De-escalation and protective interventions for parents
& carers.
Guidance for parents of all kinds, including foster carers and adopters who look after children who present with with difficult or dangerous behaviour in the home.
Unique training to deal with a real issue
Our course for your Parents and Carers can be tailored to your specific needs (or the needs of a specific child/family), however we will almost always need to cover the following key concepts.
For Foster Carer training, we refer to many pieces of legislation, including the Fostering Services Regulations related to the Children Act 1989 so that those involved in the work will be able to respond effectively to crisis or challenging behaviour.
We are an Institute of Conflict Management (ICM) Quality Award Centre (#2201) for the delivery of conflict and interventions training.
De-Escalation and Duty of Care for Foster Carers
UNDERSTANDING LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE FOR PARENT OR CARER
CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR AND PROTECTIVE INTERVENTIONS TRAINING.
- Explain the Paramount Principle of children’s welfare and best interests
- Understand the importance of the Provision of Information about the child
- Explain Health and Safety Duty of Care issues in the care of children
- Describe the importance of Avoidance, Dialogue and De-Fusing to the care of children
- Define the 5 principles of using constructive dialogue to defuse situations
- Identify “exceptional circumstances” in terms of incidents where someone might be harmed
- Appraise how emotional responses to situations of high stress can effect behaviour
- Explain excessive or unreasonable measures of control, restraint and discipline
- Illustrate how withdrawing from a situation is sometimes the best (safest) initial response
- Understand the legal principles for Reasonable Force
Client Satisfaction
We monitor thousands of learner surveys each year to help with our quality assurance processes through the ICM. Here are some of the recent statistics about our courses.
99%
Met or Exceeded Expectations
Course Quality
98%
Trainer Good or Excellent
Trainer Quality
99%
Relevant and Appropriate
Content of Course
Protective Interventions and Decision Making in the Home
Once foster parents and carers have a thorough grounding in the legislation and guidance, we can work with them on the appropriate physical skills which should be used “in exceptional circumstances” and “where it is the only appropriate means to prevent likely injury to the child or other people”, as follows:
- Managing proximity during high-stress interactions with the child
- Using safe body language which is congruent with dialogue and defusing
- Understanding routes for withdrawal and the creation of ‘safe space’ for both parties
- Physical tactics for reasonable-force Prompting and Escorting
- Understanding of Control when necessary as a last resort
- The use of containment in high-risk exceptional circumstances
- Self-protection concepts for exceptionally dangerous situations of assault
- the dangers of attempting to restrain a child on your own
How is Dynamis training different?
As a pioneer in modern and pragmatic approaches to training for positive handling we understand how to get the best out of strained training budgets and resources!
Uniquely flexible to your needs
With no less than 5 different formats for each course we deliver, we work hard to fit into your schedule, your budget and your work - your partner in behaviour management and positive handling.
dedicated to authentic learning
Through our collaboration with Loughborough University faculty, we design and deliver training which has the highest degree of transfer to your home environment.
trauma-informed and responsive
Through our partnership with NAOTP we are committed to being trauma-aware as a team and our problem-solving approach recognises 'all behaviour has meaning'.
Scenario-Driven
Your staff need skills and knowledge which will help you with YOUR specific children and behaviours, so our approach is focused on solving YOUR positive handling issues. See SCENA for more information.
Gerard O'Dea // Director of Training
WHY WE DEVELOPED POSITIVE HANDLING AWARENESS TRAINING FOR PARENTS AND CARERS
For years parents of children with exceptional behaviour including violence in the home context have asked for help with certain challenging situations at home. Sometimes their children become frustrated, angry and upset and can present with violent physical behaviours.
Often, the local authorities and health boards have difficulty in giving advice to parents and carers for these situations, and so we have over the years developed a workshop-format course where a group of responsible persons can discuss common issues and have advice from an expert conflict management and positive handling trainer about approaches to take in certain situations.
Fostering Services, in particular, across the country have leveraged our expertise to help their people - I hope you might too.
Gerard O'Dea
“‘Fostering is an immensely challenging career, and foster carers need to be properly skilled, trained and supported to carry out the invaluable work that they do. In all circumstances foster carers must be given all the available information about every child…they must receive ongoing bespoke training and support that is tailored to the needs of each child.”
Sara Lurie
Director, The Fostering Network
Learn about the murder case which changed our approach to foster care training
A foster carer was killed by a teenager she was looking after, in 2011
Happy Foster carer and adopter clients
confident in how to de-escalate aggressive behaviour
”I felt empowered by the understanding of violence I gained from this course. I feel more confident in how to de-escalate aggressive behaviour and stay calm myself. I went on the course to primarily learn how to restrain a violent child. But I learnt so much about why/how violence happens and how to avoid it, I feel it much less likely to need to use a protective intervention.”
Foster Carer and Course Attendee Plymouth October 2018
already used a couple of the tools last night...
“It was an excellent day trainer was really knowledgeable in giving me tools to work in a different way with my child, I only did the course yesterday and already used a couple of these tools last night. The trainer was also very helpful in giving us legal advice which was a bonus.”
Parent of Boy with Complex Needs, Workshop March 2017 in Knowsley
gave me confidence...
“This has made me think about how I could de-escalate my young person before he starts. Phrases and concepts I could try. It gave me confidence in handling potential situations differently. This is a valuable course which should be part of the core training”
Carer – Peterborough City Foster Care Services
A highly popular training course to create safer placements and safeguard children.
On completion of the Parents and Carers Challenging Behaviour and Protective Interventions training, your people will have completed three major units of study:
- How to defuse conflict during high-stakes interactions with the child
- How to stay safe in exceptional circumstances where there is a risk of harm
- How to navigate the guidance and legislation in regard to the use of force where it becomes necessary
Our training covers a variety of the most common scenarios which parents in fostering and adoption face when they must deal with behaviour or risk, and gives straight answers to frequently asked questions.
- De-Escalation
- Managing Behaviour
- Duty of Care
- Balancing Risk
- Fostering Regulations Guidance
- Best Practice
- Common Scenarios
In addition to this Parents Positive Handling Awareness course, we have delivered tailored Restraint Training Course programmes for a wide variety of clients such as those listed here, where you can read about how we worked successfully to deliver their objectives for the training:
Learning Disability Respite Service
Learning Disability Client / Case Manager
Care Homes for Children and Young People
Foster Care Agencies
How should I deal with resistance and abusive conduct?
Should I ever attempt to restrain a child by myself?
What is good practice if I have two children fighting?
How can I keep control of my emotions when the child is pushing my buttons?
How can I take the pressure out of situations which are escalating?
World-class client feedback
Our client and learner satisfaction surveys have consistently been extrmely positive, even as we have grown to be an ever-more popular provider of Positive Handling and De-Escalation training. Watch the video to learn about our most recent results!
Dynamis is a Quality Award Centre with the ICM, a recognised accrediting body in the U.K. for workplace training in the prevention and management of workplace violence, assuring you of our quality and commitment to standards.
Dynamis is the premier European Partner for Vistelar, a global consulting organisation covering training across the entire spectrum of human conflict. Vistelar's methodology stretches back over 25 years in successfully resolving conflict.
Dynamis employs SCENA - a cutting-edge approach to training design and delivery which is scenario-driven and task-focussed, making your scenarios into the curriculum, ensuring that your training meets the needs of your staff and the children you look after.
