Escalating Processes

As well as escalating process are prevailing in home setting, so they are at residential settings, realizing this is the first step in trying to implement NVR. The second step is the recognition that when a staff member is facing escalation by a patient's behavior, s/he should try and act from a state of mind of "I am here as a representative of the ward". The conflict is not a personal one but rather the role of the staff member is to convey a message of "we object to this behavior."
From the initial training phase the importance of joint resistance actions must be stressed to the staff in order to enhance corporation. It must be clarified for example that indeed in emergency situations they must react immediately and not wait "until the iron is cold," and yet an important part of the training includes understanding of escalating process and presenting means to conduct a non-escalating dialogue.
It is not an easy task to create a non-escalating dialogue in a closed ward circumstances but as the use of the NVR approach become more prevalent the staff members begin to feel that this approach enables them to expand the repertoire of responses to violent incidents. Conveying a message of "we" as a team, also enhances the team ability to work in NVR terms.
Furthermore, the NVR stance also enabled the staff to bridge one of the most common disputes - between "containing" and "tough" attitudes as a response to violent behavior. The NVR approach enabled the staff to respond in a manner which includes both elements at once. One of the best examples is the sit-in adaptation for residential settings – the SMS.