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Children's Services Physical Interventions (PI) Skills

Physical Interventions Course Delivery

Disengagement skills – 1 Day ASET Level 2 Award
Holding/Containment Skills – 1 Day ASET Level 2 Award
Betaris Licensed Programme PI Train The Trainer – 5 Days ASET Level 3 Award

Call 0161 955 4297 for further information or email damian@betaris.co.uk

PI skills for adults working with children

Delegates who attend PI training sessions very often have little or no understanding or experience of physical intervention techniques, and many are reluctant to participate in training sessions.

In the case of delegates working with children this may be a particularly sensitive issue. Any group of delegates will include a wide variety of ages, weights, and heights, as well as different levels of strength and physical fitness. It is quite common for delegates to be intimidated by the prospect of having to carry out PI techniques, while others are overly confident about their abilities.

Delegates may have had little or no previous training in dealing with violence, and may be unsure about what can legally be done to protect themselves or other individuals. On the other hand, delegates who work with children usually do have a good understanding of their workplace, the kinds of behaviour they have to deal with, and the sorts of triggers that can lead to violent incidents.

The working environment

Any approach to physical skills needs to be appropriate to the particular environment and to the age and type of child the delegates are interacting with (e.g. young children, teenagers, special needs, disabled, etc).

The setting can also vary greatly (e.g. play areas, classrooms, toilets, etc), as can the circumstances (e.g. a full classroom or one to one session).

Environmental factors that can affect PI techniques and have to be taken into account in any workplace include stairs, lifts, confined spaces, and fixed or loose chairs and tables.

Delegates who work with children want to be able to relate their training experiences to what happens in their workplace. For example, staff working in a residential setting may need skills that relate to that particular environment, in addition to the skills needed by delegates who work in a classroom setting or individuals involved in transporting children. The PI techniques also need to be adapted, depending on the type of children involved. Younger children require a different skill set from teenagers or special needs children.

Trainers

PI trainers will be able to adapt the techniques they are teaching, making them relevant to the environment and to the delegates, while at the same time addressing any difficulties due to the age, fitness level, weight, height, or gender. Trainers also ensure that the training complies with health and safety regulations, as well as with the policies in place in each educational setting.

PI techniques

The PI techniques taught by Betaris are based on a Human mechanics approach, involving leverage, wedges, effective pushing or pulling, and other normal, everyday movements.

People tend to apply effort to all kinds of tasks, without recognising the physical and mechanical principles that they have used. For example, we push or pull open a stuck door or carry a heavy weight without dropping it, even when moving over uneven ground. We do these things naturally, taking advantage of the appropriate mechanical principles. However, if we are physically attacked, our instinctive responses are usually ineffectual. Such attacks are a frightening experience, and one which most people do not know how to deal with.

The training programs that we offer give delegates the opportunity to experience a range of different attacks, in a safe environment, allowing them to explore and apply basic mechanical principles and providing them with some clear, simple techniques to use in response to possible attacks. The fact that they have experienced these challenges and dealt with them, albeit in a safe setting, gives delegates the confidence to face similar challenges in their workplace.

Skill suite

Each technique is made up of two or three simple, straightforward movements or actions we call skills.

There are a total of eight skills, each with its own purpose. For example, leverage helps to move or detach an attacker’s arm, a wedge shape can help to strengthen a body position in the face of an oncoming force, and rowing is an effective way of generating a pushing or pulling force, to move someone backwards or forwards.

Techniques

The name of each technique reflects the movement it most resembles in everyday life. For example a grab to the wrist by an attacker can be dealt with by using the ‘drinking technique’, so named because the arm movement resembles that used to raise a glass towards the mouth, to take a drink.

Disengagement

There are a wide variety of techniques that can be used to escape from an attacker’s grip(s). These disengagement techniques are divided into sections, based on where the grip is placed.

Arm Grabs

Neck strangles

The Upper body

All of the attacks listed above, and the disengagements used to deal with them, have to work whether the delegate is standing, seated, or on a staircase, and whether the attacker is tall or short, heavily built or light.

It is important to note that there are such a wide variety of attacks, that it is difficult to cover every possible variation during training sessions. Also, there are only so many techniques that a delegate will take on board during a one- or two-day training course. Therefore, general training sessions will cover a maximum of 5 or 6 disengagement techniques.

It is also important to acknowledge the extreme difficulty involved in dealing with rear strangles. This type of attack is very challenging, even for an experienced individual, and to teach delegates on a short course how to disengage from such an attack would not practical. However, ‘safety moves’ can be introduced that allow delegates to protect their airway, allowing them to remain conscious until help arrives.

Evasions

Evasions are techniques that involve protecting or deflecting different types of strikes, including punches, slaps, kicks, bites and pinches.

The techniques taught during a training course are divided into two types:

Rescues

This section looks at techniques that can be used when coming to the aid of another individual, and includes both one-person and two-person rescues.

These techniques are also based on the elements of the skill suite. Rescues can be divided into three types:

Holding/Containment

A variety of holds are used to restrict a child’s movements. In some circumstances, physical contact may not be necessary, and it is enough to ‘contain’ the child within a certain area.

At the next level, it may be necessary to keep the child in a chair, for instance, and this can be done using a technique called interrupting, which involves only brief, light physical contact.

When it is necessary to more fully restrain movement, untrained individuals tend to grip tightly, which can actually give a mechanical advantage to the adult or child being held, making it easier for them to struggle free. Holds based on skill suite elements do not require a strong physical grip and are therefore easier to apply and harder to escape from. These types of holds can be used to restrain children of all ages, whether standing, seated or lying down.

Escorting

The escorting techniques are very similar to the holding techniques, but are carried out on the move.

They range from light, non-restrictive guiding techniques to highly controlled escorts, depending on the age of the child and the circumstances:

Some techniques can be carried out by a single person while others require at least two people, and will greatly benefit from the addition of a third person, when available. A minimum of two adults are required to escort a difficult/stubborn or violent child.

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