DIVISION OF YOUTH CORRECTIONS

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DIVISION OF YOUTH CORRECTIONS

• Verbal De-Escalation

DONT LEARN SAFETY BY ACCIDENT!!
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What is Verbal De-escalation?

• Verbal De-escalation was introduced to DYC to
  help limit the number of staff who were injured
  on the job.
• Verbal De-escalation is what we use during a
  potentially dangerous situation in attempt to
  prevent a person from causing harm to themselves
  or others.
• It is the Divisions philosophy, when controlling
  our clients, to make every attempt to verbally
  de-escalate any situations in our facilities
  before the use of physical force.
• It is part of our policy, and is taught to all
  DYC employees.

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Using Verbal De-escalation

• Tactics are non-physical skills used to prevent a
  potentially dangerous situation from escalating
  into a physical confrontation.
• Tactics have four main categories
• Tactics that you use to prevent a potentially
  dangerous situation from escalating.
• Tactics you use to de-escalate the situation.
• Tactics that you use to evade or escape from an
  attack.
• Tactics that you use in conjunction with
  techniques during a Confrontation to insure your
  safety.
• Some Tactics are
• Distracting the youth
• Re-focusing the youth on something positive
• Changing the subject
• making jokes/lightening the mood
• Motivating the youth
• Simply listening

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De-escalating Effectively

• To verbally de-escalate a youth you must open as
  many clear lines of communication as possible.
• The staff and youth must listen to each other and
  have no barriers.
• Barriers to Communication are thing that keep the
  meaning of what is being said from being heard.
• List of Barriers
• Criticizing
• Name-Calling
• Engaging in Power Struggles
• Ordering
• Threatening
• Minimizing
• Arguing
• Not Listening.

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Listening

• Three Main Listening Skills
• Attending Giving you physical attention to
  another person.
• Following Making sure your engaged by using eye
  contact, un-intrusive gestures (such as nodding
  of your head, saying okay or asking very
  infrequent question).
• Reflecting Paraphrasing, reflect back using the
  feelings of the youth (empathetically).

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Physical Force

• Physical force is used as the last resort and
  only when all tactics have failed.
• Techniques are physical actions taken against
  another person in order to subdue, control or
  restrain them (PPCT).

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De-escalation Tips

• 93 of our communication is non-verbal. It is
  very important to be able to identify what we are
  communicating non-verbally.
• It is important to understand the non-verbal cues
  from a person who has the potential of
  escalating.
• You may be trying to de-escalate the situation by
  talking to the resident but your body language
  may be showing a willingness to get physical.
• While de-escalating a resident you want to be
  positioned in a non-threatening position.

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More Tips

• AVOID
• Becoming emotionally involved, control your
  emotions at all times.
• Engaging in power struggles.
• Becoming ridged in your process.
• Promising rewards for good behavior.
• Telling the resident that you know how he or she
  feels.
• Raising your voice, cussing, making threats, and
  giving ultimatums or demands.
• Aggressive language, including body language.

If you see staff engaging in any unacceptable
behaviors, appropriately tactfully, TAP THEM
OUT!
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THE END

• Division of Youth Corrections
• Risk Management Oversight Committee