Ten professionals of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) have completed an instructor certification programme on non-violent crises intervention which provided them with a proven framework for decision-making and problem solving to prevent, de-escalate and safely respond to disruptive behaviour when dealing with service users.

A professional staff instructor within the Crises Prevention Institute (CPI) UK, Vanessa Evans, conducted an intensive four-day programme that included a “train-the-trainer” segment, the aim of which is to certify participants to provide non-violent crisis intervention training for all the staff within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services.

In a closing address, Joe Gerada, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, said that this aspect of staff training was relatively new and was responding to emerging needs that social workers and other professionals were experiencing.