Do you ever have difficult days with clients? Do incidents occur and compassion fatigue sets in fast?
Try this…
In order to further support individuals after an incident has happened, a debriefing discussion should take place with the other person to promote stress reduction. Debriefing can be a formal or informal meeting. It occurs as soon as possible after verbal or physical aggression.
Clients Debriefing
During the debriefing process:
Find out what happened. Listen to the person.
Look for what caused the behavior.
Come up with ideas to assist the person in dealing with their frustrations in a different way in the future. Pull out your person-centered tools such as a Learners Log, Communication Chart, Good Day/Bad Day, or add to the original Person-centered Description to allow others to have the knowledge and how behaviors can be handled better.
Staff Debriefing
Staff debriefing is critical for staff to participate in for several reasons.
Each person can share their concerns as well as what they have learned from this experience.
The team has a safe place in which to learn from its mistakes.
The meeting should result in better person-centered care to the individuals we serve and increase cooperation among members of the team.
The process provides empowerment for the team to do better next time.
Provides support and encouragement from the team.
Develop ways to prevent similar situation from happening in the future.
Think, then talk about how to improve your person-centered de-escalation practices.
Remember, staff debriefing is important to the team as well as our clients.
It allows time to process the earlier event.
Be a support to each other.
Reduce stress of the previous incident
Build a team that is continuously person-centered.
If there is one staff on shift and an incident occurs, this process can be done over the phone or Via Zoom with your PD, PDSP or other Team Members.
Take the time to take care of you!