social work

Predicting & Dealing w/ Violence

When they think about maintaining their safety on the job, Emergency Medical Personnel, EMTs, Paramedics, nurses & social workers always want to know: Is it possible to predict who will be violent? What can I do to prevent a situation from becoming violent? And what should I do to protect myself if someone strikes out at me?

Predicting Violence

Are there factors common to those who commit violent acts? In fact, there are. Research has identified certain traits and factors that make people more inclined to violence:

Prior Violence. Each time someone commits a violent act, it is more probable that violence will happen again. Since this is the single best predictor of violence, it is a good idea to ask questions about past or current violent behavior during your initial contact with a child or family member. Specifically, you want to know about a person’s most violent act, and how often he or she has violent thoughts.

Certain Feelings. Several internal factors have been associated with aggressive encounters. These include fear, humiliation, boredom, grief, and a sense of powerlessness. To reduce risk, avoid putting clients in positions that embarrass them. Rather, give them knowledge that empowers them and help them see other, nonviolent options.

Physical Factors. Physical factors increase the risk of violence as well. These include lack of sleep, physical exhaustion, use of drugs or alcohol, brain trauma, heat, hunger, cold, physical disability, or chronic pain.

Situational Factors. Situational factors are also predictive of violence. Access to weapons, experiencing childhood abuse or aggression in the home, or feeling a sense of injustice or oppression can lead to violence.

Forced Removal. There is growing evidence that demonstrates that violence is more likely when children or adults are taken from their living situations, especially if they are removed in front of family or friends. Therefore, removals should always be planned events. Never conduct one alone.

What to Look for

Even if you do not have any information about a person’s past history or current emotional state, there are signs you can look for. Observe the person’s body: is she pacing or fidgeting? Clenching her fists or jaws? Does she have a “wild” look in her eyes? Is she out of touch with reality? Is she speaking in a loud voice or becoming verbally abusive? If you see these behaviors, take immediate steps to reduce the tension before it escalates.

Reducing Tension

You are on a home visit, and Mom’s boyfriend comes home. He glares at you and paces around the room. When you explain who you are and why are visiting, he yells at you. He begins cursing and gesturing, but stays away from you. What do you do?

Unfortunately, there is no “right” answer, no technique that will work in every situation. Ideally, though, you want to help the angry person “come down” from his or her anger.

The main rule (and it’s easier said than done) is to remain calm. A calm tone, demeanor, and presence transfers to others. Speak in a clear and direct manner, so the person can hear what you are saying through the anger.

It is not a good idea, however, to tell the client to “calm down.” By saying this, you communicate that you do not understand—if you did, you would understand why he or she is so upset. Instead, be empathetic. Talk about the frustration or problem that has come up. Reflect feelings and behaviors such as “you seem angry.” Take responsibility for your mistakes.

It may be easier to remain calm if you remember this isn’t personal—the person is angry at the situation, not you. Defensiveness on your part validates the angry person, increasing the tension (Horejsi & Garthwait, 1997).

Reinforce your calm tone with nonthreatening, non-confrontational body language. Move slowly. Avoid putting your hands on your hips. Position yourself to the side of the person, so you are not squarely facing them. Avoid extensive eye contact and physical closeness. Do not touch an angry person. Do not stand between the person and the door.

You can also use different strategies to help an angry person calm down. One method is to offer the person choices, such as talking later or agreeing on a cooling off period. Allow the person to save face—give him or her a way out.

Attempting to distract or change the subject can sometimes work, but be careful, as this may further anger people if they realize you are diverting them. Don’t use humor—in the haze of anger, it is too easily misinterpreted.

Even if the person seems to be calming down, be patient—it takes a person about 30 to 40 minutes to calm down from anger physiologically (Griffin et al., 1995). If you have done what you can and things still seem to be escalating, leave the situation and/or get help.

If Aggression Occurs

The angry boyfriend doesn’t calm down. Suddenly he comes at you, his hands outstretched. What do you do?

Anger and aggression cannot always be contained. If a person attempts to assault you, protect yourself. Your first step should always be to leave the room and get away from the situation. If you cannot leave, call for help and:

Protect yourself from head injuries. Block blows with pillows, arms, clipboard, etc.
If you fall, block the attack with your feet and legs.
If your arm is grabbed, break the hold by twisting quickly toward the person’s thumb.
If you are choked, raise both arms straight up and quickly turn around. Your arms and shoulders will break the hold.
If you are bitten, push into the bite, don’t pull away.
If your hair is pulled, press down on the person’s hand with both of yours.
Weapon: Never reach for the weapon. Encourage the person to talk. Focus on the person, and keep your distancem (Flick, 1996; Griffin, 1997).

Implications

Safety is essential to your success—you can’t help a family through a crisis if you are afraid for your own well-being. Therefore it is crucial to know how to identify potentially dangerous individuals and what to do when you encounter them. By maintaining your awareness and being proactive, you improve your ability to do your job, as well as stay safe.

