De-escalation and Protective Interventions for Parents
GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS AND FOSTER CARERS WHO LOOK AFTER CHILDREN WITH DIFFICULT OR DANGEROUS BEHAVIOUR.
Learning Outcomes for De-escalation and Protective Interventions for Parents
Understanding Legislation and Guidance for Parent or Carer
Challenging Behaviour and Protective Interventions training.
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 Restraint 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:
- 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 principles of Reasonable Force
Parents and Carers Physical Skills Development
Once parents and carers have a thorough grounding in the legislation and guidance, we can work with them on the appropriate physical skills for Parents andf Carers 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
On completion of the Parents and Carers Challenging Behaviour and Protective Interventions course, 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
Dynamis runs a very successful course in Managing Violent Behaviour in association with NATP:
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.
When: usually 1 full day based on your identified needs and scheduled for your convenience. Recommended to be coupled with De-escalation training from our partners at NATP for a full-spectrum approach. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/therapeuticparents/)
Who: Groups of 2 to 12 parents/carers are led by each Dynamis trainer (larger groups by request)
Where: Training is held at your choice of venue (usually a classroom or local hall but can be in the home itself)
How: Our trainers deliver this course using a mix of lecture/presentation, Q&A, physical practice and scenario rehearsal.
Why: ✓ Matched to your needs ✓ Led by Professional Trainers ✓ Legally Audited ✓ Fully Risk-Assessed ✓Values Dignity and Respect ✓Safeguards Children’s rights ✓ Offers Parents Practical Options ✓ Compliant with Government Regulations ✓ Value for Your Investment
Recommended Courses Like Parents Restraint Awareness: Please take a look at our Conflict Management or Personal Safety training, or both depending on the identified risk level.
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:
Feedback from one parent:
“I just wanted to drop you a line to say thank you for opening up those places on the restraint awareness course to parents. This evening is not the first time I have used a technique from the day to prevent Sophia getting hurt, without upsetting or hurting William either. Well worth it!” – Heather
and another:
“we concentrated on one to one handling, which was really relevant to what we need at the moment. Well explained and shown several times for people like me who don’t pick up thing very quickly.”
and:
“We have used Dynamis 3 times and each time he adapted it to the challenges we are experiencing now. I was impressed with the containment strategies for one person, this helped me personally. Overall I felt I leant a lot and feel more sure for future incidents.”
Our clients were very satisfied with our courses throughout 2015…
Were all your questions answered comprehensively by your trainer?
- Yes 98.47%
Was the training delivered using a mix of delivery styles which enabled you to learn effectively?
- Yes 98.08%
Was the course of the right duration for you to gain the skills and knowledge you needed?
- Just the right duration 76.25%
- Slightly too long 4.98%
- Slightly too short 16.86%
Were the techniques and tactics you learned appropriate to the real scenarios you will – or might forseeably – face in your work?
- Yes 97.7%
Were the theory and knowledge components of the course helpful for you professionally?
- Yes 100%
Were your expectations about the course met?
- Exceeded 56.32%
- Fulfilled 43.68%
Did the trainer observe good Health and Safety practices?
- Yes 99.62%
Were exercises on your training course conducted safely?
- Yes 98.85%
How did you rate the Dynamis instructor’s knowledge and competence?
- Excellent 79.68%
- Very Good 17.24%
- Good 3.07%
Read our complete feedback comments and scores from 2015 here.
Format of Parents and Carers Challenging Behaviour and Protective Interventions training
Developing skills in managing Conflict and making decisions about Physical Interventions
Considering the time pressures on Parents, Carers and their services, we have evolved a popular format which allows flexibility in training and also the relevant amount of contact time for the carers, as follows:
- ONLINE TRAINING (90 minutes of online work at YOUR carers’ convenience)
- Our online learning system has been used by thousands of staff since its first use in 2014. Using video presentations by our Director of Training, Gerard O’Dea, coupled with knowledge-quiz activities, we quickly and efficiently enable your carers to be introduced to the key facts about the law, guidance and good-practice in the area of conflict communications and physical interventions for foster carers. Each carer is provided with a unique individual login to the system and can complete the work in their own time wherever they have access to the internet.
- IN-PERSON TRAINING (4 to 6 hours of verbal/physical practice of target skills)
- Our in-person training, booked in for a time and place which is convenient for your carers, will cover numerous elements of both conflict communications and physical safety interventions which are relevant and appropriate for foster carers. We will work with you on the best ‘fit’ of physical tactics to teach your carers, depending on the level, frequency and impact of the behaviours they are dealing with. This in-person training is practice-focussed and includes scenario replication and role-play as appropriate to the carers’ needs.
The online Parents and Carers Challenging Behaviour and Protective Interventions training is common to all parents and carers as a baseline level of understanding needed to make good decisions about how to defuse and manage incidents of exceptionally high risk. The in-person training can be tailored to fit either a baseline of understanding about the management of conflict with children in general, or can be far more specific to the needs, triggers, cues and actions of specific children in your responsibility who present challenging or distressed behaviours.
“We have used Dynamis 3 times and each time he adapted it to the challenges we are experiencing now. I was impressed with the containment strategies for one person, this helped me personally. Overall I felt I leant a lot and feel more sure for future incidents.”