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Aggression Intervention Training Plan

Abstract

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 2

Aggression in the workplace can place both the employee and the client in danger. When

dangerous situations arise at the workplace, it is important to have a course of action to follow to

de-escalate the situation. This assessment will discuss my plan for developing an aggression

intervention training plan for all staff, both clinical and administrative, to use in dangerous

situations to de-escalate hostile clients. This assessment will also cover how aggressive behaviors

may be influenced by culture and environment, how to minimize aggression, and

recommendations for future trainings for all staff.

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Introduction

There are different forms of workplace aggression, such as verbal abuse, sexual abuse,

missing deadlines, or violent behaviors (Williams, n.d.). The purpose of this Aggression

Intervention Plan is:

 Teach staff skills to safely respond to aggressive behavior, while maintaining dignity and

respect to everyone

 Reduce the frequency and intensity of behavioral emergencies by using verbal de-

escalation to help minimize physical intervention

 Introduce approved prevention and intervention skills and strategies for staff

 Educate staff of the dangers of physical interventions such as the potential of death and

injury, psychological harm to clients, and negative effects on the treatment process

(Behavioral Emergency Stabilization Training, 2018).

Each year, almost 2 million American workers report having been victims of some type

of workplace violence. There are many factors to take into consideration: working in an isolated

area, working with unstable individuals, working where money is being exchanged, and working

alone (OSHA, n.d.). In most places where specific risk factors are identified, the risk of a hostile

situation can be prevented if precautions are taken.

Setting

The Aggression Intervention Training is being developed for an outpatient mental health

clinic that serves mentally ill individuals who are 18 years old and older. In a setting such as this,

it is important to understand and know how to identify early warning signs that may result in

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 4

escalating hostile behavior. Signs to look for are tone of voice, pacing/fidgeting, confusion, body

posture, demanding, history of aggressive acts, any sudden change in behavior, and psychosis

with persistent violent theme (Behavioral Emergency Stabilization Training, 2018). A person’s

behavior is one way they have to express their feelings and to get their needs met. Feelings and

emotions are different. For example, anger is an emotion and assault is a behavior. Social

Learning Theory by Albert Bandura explains new patterns of behavior are learned through

watching others or direct experience. Human behavior is not controlled by immediate external

reinforcement and due to prior experiences, individual know what kind of actions will get them

what they want (Bandura, 1971).

Cultural Influences

A person’s culture may impact whether a socially anxious person aggress because

individuals who are socially anxious fear social disapproval and it might be assumed they would

not physically act on their hostility (Howell, Buckner, & Weeks, 2015). For example, in honour

cultures aggression is promoted to convey a warning to threatening others in hopes to reduce

future threatening advances. And, Southerners have an internal cultural belief that aggression is

effective to eliminate social threat and may be more likely to behave aggressively than non-

honour cultures (Howell, Buckner, & Weeks, 2015). This Aggression Intervention Training will

ensure all employees gain a better understanding of cultural differences and how to react to such

differences. Employees must recognize how culture and beliefs can impact the environment,

behavior, and safety to everyone and it is important to understand how the primary networks are

arranged in the client’s culture.

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 5

Focus and Structure

The main focus of this Aggression Intervention Training is to explain the importance of

improving a client’s self-esteem by promoting self-efficacy by utilizing social learning theory to

decrease hostile situations. Social self-efficacy allows the client’s perceived capability in

interpersonal relationship areas, including the perceived ability to maintain interpersonal

conflicts. It is important to determine the conflict resolution style a client may choose in social

relationships (Field, Tobin, & Reese-Weber, 2014).

The Aggression Intervention Training will be will a full-day training and all employees

will be required to attend. The first part of the training will be an extensive overview of

understanding aggression, verbal and non-verbal interventions, knowing yourself and your client,

strategies to improve outcomes, age related issues, and substance related issues. The second part

of the training will be hands on physical skills for protection such as how to be protected from

punches to the head, being kicked, wrist grips, choke hold, pressure point grip, hair pulls, and

restraints (Behavioral Emergency Stabilization Training, 2018). At the conclusion of the training,

all employees will be required to pass a certificate of completion which covers a written portion,

protective skills, and release skills.

Goals and Objectives

The main goal of the Aggression Intervention Training is to teach all staff, both clinical

and administrative, safe ways to handle a hostile client by de-escalating the client’s behavior.

Employees will learn skills to help respond safely to aggressive behavior and learn how to

reduce the frequency and intensity of hostile situations by encouraging therapeutic relationships

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 6

between staff and clients. Training methods are aimed to help identify early warning signs of

escalating behaviors, types of aggression, and the assault cycle.

Interventions

It is important that employees follow the concept of know yourself. They need to know

how they are likely to react under certain circumstances. Ask the questions: who are you? What

do you stand for? What do you believe in? How do you react under pressure? It is also important

for the employee to understand how they react under pressure. For example, do you stay quiet

when angry, walk away when angry, take anger out on someone else, or feel hurt? To take an

inter-vented approach, it is imperative for them to control their response to anger. The employee

is seldom the real target of the verbal abuse and most verbal attacks are displaced feelings and

pent-up anger. Maintaining a professional demeanor and staying “cool” is the most important

rule, yet hardest to follow. It is also important to watch your voice when someone is yelling at

you because it is very tempting to respond loudly. It is imperative to acknowledge the attacker’s

right to their viewpoint, and try to let them know you will not try to change his view.

Recommendations for Follow-up Trainings

All employees at the outpatient mental health clinic will be required to attend yearly

Aggression Intervention Trainings. There will be several trainings throughout the year so if

anyone feels the need to sit in on other trainings, there will be an opportunity to do so.

Conclusion

It is very important for the outpatient mental health clinic to implement the Aggression

Intervention Training so all employees will be trained on how to de-escalate different types of

dangerous or hostile situations with the clients. It is essential for employees to recognize how

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 7

culture and beliefs can impact the environment, behavior, and safety to everyone and it is

important to understand how the primary networks are arranged in the client’s culture. Educating

staff of the dangers of physical interventions such as the potential of death and injury,

psychological harm to clients, and negative effects on the treatment process is a must in any

environment.

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 AGGRESSION INTERVENTION TRAINING PLAN 8

References

Bandura, A. (1971). Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from

http://www.asecib.ase.ro/mps/Bandura_SocialLearningTheory.pdf

Behavioral Emergency Stabilization Training-BEST (2018). SC Department of Mental Health

Division of Evaluation, Training and Research.

Field, R.D., Tobin, R.M., & Reese-Weber, M. (2014). Agreeableness, social self-efficacy, and

conflict resolution strategies. Journal of Individual differences, 3(2), 95-102.

Howell, A.N., Buckner, J.D., & Weeks, J.W. (2015). Culture of honour theory and social anxiety:

Cross-regional and sex differences in relationships among honour-concerns, social

anxiety and reactive aggression. Cognition & Emotion, 29(3), 568-577.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (n.d.). Workplace violence. Retrieved

from https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/

Williams, E. (n.d.). Aggressive Behavior in the Workplace. Retrieved from

https://work.chron.com/aggressive-behavior-workplace-17525.html

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