Barnardo’s: Implementing Proactive De-escalation Strategies
Barnardo’s integrates CPI Verbal Intervention™ and Safety Intervention™ training to better support vulnerable children and young people across its services. This proactive approach has transformed staff practices, driving positive policy change and fostering a more unified, trauma-informed environment.
Impact of CPI Training
- Unified Approach: Increased adoption of CPI training is aligning Barnardo's approach to challenging behaviour
- Open Dialogue: The training has encouraged staff to seek guidance on behaviour management, with regular discussions in team meetings enhancing staff expertise.
- Positive Policy Shift: CPI training led to a language change at Barnardo's, replacing the "Behaviour Policy" with "Appropriate Touch" and "Safe Touch" policies.
Situation
Barnardo’s, one of the UK’s largest children’s charities, supports and nurtures over 350,000 children in need. With up to 80 services, Michelle Dawson, Positive Intervention Training Support Officer, works primarily in a service that supports children and young people (CYP) with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or those in care. She is responsible for delivering CPI’s Verbal Intervention™ (VI) and Safety Intervention™ (SI) training programmes across the North region.
Barnardo’s staff, who often work with children who have experienced trauma, are encouraged to approach every interaction with a trauma-informed perspective. This aligns seamlessly with CPI’s training, which integrates trauma-informed practices throughout its programmes, complementing Barnardo’s core values.
When Michelle stepped into her role, CPI training was already in place, but she identified the need to shift the staff's mindset from being reactive to proactive. She emphasised the importance of prevention, encouraging staff to recognise and respond to early signs of distress to avoid physical interventions. Michelle also highlighted the value of support plans as dynamic, living documents that should guide daily practice, rather than just being signed and forgotten.
Implementation
Michelle delivers tailored, face-to-face training to Barnardo's staff weekly, adapting her approach to meet the unique needs of each service. Michelle collaborates closely with each service to understand their specific needs. In many cases, this means providing CPI Verbal Intervention™ training, while those in residential services receive CPI Safety Intervention™ training tailored to their unique challenges.
She trains up to 12 participants in Safety Intervention™ and around 15 in Verbal Intervention™, ensuring all staff, from residential services to administrative teams, are equipped to support vulnerable children and young people. By getting to know her audience and understanding their specific challenges, Michelle customises her training sessions, using targeted resources from her extensive toolbox to provide the most effective training for each service.
Outcomes
CPI training has sparked significant policy changes within Barnardo's, prompting a shift towards more positive language. For example, ‘behaviour’ often has a negative connotation, so the "Behaviour Policy" has been replaced with "Appropriate Touch" and "Safe Touch" policies to better reflect the organisation's values.
Michelle's dedication and the effectiveness of CPI training have led other managers to recognise its benefits, resulting in more teams requesting to participate in CPI’s training. This growing adoption is unifying Barnardo's approach to challenging behaviour across services, contributing to a more consistent national model that influences policies and incident reporting.
The training has also fostered a more open dialogue around challenging behaviour. Staff now actively seek Michelle’s advice on the best approaches for supporting young people. Additionally, monthly team meetings now include discussions on challenging behaviour and incident responses, enhancing staff knowledge and experience.
Future Perspectives
CPI training has become an integral part of Barnardo's and Michelle's focus is on expanding this training to even more staff. With Barnardo's being such a large organisation, there's a constant need to train new hires and refresh current staff annually.
Looking ahead, Michelle plans to create a platform to share updates, CPI tips, and recognise staff achievements, reinforcing their important work. Additionally, she aims to enhance data analysis from evaluation forms to identify trends, allowing her to upskill staff and provide targeted support when needed.
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