Sources

Brady, E. (1993). Coping with violent behavior: A handbook for social work staff. Harlow, United Kingdom: Longman Group.

Brown, R., Bute, S., & Ford, P. (1986). Social workers at risk: The prevention and management of violence. London: British Association of Social Workers.

Dernocoeur, K. (1993, July). Tips on defusing a violent situation. JEMS, 78-79.

Flick, J. (1996). Defusing potentially violent situations: Keeping yourself and others safe. Unpublished. Presented at social worker safety training.

Fraser, M. (1995). Violence overview. In R. Edwards (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work. Washington, DC: NASW Press, 2453-2460.

Horejsi, C. & Garthwait, C. (1997). Be careful out there: CPS worker safety in rural areas. Protecting Children, 13(1), 12-14.

Griffin, W., Montsinger, J., & Carter, N. (1997). Resource guide for administrators and other personnel. Durham, NC: ILR, Inc.

Hughes, D. (1994). Assessment of the potential for violence. Psychiatric Annals, 24(11), 579-583.

Murdach, A. (1993). Practice forum: Working with potentially assaultive clients. Health and Social Work, 18(4), 307-312.

Nadwairski, J. A. (1994). Inner city safety for home care providers. Journal of Safe Management of Disruptive and Assaultive Behavior, 2, 4-6.

Star, B. (1984). Patient violence/therapist safety. Social Work, May/June, 225-230.

Source: UNC Training – Childrens Services Practical Notes

Adapted & re-published by: Dave Heuthe, American Kobe Jiu Jitsu Federation Black Belt & Certified Instructor. Dave provides group personal defense classes where lessons are taught in various locations, privately, at Bob Malvagno’s School of Self Defense, and through in-house work programs (e.g. -Fire Department, employer, churches & synagogues, community centers, etc.) in the Nassau County and Sufflok County, Long Island (LI), NY area. Dave’s business is to provide programs that help his students (adults, seniors, teens & children) master self defense. BECOME A CLASS MEMBER TODAY!

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Social Worker Safety – In The Trenches

Apr 7th, 2009

by admin.

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Life Can Come At You Hard & Scary!

Facing hostile families, overwhelming caseloads, and the occasional gun barrel, a child protective service worker’s job requires both street smarts and grace under pressure. Here’s how to protect yourself.
By Richard Bermack

As child protective services worker Denise Smernes walked into the home of her clients in Alameda County, California, she was shocked to see a teenager inside the house loading an automatic weapon. A shouting match erupted between the police officer accompanying Smernes and the woman who answered the door of the apartment. Emotions were escalating fast. In her mind, Smernes flashed through strategies to defuse the situation. “If I don’t do something fast, we’re going to get shot,” she recalls.

Smernes (picture above) turned to the officer and ordered him to leave the apartment immediately and wait for her in his car. He initially refused. “I’m not leaving you with these people,” he said.

She knew she had to convince him. “Leave before someone gets hurt,” she insisted. Then she quickly reassured the residents she was not a threat to them or to the children she was there to check. “I’m not here to take the kids, I just need to make sure they are safe,” she recalls telling the woman.

Such flashpoints are increasingly common between social workers and the clients they serve. Ten years ago, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) first began to hear about scattered attacks faced by the group’s 150,000 members. In a 2002 NASW survey of 800 school social workers, 19 percent had been victims of violence and 63 percent had been threatened.

Experts say the very nature of social work can thrust them into tense situations at the office and in their clients’ homes. It can pull them into unsafe neighborhoods where they’re in danger of attack.

School social workers often are called upon to counsel students with serious behavior problems. Child protective services workers are routinely sent into dangerous environments to remove children from a home and to investigate cases of suspected physical abuse and sexual molestation. There they may be exposed to verbal abuse, death threats, and even gunfire. And although social workers are often accompanied by police officers to help them do their job safely, the presence of law enforcement can make their clients more defensive and hostile.

“When you can get a police officer, it is safer. But I’ve had social workers who’ve asked the police officer to come in, and the officer has said, ‘I’m not going in there,’” said Eva Skolnik-Acker, chairwoman of the NASW Massachusetts chapter’s Committee for the Study and Prevention of Violence Against Social Workers.

Although fatalities are rare, two recent killings of social workers exemplify the risk they face: the 2004 murder of social worker Teri Zenner during a routine visit to a client in Kansas, and the 2006 killing of social worker Sally Blackwell, who was found dead in a field in Texas after repeatedly being threatened during her work investigating child abuse and neglect cases.

NASW has stepped up its training programs in recent years to help prevent other tragedies. In Michigan, social workers have pushed the passage of a bill that would require two social workers be present when conducting a home visit in a dangerous situation. But many social workers believe that two workers should be present on all visits, saying that it’s impossible to predict when a situation will turn threatening.

