Social work

''Coping with violent behaviour '     Published by Longman (1993). Now obtainable from Ashgate Publishing Ltd.   

            ISBN 978-0-5822-2566-4

     Written when Eric Brady was a practising Senior Probation Officer of nearly 30 years experience.

     It was when he was attacked himself that he realised he had no idea of Senior Management's reaction to any of the self-defence measures that he could have adopted. 

     A questionairre he sent round found no one else had any idea either.  Other questions showed the scale of attacks (or abuse) staff had suffered and he asked for responses to the question 'Should self-defence courses be introduced?'

     Senior Management, on being presented with a Report based on the Questionairre finally agreed to a Course (not about 'self-defence') in which many issues were raised.   Approval was then given for a succession of Courses for all staff and others for Senior Probation Officers.

     He was asked to sit on a Committee to draw up 'Guidelines',  then some years later, was asked to Chair a Committee with representatives of all grades of staff to re-consider and revise the Guide-lines where appropriate.            

       This book results from all those elements.  It is very much a practical Handbook for Probation Officers and Social Workers who deal with potentially violent  people  on  a day-by-day basis.  

       He gives a brief analysis of the problem then deals with the practical  issues of preventing it happening and how to handle it when it does.  These will differ in the various settings in which people work, from offices to Residential Homes to Home Visits.

       He deals with the problems of 'aftershock' - the emotional  repercussions after an incident.

       He then asks some pointed questions:

                 'What type of alarms should be installed?' - noisy (sounding throughout the building) or 'silent', (only  sounding in a constantly staffed central location for a 'trouble-shooter' to be alerted to investigate) 

                  'Should self--defence training be given? ' -  should it happen at all?  Who should give it and to what degree? 

                  'Who  should  troubleshoot when there is an incident?'  Automatically the Senior?  Female or Male?  Or should that be irrelevant?

                  'What are the Senior Management's responsibilities and what degree of support should Staff be able to expect to be given to them after an incident?

       Rather than trying to prescribe answers, he presents arguments for the various options, leaving the Agencies, Offices and individuals to make the decisions they are comfortable with.