The Safe Approach: Controlling Risk for Workers in the Helping Professions

Field Workers in the Helping Professions - social work, home health care, emergency services - are exposed to violent acts from the very people they are trying to help. Nearly one third of them will be assaulted sometime in their career. Yet few agencies train their staff to face such risks.

Helping professionals work in many diverse communities, both urban and rural, with differing populations, cultures, and a wide range of levels of violence. The authors have tried to anticipate all possible scenarios, ranging from verbal threats and physical assault to attacks with firearms. An awareness of the potential for all levels of violence should become an integral part of the professional routine.

If you are in the helping professions, The Safe Approach: Controlling Risk for Workers in the Helping Professions provides you with the tools you need to control the risk and keep yourself safe. This book teaches:

how to conduct ongoing risk evaluation

how attitude can increase or decrease risk

how to prepare for a client visit, in the office or in the field

ways to evaluate risk in the field

behavioral cues which may precede an assault

how to work with co-workers to reduce risk

disengaging should a subject become physically hostile

how to deal with stress after an assault

Violence against those who provide in-home care continues to be a risk for therapists, nurses, and social workers who visit their clients in the client's homes. Ennis and Douglas use their almost fifty years of combined experience in the fields of policing and child protection to show you how to be safer in your practice. They are not trying to convince you that violence toward workers in the helping professions is a problem; you probably know that already. What they do is to show you changes you can make to perform your job more safely.

In this book are ways to prevent and reduce violence toward home-care workers using readily available tools and skills. The authors walk you through the necessary steps to examine your behaviors and the risks in a situation. This will help you be safer when the client visits your office or when you go into the field. They examine safety awareness, discuss the use of collateral information, and show you the importance of file information. They stress the need for ongoing safety assessment in the ever-changing situation in a client's home. Finally, they show you how to protect yourself should all else fail.