The Michigan bill also calls for child protective service workers to go through formal training in handling dangerous situations and would make self-defense training available to those who request it.

“The fear factor”

In a 1997 NASW survey of school social workers, participants reported they were pushed, grabbed, and shoved, had their hair pulled by angry clients, and had objects thrown at them. Some of the attackers were students or their parents. In the survey of school social workers, 77 percent reported their attackers were students they were counseling, and 49 percent said the attacker was a parent.

Social workers responding to the survey also reported feeling threatened by violence in the neighborhoods they visit, especially when they visit clients in their homes. Smernes was once interviewing a mother and child when bullets began flying through the house she was visiting. As it turned out, the mother lived next to a drug dealer, and drive-by shootings were not an uncommon experience in the neighborhood.

In Los Angeles, social worker Barbara Dean said a male caller once reported a phony case of child abuse to a hot line where she worked. When she went to the address he reported, the man was lying in wait. He grabbed her, but she managed to escape. The man continued to call the hot line to say he liked her voice.

Michael Yee has been an emergency response social worker for 17 years. He estimates that he has probably investigated over 4,000 cases. Yee has found himself in the middle of drug raids, been threatened with knives, had a police officer point a shotgun at him, and was once even threatened with a frying pan full of hot oil.

“The fear factor is an important part of the job. You can’t make mistakes out there,” Yee says. “You have to be very cautious and have a lot of street smarts. You’re the first one through the door, and you never know what you are stepping into.”

Violent assaults are not the only hazard on the job. Much more common, social workers say, is trauma from verbal assaults and the job stress they face from managing large caseloads that require many hours of overtime each week. Because social service agencies are often understaffed, social workers are often assigned much higher caseloads than they can manage adequately, Skolnik-Acker notes.

For some workers, the stress is overwhelming. Maryellen McFadden worked as a social worker in the child protective services department in Contra Costa County, California, for 12 years. But workloads were so high that she often worked between 10 and 20 hours of overtime every week, she says. In January 2000, the overload took its toll. McFadden suddenly began experiencing chest pains and labored breathing, and began to weep uncontrollably. She was forced to go on stress leave.

Preventing attacks on the job

The NASW has a number of prevention and safety tips to protect social workers against physical assault:

•	Don’t be alone when seeing clients in the office or going on home visits. Backup help is often necessary, and if you’re seeing a client alone, you have no one to call upon.

•	Install a buzzer at your office. This way, clients and visitors must ring to get into the office, and you can screen callers.

•

Develop a phone code system and a safety plan for the office. If you’re nervous about a particular client, a colleague can agree to call 10 to 15 minutes into a session to check up on you. Work out a system of code words that indicate whether you are having a problem and need assistance. This may involve setting aside a “risk” room, where you can see clients. Other workers should know that if you’re in there, they need to check in regularly.

•

Carry a cellular telephone. Many residential neighborhoods don’t have public telephones, and even if they do, they may not work or be available in an emergency. Skolnik-Acker says social workers should also make sure they leave an itinerary of home visits with the office and call in after each visit.

•	Work with the local police department to establish a code for emergencies. Social workers should develop a system in conjunction with local law enforcement to indicate when they need police officers to storm in and when they need quiet intervention.

•	Take a nonviolent self-defense class. An attack may come suddenly. These courses help workers defend themselves and get away without inflicting harm.

•	Learn how to defuse a situation verbally. Some states offer training to workers to help them handle confrontations without violence.

Some states have gone beyond training. After the death of social worker Lisa Putman, Michigan state officials pumped more money into equipment and resources to beef up safety for social workers on the job.

“What it did was really made the agency take a hard look at the precautions we were putting in place to protect our workers,” said Karen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Family Independence Agency. The state issued workers special cellular telephones that act as two-way radios. State cars were also retrofitted with alarm systems, and a pilot project under way gives the state’s child protective services department access to law enforcement records, allowing workers to be alerted when they are visiting homes where crimes have been committed. “Since then,” she said, “our workers feel much more comfortable they will be protected.”

– This piece was based on a series of interviews that Berkeley freelance writer and editor Richard Bermack conducted for the SEIU 535 Dragon, a newspaper for service employees. CHI editor Psyche Pascual contributed reporting.

Source: In The Trenches w/ AHealthyMe.com

Republished by: Dave Heuthe, American Kobe Jiu Jitsu Federation Black Belt & Certified Instructor. Dave provides group personal defense classes where lessons are taught in various locations, privately, at Bob Malvagno’s School of Self Defense, and through in-house work programs (e.g. -Fire Department, employer, churches & synagogues, community centers, etc.) in the Nassau County and Sufflok County, Long Island (LI), NY area. Dave’s business is to provide programs that help his students (adults, seniors, teens & children) master self defense. BECOME A CLASS MEMBER TODAY!

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