Training in childrens residential care

[andy]

We would appear to have an upsurge in this type of training

[bethr]

Calling all tainers.........

I work in two quite large children's organisations, neither of which use S3 training. Both use 'wraps'?????? as a method of restraint, which i guess are supposed to be used as a last resort, but which i think probably aren't?

I've seen quite a lot of situatons recently where restraint is used quite quickly and without using any distraction techniques in the first instance. I have tried talking to the manager of the service and the staff individually and in staff meetings, but it has been very difficult to get them to 'realise'(???) that by backing off and not being confrontational, they are not losing control of situations. I think that the training people receive re: restraint make them feel more confident about managing situations which can be difficult and is often used too easily.....i just wondered what experiences trainers have had with the whole 'losing control' issue and how it has been managed? And what staff team's experiences of using low arousal stuff has been like???

Also, has anyone had experience of training a staff group who have previously used restraint with young people, and then moved to the S3 model?? How have staff responded to this???

[Elly]

We have used S3 in our childrens homes for a number of years and have seen an increasing appreciation in the teams for the approaches. It is true to say that on first introducing the philosophy to the childrens homes teams they were extreamly sceptical, if not cynical, about the success rates and the move away from basket holds and single person restraint. However what I am now hearing as a tainer of these teams is a strong story about how the philosophy of the S3 approaches and backing off and using distractions, isnt actually 'giving in' or 'loosing control' but has seen a development of stronger relationships between staff and children and has seen (much to the teams surprise!) a reduction in going hands on with children.
It is fair to say however it has not all been plain sailing and there is a staff resource issue in relation to moving away from basket holds and we have with S3 developed ideas around single person holds that fit the philosophy and ethos. But it should be maintained that the actual practice around this is undeveloped and single person holds are rarly used and their use by definition is extreamly complex as it falls outside of the standard policy and procedure.
One benefits of the shift in thinking and practice was with CSCI who were continually raising concerns about what they saw as excessive use of physical restraint in a therapeutic environment. It is also interesting that since restraint is no longer used by staff teams the incidents of physical violence are markedly reduced and the whole culture of violence has shifted. I am now far less concerned about staff being injured in the course of an incident.
Therapeutically, the children have moved away from using the violence to ensure their containment needs are met and have to look for these needs of warmth, affection and containment being met in other ways, this needs to be carefully thought through by managers and teams to ensure everybodies safety, but our experience is even with the most difficult children if you do this from the beginning of the work it is extreamly effective.
I would be more than happy to discuss our experiences further but hope that this has help to answer some of you questions