Responding to Extreme Behaviours from Service Users

Overview

As valued members of the Council, it is paramount that you approach your interactions with service users with professionalism, empathy, and a commitment to ensure the safety and well-being of all involved. During your normal duties, you may encounter situations where service users exhibit extreme behaviour that challenges your ability to effectively provide assistance.

Responding to extreme behaviour from service users requires a delicate balance of assertiveness, compassion, and adherence to established policies and protocols.

This training aims to equip you with the knowledge and strategies necessary to navigate such challenging scenarios effectively while prioritising the safety of both yourself and the individuals you serve.

Objectives

By attending this training course, you will learn:

• The main underlying causes of extreme behavior.
• Proactive strategies to respond to extreme behavior.
• How to uphold the Values of the Council through a unified approach, even in the face of adversity.

Content

Assertiveness and confidence 

• Self-awareness – understanding our own behaviour and its effect on others
• Awareness of a neuro-diverse landscape and psychological/sociological factors shaping service user extreme behaviour
• Choosing when to build rapport and when to break contact with I-You loops
• Remaining calm around highly emotional people
• Signposting support

Taking control of a conversation and getting to the point 

• Avoiding misunderstandings – clear communication and working within safe boundaries
• Positive words and phrases
• Reframing a  ‘NO’  or ‘hard’ boundary
• Reflecting questions (meaning you don’t have to be the ‘fixer’ of all things).
• Reflective listening skills.
• Connective, Open and Closed questioning techniques for steering difficult conversations
• Explaining the next steps and wrapping up a conversation

Looking after yourself

• Strategies that effectively reduce the frequency of difficult situations, and diffuse them if they do arise
• Essential skills for dodging the emotional hook
• Remote working, and when to ask for help
• Psychological ‘warm up and cool down’ to aid resilience

 Group Action Plan

• • How we are going to move forward