Verbal De-Escalation Research Paper

There are several methods we use for verbal de-escalation. The first method we use has nothing to do with actually talking and that is “effective listening”. This type of listening ensures we understand the client and helps rectify conflict. Many people do not think they need to improve their listening skills, but they do. Effective listening and hearing is not the same thing. If you have really demonstrated effective listening, you should almost be able to create yourself a “mental picture” of the message the client is trying to send. If we need to listen for long periods of time we need to relax, while at the same time concentrate. Eye contact and a welcoming attitude are staples for effective listening. However, when making eye contact …show more content…
We as staff members are not nearly as decent at listening as we think. In addition, our clients can be horrible communicators, especially being in an agitated state of mind. So, as staff we have to be able to listen and communicate twice as good as our clients to be efficient at verbal de-escalation. Most people are not capable of doing more than one thing at a time and doing it correctly. This would include listening skills. One important detail for being an effective listener is to silence all internal dialogue. What this means is you cannot be thinking about something else while trying to de-escalate the client. If you are thinking about picking the kids up from school, going to the dry cleaners, or items you need at the grocery store after work you have not silenced all internal dialogue. This will make it difficult to carefully listen to the client and can make your de-escalation efforts suffer. In addition, we often times are not listening if we are waiting for the client to pause for a second, so we can start …show more content…
So, empathy=understanding and this gives us a better rapport with the client. By building a rapport with the client, we can recognize what has escalated them in the past and what techniques we used to de-escalate them. It makes the client feel as if they are not just another face you are obligated to deal with. Again, we need to visualize ourselves in the shoes of the client we are trying to de-escalate to really understand what they might be going through. Remember; whatever it might be it is apparently a significant event to them. If we do not at least attempt to understand the individual in crisis than many of our attempts at verbal de-escalation will