The term debriefing is an industry-used term. In our industry while useful it is often misunderstood when talking about application at ground floor or grassroots level.
When discussing the term de-briefing we @de-escalate.com have separated the term debriefing into different areas. I will discuss one of these here. For understanding the term itself, most people comprehend that James Bond goes off on a mission, returns and is debriefed; this in itself is an understandable perception of the term. In terms of risk assessment and planning if we can predict an issue whenever an incident occurs we should be de-briefing so that we can plan for the future and reduce the risk of future concerns.
However this general understanding of the term misses one vital component of the concept. When an individual has experienced an incident there is a residual emotional effect from the adrenaline dump. Can we effectively have the discussion around:
We @D8 believe this is not the correct time to be having those sort of discussions. You are in a heightened state and the person you mention this to, whom you need to be supportive for you, can often respond with one of the following phrases:
For anyone who has experience of this moment you know that these phrases (above),- DO NOT HELP.
Following a highly stressful situation it is important that the individual has the ability to offload prior to the very valuable review and planning discussion of what went wrong, what went right etc. You often hear the phrase “it happened for no apparent reason!” This is usually a defensive statement made by a staff member who feels as though they are being judged on their actions. A staff member will, in my experience, be more able to constructively discuss their own actions if, prior to the discussion, they had offloading time to resolve their the emotional connection to the incident that they were involved in.
Offloading is an entire course itself and as such has many elements I am not covering here. It is an instrumental / integral part of everything that we @D8 do. We spend our time teaching staff to Develop Positive Relationships with Individuals in Distress. A fundamental part of the process is assisting the carer to find ways to offload the emotion that goes with any relationship and it is especially relevant to this job. If I can reduce my stress through offloading I am better placed to be able to consolidate my relationship even in times of distress.
Offloading is therefore part of debriefing; if you are not making a clear distinction between the two elements staff will always be attempting to learn from the incident with the future planning process. In terms of order and sequence we must first offload prior to having rational discussion about the event and actions. Doing the learning process first (or without any offloading) will be detrimental to the success of the process, the relationships and ultimately the quality of care you deliver.
Challenging Behaviour is a term the healthcare sector has misused for years. When the term was originally introduced, it was an attempt to move away from the then widely used term "behaviourally disturbed". The healthcare sector recognised that the term had become associated with some very negative connotations and therefore should not, in good conscience, be given to an individual.
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A service director the other day commented how it was only on Physical Intervention training that the staff start questioning to the Nth degree about scenarios and possible outcomes of events. She stated that it would not happen on a first aid course. Well I know a first aid trainer who would disagree, however I have been on a lot of training as a participant in the last year (see biog) and can agree her point is valid.
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From Inception D8 was formed as a method of getting high quality training to those who care for individuals in distress. Part of that concept involves smaller companies and individuals who find accessing training prohibitive for various reasons. Apart from the obvious cost implications with running a full training course there are also the implications regarding closing a business to release staff for the course to occur.
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When under pressure we respond in a small number of differing ways. These tend to be in 2 main camps. Those who feel the need to control and those who have a more relaxed attitude. The question is which has a better effect on the person in distress? Picture this, you are under pressure and in distress and you shout at your partner "just get me my dinner!" and your partner replies "No, you will not talk to me in that manner! ENOUGH now."
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Over the last few years we have had a terrific response in terms of de-escalation with our course incorporating Affect Labelling. Emotions arise to make us pay attention to our environment. The more emotional our experience, the less we can think clearly, resist impulses, and engage in constructive problem-solving. By creating even the simplest label, we learn to express what we are experiencing. At a rudimentary level, we think about what is causing us to feel emotion and take action to experience either more or less of the emotion, depending on the situation.
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The mind shift almost always travels from introductions where people say / imply things that contradict the basic philosophy of the course to an ending where people state publicly (or privately to me) how they always thought like this. Usually adding something like - “it is great that a training like this exists so that all those other people I work with whose attitude needs adjusting can access it”.
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What would you do? This seems to be an innocent question with a straight forward answer. However, when asked by someone who works in healthcare industry, assumptions take over and most people are convinced they know exactly what that entails – lets look at the options
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The term debriefing is an industry-used term. In our industry while useful it is often misunderstood when talking about application at ground floor or grassroots level. When discussing the term de-briefing we @de-escalate.com have separated the term debriefing into different areas. I will discuss one of these here.
Learn More
If there is any indication or suspicion that anyone has suffered an injury or psychological trauma following the incident / use of physical intervention they must receive treatment and support as soon as is reasonably possible. Debriefing is misused as a term, and while analysis is important in a Positive Behaviour Support framework, your D.ESCAL8™ facilitator discussed these two areas and the differences between debriefing and offloading.
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Teaching different groups can lead to predictable responses. When you teach a group where half the participants work with younger kids (under 11 ish) and the other half work with young people (teens) there is a clear dichotomy in their attitudes and responses around problem behaviour. It all comes back to the issue around the distractor versus the reinforcer.
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I have wanted to do a post about Hanlon's Razor for a while and the mask issue has led to me combining that here. Our non verbal communication being misinterpreted or misunderstood should not be considered intentional.
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This is a series of images sent to me by the area boss. It's not merely about the evaluations people provide at the end. It’s about the deeper consolidation achieved through meaningful conversations within the team. These conversations foster understanding, collaboration, and alignment, which are far more impactful than numerical scores or rankings. The true value lies in engaging dialogue that strengthens bonds and resolves challenges. Success stems from shared insights and collective growth within the team. Conversations truly matter in building trust and unity.
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