Social workers and health professionals are often placed in situations where they are verbally or physically threatened by service users and others.This book will help them recognise potential risk in situations, when to avoid involvement, and how best to manage these risks. The book will give professionals confidence in working effectively in such conditions .



The book covers the theoretical understanding of the impact of threats on professional safety and decision-making, including:





the reality of the experience of social workers and other professionals - statistics and case examples
the impact of physical and psychological threat
hostage theory as it applies to social work


It also addresses actions that workers can take to greatly reduce risk such as:





improving safety awareness
teamwork support
supervision
organisational responses and the duty of care of employers


Practical steps that workers can take to protect themselves are explained including:





conflict management, diffusion and de-escalation techniques
basic self-protection -very simple defence mechanisms


This book will appeal to both practitioners and students. It helps students to become aware of the factors which may affect judgement in child protection cases and assist in managing cases on placement. It helps professional practitioners in managing the anxieties associated with their current case load and provides strategies to manage these unfortunately common workplace experiences.