs of conflict. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8: 714143. Signals of discomfort as reported in Nottingham Trent University's release on the study.
- Vinke, C.M., Godijn, L.M. and van der Leij, W.J.R. (2014). Will a hiding box provide stress reduction for shelter cats? Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 160: 86 to 93.
- Mother cat sequence: described in secondary animal behaviour sources, with the teaching interpretation noted as debated. Related primary work includes Caro, T.M. (1980). Effects of the mother, object play, and adult experience on predation in cats. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 29(1): 29 to 51.
Not checked against the primary paper: the full author list for source 1 and the exact stages in the mother cat sequence. This page does not claim that cats inspired teach, prompt, fade. It is a behaviour support method; the cats are only an illustration.