Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Themes of Interpersonal Conflict and danger with Service-users
in Safeguarding Work
The front line…..Stress and constant pressureThe front line…..Stress and constant pressure
• Vacancy rates –12%-40% (Unison March 2010)• Child deaths and media scapegoat • Historical neglect• No national framework for ‘preparatory’ skills• Section 47 work seen as temporary part of career development• New workers claim university degree does not prepare them…• The 5th in ‘league’ of dangerous professions
The Satirists
Khyra Ishaq
Khyra Ishaq
Professionals: "lost sight of the child and focused instead upon the rights of the adults, the adults' behaviour and the potential impact for themselves as professionals".
Khyra Ishaq
"The mother's hostile and aggressive approach influenced professional actions.." "Dealing with safeguarding inquiries and assessments can be a stressful process for workers particularly when attempting to undertake work with aggressive and highly resistant adults.."
Khyra Ishaq
"The mother's hostile and aggressive approach influenced professional actions.." "Dealing with safeguarding inquiries and assessments can be a stressful process for workers particularly when attempting to undertake work with aggressive and highly resistant adults.."
Difficult, Dangerous & Evasive
Threats and verbal abuse are regarded as part of the job.
– staff think they themselves are to blame– staff think they will be seen as incompetent and
unsupported by managers. – Staff anxious to let managers know about their
‘failure’…– dysfunctional side effects when staff are faced with
severely challenging service-users
WHY ARE OUR OWN VALUES IN SAFEGUARDING SO IMPORTANT?
• When we are challenged or under fire, our values can help us survive…but can become fragmented
• We need to develop strategies to hold on to our values and affirm the importance of our values particularly when we face danger....
• We need to affirm them, celebrate and hold on to them…so how do you all do that?
VALUES IN OUR WORK
GENERAL • Anti-oppressive• Equality• Empowerment• Support• Collaboration• Empathy• Positive regard• Emancipation
SPECIFIC TO SAFEGUARDING• Challenge Violence &
Abuse• Safeguarding • Courage• Legitimate challenge• Structured interviews• Mandate• Legal Context• Assess Risk & Danger
Reflective Practice
Three fundamental processes:
1. Retrospection: thinking back to situations
2. Self-evaluation: critically analysing and evaluating the actions and feelings associated with the experience
3. Re-orientation: using results of self-evaluation to influence future approaches to similar situations or experiences.
A CHALLENGING SENARIOFOR THIS YOU NEED TO:
Accept the ‘hypothetical’ nature of the situation which requires you to ‘imagine’ yourself ‘in’ the scenario and then to react with the skills and knowledge you have…IN THE INSTANT
Meeting a challenging situation.....
‘Reflection in Action’ The practitioner allows him/her self to
experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he/she finds uncertain or unique. He/she reflects on the phenomenon before him/her, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in his behaviour. He/she carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation. (Schön 1983)
Difficult, Dangerous &EvasiveDanger of hostile interviews which go ‘unchecked’:
Hostage theory & PTSD theory
: “exacerbation of stress through denial….powerlessness, helplessness…”
“..the deliberate use of violence or threat of violence to evoke a state of fear (or terror)….by which the allegiance or compliance is maintained….”
..”induce extreme fright or terror in victims, so that they will be rendered helpless, powerless and totally submissive…”
Stanley & Goddard In the Firing Line – Violence & Power in Child Protection Work(2007)
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Communication Skills
Do you have a model or method?
Particularly when dealing with challengingservice users……
Critical Interview Skills
THE INTERVIEW:Common Pitfalls:
• Forgetting your value base…• Forgetting your theory…• Too much too soon..• Splitting…..• Collusion……• False promises……• Too oppressive……• Too supportive …..• Immobilisation…..• No rapport• Their world....what is it like ?
Critical factors in communication artistry: AOP, the users own circumstances
and your mandate…..
Sentence Completion Exercise
AFFIRMING SENSITIVITY EMPATHIC SUPPORTIVE RAPPORT CLARIFICATION LISTENING ACKNOWLEDGING INTEREST
INTEGRATED WITH
MANDATE SAFEGUARDING KNOWLEDGE LEGITIMATE CHALLENGE
SUPPORTED BY……
COMMUNICATION SKILLS (JOHNSTON) WHICH ARE AUTHENTIC AND GENUINE
KEY MOMENTS OF TENSION*****PREPARING USER******
HONEST IN A WAY THAT IS SUPPORTIVE
INFLUENCES ON OUTCOMES
• Engagement
• Respect and willingness to listen
• Agenda flexibility (but always remain focused on mandate)
• The use of communication model
• Evidence: Staff ‘fall back’ on untested but more comfortable ways of working when under pressure…
The Critical Balance: Engagement v Your Mandate
THE ACTOR......
A CHILD ALONE & SCREAMS SCEAMING
SCREAMING?
• Range of calls from community• Mother leaving the child alone?• Fighting, shouting, screaming?• Called 3 times• A letter sent asking her to come in• Today at 10.00
A WORD ABOUT LIFELINES...
24
FOUR SEQUENCES
• What would you do & say in each ?
• Reflection in Action
• Go with what you think ‘in the immediacy of the moment...’
