Keeping calm and safe - guidance for shift-team leaders

Keeping calm and safe – guidance for team/shift leaders People coming to the clinic may become agitated or upset for a range of reasons. When people feel uncertain, confused or unheard they can become distressed, anxious or angry and can present challenging behaviours.

Taking a little time to plan ahead for how to respond when this occurs, can help us to be calm and help the person to stay calm and behave appropriately.

As a team/shift leader: Talk with the team about the likelihood that at some point there will be a challenging incident.

Review your safety process for incidents to ensure you are confident to keep everyone safe.

In particular it can be helpful to note some key points with the team: 1. Creating a sense of welcome and calm starts from arrival outside the door.

• Whoever is the first person to make contact is a key part of achieving this. If you have parking, security and/or front door staff, include them in team briefings and check that they are confident to greet and engage with people in a welcoming and respectful way.

• Reinforce the importance of greeting people, acknowledging if there is a wait and outlining the reception next steps from here.

2. Safety of the team comes first.

• Ensure that there is sufficient space in the entry area, for the staff to maintain 2-4 metre distance with people coming in. This respects personal space and if a person becomes upset, enables staff to step back a little to create a safe distance.

• Highlight where the exits are and where the retreat points might be should a situation escalate (e.g. lockable office or tearoom).

• Identify your incident escalation plan (your organisation should have Health and Safety protocols to guide you with this). For example, who and how will a second person assist, who is the back up if you are the person directly involved in the incident?

3. Support the team after the event • Confirm organisational requirements for safety and for reporting/review processes. Outline actions that have been taken e.g. safety measures, the organisation incident process.

• Think about how you will support the team/each other if there is a challenging incident. The Keeping calm and safe – supporting each other post-incident tip sheet gives some guidance for this. As the shift leader, ensure that each person has been spoken to before they leave to ask: are you ok, is there anything you need to support you?

• Encourage questions and be open and honest with your answers – if you don’t know the answer say so and offer to find out. Encourage them to come back to you with questions that emerge over time.

• Encourage them to engage with their existing whānau, social and work supports.

• Connect with your organisation’s support systems and inform staff as to what supports are available to them (e.g. call 1737, 0800 Heroes). If indicated, arrange for group defusing/debriefing.

• Look after yourself. As shift lead, you will have been working hard to ensure all are safe and cared for. Ensure that you have an opportunity to talk through the event with someone you trust and arrange cover to enable you to take a break.