Avoiding Assault and Defusing Aggression

This chapter focuses on general principles and pointers for avoiding assault and defusing aggression. The chapter gives ideas to consider in managing a safer environment and developing skills in defusing an aggressive situation. We focus on approaches that you might take in any setting to avoid being the victim of assault and to defuse escalating volatile situations. This chapter focuses on helping social workers in any setting to keep themselves safe from assault, giving general principles and pointers for avoiding injury and defusing aggression. The chapter gives ideas to consider in managing a safer environment and developing skills in defusing an aggressive situation. The focus is on approaches to avoid being the victim of assault and to defuse escalating volatile situations. The chapter emphasises the need to be aware of danger in relation to the client, others and the environment and have given pointers towards avoiding harm in office interviews and home visits and defusing escalating aggression. Legal aspects of self defence are summarised and there are pointers regarding coping after an assault. The importance of learning breakaway techniques to escape from an assailant is emphasized and various models that integrate managing aggression with helping processes and therapeutic environments are summarised. The intention of this chapter is to locate the discussion in later chapters by focusing here on the more extreme situations of aggression, and the legal and practical issues involved with these. By attending to these personal safety issues you will be more confident and helpful in your social work role, less likely to be assaulted, and more able to engage resistant clients. The intention of this chapter is to locate the discussion in later chapters by focusing here on the more extreme situations of aggression, and the legal and practical issues involved with these. The chapters that follow consider aspects that are relevant to understanding a particular client group and creating a care context that will make violence less likely and social work intervention more productive. By attending to these personal safety issues you will be more confident and helpful in your social work role, less likely to be assaulted, and more able to engage resistant clients.This chapter has focused on helping social workers in any setting to keep themselves safe from assault. We have emphasised the need to be aware of danger in relation to the client, others and the environment and have given pointers towards avoiding harm in office interviews and home visits and defusing escalating aggression. We have summarised legal aspects of self defence and given pointers regarding coping after an assault. We have mentioned the importance of learning breakaway techniques to escape from an assailant, the place of team training in restraint and outlined various models that integrate managing aggression with helping processes and therapeutic environments.