It is often assumed that the skills involved in responding to immediately dangerous behaviour are an extension of the skills we use in our everyday professional practice. So "remain calm", "think before you act", "don't take it personally", "be empowering" and so forth. The problem is that faced with danger, we may not be able to stay calm, or have any time to think, or a choice about how we take it - and we certainly don't want to empower the aggressor - and so professionals often feel deskilled when faced with danger.
A different set of skills are required and these I have called "front-end skills." They are not a substitute for good professional skills and share the same the same values - but they are a different set of skills. I call them front-end skills because they are placed at the very front of the interaction with the aggressor and aim to bring the behaviour back to a safer level where staff can return to their professional skill sets (listening, problem-solving, advising, sign-posting, enforcing and so forth).
Front-end skills have to be used before our other professional skill sets as they cannot be used at the same time. They are specifically designed to manage serious and dangerous interpersonal behaviour. This means staff have to know when a crisis is emerging and when to switch skill sets - and this will be the focus of our next Dangerous Behaviour bite-size blog.
Stay Safe
Iain
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