Organisations who use PART™ principles and strategies to respond to and manage aggressive/challenging behaviours:

• Meet compliance with OH&S legislation provision of safe work environments
• Have increased staff morale
• Increase client/worker safety
• Positive behaviour outcomes
• Reduced absenteeism and associated costs, number and severity of incidents and workers compensation costs
• Decrease in Workcover prosecutions
• Provide a framework for organisational structure to improve policies, procedures and systems including:
• 
  

• Risk assessment
• Accountability
• Links to primary plans and emergency plans
• Systematic approach to aggression
• Response to hierarchy within legal framework
• Documentation of incidents
• Incident review and debriefing
• Performance evaluation
  

PART™ training can minimise the risks associated with the response and management of aggressive/challenging behaviour.

What Risks?

• Injury to client or other clients
• Injury to staff and/or community members
• Damage to property
• Staff who may respond with too little or too much force
• Managers who do not provide sufficient supervision and/or training
• Public censure should injury to persons or property occur
• Formal penalties imposed by the employing organisation or legal system if an accident results in injury, permanent disfigurement or death.
  

How to minimise risks:

• Develop a systematic approach to predicting, assessing and reposnding to aggressive/challenging behaviour
• Provide competent supervision to workers
• Develop policies to keep staff and clients safe
• Provide regular in-service training
  

Individuals – increase skills, competence and confidence

Team – increase teamwork, predictability, co-operation

1. Purpose
When staff understand the needs of an individual who is sometimes assaultive, they are better able to provide professional interventions which result in safer outcomes.

2. Professionalism
A focus on workers taking responsibility for their disciplined self management of mood, attitude and motivation. Human Service workers with an unprofessional attitude may pose a safety risk to self and others.

3. Preparation
Staff preparation prior to entering the work environment can reduce the potential for, and outcome of, assaultive behaviour.

1. Attire and appearance - how safe is your attire and how will your appearance impact on your client group?
2. Physical agility - can you move away from a potentially assaultive situation with ease and confidence? Are you aware of your physical abilities and limitations?
3. Client history - what do you need to know about a client which will influence your response to their dangerous behaviour?
4. Safety - have you examined the factors relating to safety in the work environment?
5. Observational skills - are they well developed to quickly assess a potentially assaultive incident?
6. Self-control plan - have you developed a series of pre-planned techniques for maintaining, or regaining, self-control during a difficult interaction/situation?
7. Self restoration - what methods have you developed for restoring your psychological and emotional well being following a stressful or assaultive incident?
   

4. Identifying Stressors and Positive Alternative Outcomes
Can you identify the stressors which may drive violent behaviour and offer positive alternative responses that reduce the risk of harm?

1. Stress – a consistent assault cycle that can be noted in individuals who respond primarily out of fear or frustration and exhibit genuine loss of control.
2. The assault cycle - 5 Stages:
   

• Trigger incident
• Escalation
• Crisis
• Recovery
• Post-crisis depression

• Developmental disparity - the ability to inhibit violent behaviour is related to developmental age rather than chronological age.
• Communication imbalance - discusses the importance of assertive communication versus passive/withdrawn or aggressive/assaultive styles, particularly with individuals using manipulative or intimidating patterns of behaviour.
• Environmental irritants - environmental factors can create circumstances, which aggravate aggression. Consideration is given to the work environment and effective and considerate treatment of clients.
• Unmet Needs - needs are met in a sequential order, with higher level needs being dependent on the acquisition of lower level needs.

5. Emergency Response Framework
Will we be able to identify the level of danger presented by a client and match our response to that level of danger? Discussion includes:

• Legal context
• Response hierarchy of interventions
• Reasonable force
• Duty of care
• 
  

6. Response
A hierarchy of responses, starting with the least restrictive, is offered to staff when responding to a person who is threatening or attempting to injure themselves or others. Practical intervention approaches are introduced, ranging from crisis communication to evasion to manual restraint (if required and authorised)

• Stage 1 - crisis communication strategies will focus on four profiles to facilitate staff members' ability to determine whether the behaviour of a client who is threatening/assaultive is being driven by:

• Fear
• Frustration
• Manipulation
• Intimidation

• Stage 2 - evasion and releases
• Stage 3 - manual/physical restraint (if required and authorised)
  

7. Documentation & Incident Debriefing
Do reports accurately reflect the assaultive incident and staff interventions? Essential components of an accurate record are discussed to provide defendable documentation.

8. Evaluation/Giving & Receiving Feedback
A tool to assist in evaluating personal and peer performance during an aggressive/assaultive incident.

Workshop Teach Methods include:

• Lecture
• Group discussion
• Written plan development
• Role play
• Practice of physical moves
  

Please contact Martin Unger or Sandra Kelleher at MTU Training Concepts Pty. Ltd. on: Ph: 02 9743 2392, Fax: 02 9743 2570 or use our Contact Form if you :

• would like to organise a PART™ workshop for your organisation/agency, or a network of agencies
• have any questions about the workshop
• require additional information about PART or other services
• would like to discuss our 2 or 3 day training options
• would like to discuss our Train the Trainer course

There are currently over 500 PART™ accredited trainers across Australia providing PART™ training to staff within their organisations.

PART™ in Australia
MTU Training Concepts Pty. Ltd. owns the copyright and licence to provide PART™ in Australia. Over the past 18 years PART™ has been presented extensively throughout Australia.

About PART™
PART™ was originally developed in the USA in 1975 by Dr Paul Smith. Since then it has been taught to workers in hundreds of agencies in the USA and also in Canada, England, Switzerland, and South Africa. Parents have also found the approach useful in home settings. PART™ was introduced into Australia in 1989 by Professional Group Facilitators

Agencies Using The PART™ Approach

• Education
• Health
• Disabilities
• Aboriginal Services
• Welfare
• Youth, Family and Child services
• Parents
• Supported accommodation
• Aged Care
• Community mental health agencies
• Residential child care agencies
• Juvenile justice and youth service agencies
• Adult correction
• Employment and re-skilling agencies