Managing Challenging Situations: De-escalation and Professional Boundaries

It’s important that professional boundaries are set with customers, as they help establish respectful limits on behaviour. These approaches are crucial for maintaining safety, fostering trust, and protecting the well-being of both staff and individuals in stressful situations.

Managing challenging situations requires a combination of de-escalation techniques designed to calm, defuse, and lower their intensity. We cannot control someone’s behaviour, but we influence the outcome. De- escalation is not just for extreme situations; it’s a daily skill that can change how we respond to conflict. It’s more than a technique, it’s a mindset of empathy, clarity and calm.

Setting professional boundaries

Setting professional boundaries are essential for a safe, respectful and productive environment. Professional and role boundaries can include:

• Staying in the scope of your practice meaning only provide services that are within your training, job description and the customers care plan.
• Do not become friends with your customer that you provide services for, avoid oversharing of personal information such as discussing your personal problems.
• If gifts are offered to you polity decline the gift, know token gifts such as chocolates or a bunch of flowers from the garden may be acceptable- always check in with your manager. Know that valuable gifts should never be accepted.
• Do not follow or friend customers on social media
• Separate your work and life; do not take customers to your home or visit them outside of work hours
• Manage the attachment you have with the customer, ensure you maintain a supportive, empathic approach but be professional to avoid becoming emotionally entangled.
• If you find that a situation occurs in which you overshare your personal information about your life, know you can reset your boundaries by recommunicating your boundaries and being consistent with your boundaries. Consistency is key in setting and maintaining boundaries.

If you feel you need support with your boundaries or complex situations, please reach out to your manager who can assist you. Always ensure you prioritise your own wellbeing to avoid burnout, which can occur if you are taking on more than you should by working outside the scope of your role. Setting boundaries can assist you at times of managing escalations that can occur for many reasons such as

• The person feeling powerless
• Feeling they are not being heard
• A situation occurred that triggered a response.

In these situations, our role is to listen, don’t interrupt the person let them give the full story. Show you are listening by stating “I understand this has been a frustrating situation for you”. In some circumstances it may be beneficial to paraphrase what the person is saying all why giving the personal space by standing at a distance, so they don’t feel trapped.

In these situations, ensure you give don’t rush the customer, giving both space and time can assist the person to think and breathe, ensure during this time you are also being calm and breathing. Challenging situations often progress through stages, early stages including fidgeting and pacing, this is the time to use the above strategies. Always put safety first at any time you feel unsafe remove yourself from the situation and seek assistance.

It’s important to build your confidence with every interaction, use the above tools to increase your confidence to handle emotionally charged behaviour professionally.

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