Social workers and health workers experience the highest level of  exposure to threats to violence in their workplace, according to this report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

This issue is really important to Community Care and in May 2000 we launched our No Fear campaign to highlight the problem of violence against social care staff. Now, eight years later it seems the issue is still a serious concern.

Have you ever experienced violence in your workplace? Or been threatened by clients? How did you respond? What was the reaction of your managers?

Finally, is there anything that can be done to address this?

I had a scary experience years ago with a servic user who had learning disability and mental health issues, a long history of violence, serious anger management issues ....... and a big sharp knife ! I wasnt threatened by him but the pleasure he took in showing me the knife and desribing what he would do to someone who "messed him about" was terrifying. As I had always had a pretty good relationship with him I managed to get him to agree not to carry it if I was visiting and even managed to persuade him that having it in the house or on his person wasnt such a great idea as the Police would be very strict about arresting him. I duly recorded my concerns and spoke to my line manager whose only response was..... " sometimes we have to deal with difficult situations"....... This happened approximately a year after an OT was murdered at work but my manager claimed to never have heard of it. I was instructed NOT to break contact with the client and to maintain my regular sessions with him. The issue was never addressed again and I left that job approx a year later.

I am currently in a situation where i have had some serious threats made against me by a service user. I wont give you details for obvious reasons, but this person has made it very personal, and has tried to track me down on the internet, threatened my children, and has implied they know where I live.

What gets me about it all, is this is a CIN case where it has never even been suggested that the children are removed.

Luckily, my employers are taking it very seriously, as are other professionals involved , but at the end of the day, I cant sit in the office all day or never go out alone, I have to drive to and from the office, so there will always be an opportunity for them to 'get' me.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this so soon into the job, I havent been qualified long, and was expecting it to be from a family we are in court with, or whose children we have removed. It does worry me as I have children and I worry for them, but I wont let this person bully me out of my job.

 

The NHS got millions of pounds recently to tackle violence against staff - in one trust in Wales they have created the post of a violence tsar - see story here

 do you think a violence 'tsar' for social workers would be money well spent or should it go on more personal alarms, cover to ensure no lone working, etc?

 

Hi minimin

Sorry to hear about your story - it must be very difficult to deal with.

Simeon

Hello minimum, like Simeon I am so sorry and so shocked about your situation. It must be absolutely terrifying. You do not indicate if the police are involved but I hope so. I understand you do not wish to go into detail about it.

Thinking of you.

 

I wish I could say that this is an isolated case. I had a terrible experience where the mother of the three children i was working with hired a private detective to find out where I lived. By the time we were in court for care proceedings she knew all about my family and my son. A letter was found stating that she would cripple me and hurt my family. My solicitor for the council was very concerned with talk of alarms put in my house. I made my sons school aware even going as far as giving them a photo of her and stating that if she phoned(she had a distinct ascent) or appeared at the school then they were to call the police. What still sacares me is that she could still be holding a grudge and I still watch my back. the irony of it was that she abandoined her children we didnt take her children away from her. I do feel we need more protection in the job not just for us but for our families. Another worker was acosted by a service user whilst out with her daughter that must have been terrifying for the child. 

Hi, I have been on the recieving end of many threats of violence from people allocated to me, however the threat that seriously affected me was a maliscious "concern" raised as to why a male would wish to practice with Children and Young People, then proceeded to formalise a very long list of complaints about my practice in relation to my involvement with the family. This Individual likened me to a Peadophile grooming her Child, trust me, noone wants to be labelled a sex offender. Although non of these complaints were upheld, I have NEVER felt so disempowered in terms of the effects of threatening behaviour.

This person continues to ensure her prescence is still felt. 

Ghost:

Hi, I have been on the recieving end of many threats of violence from people allocated to me, however the threat that seriously affected me was a maliscious "concern" raised as to why a male would wish to practice with Children and Young People, then proceeded to formalise a very long list of complaints about my practice in relation to my involvement with the family. This Individual likened me to a Peadophile grooming her Child, trust me, noone wants to be labelled a sex offender. Although non of these complaints were upheld, I have NEVER felt so disempowered in terms of the effects of threatening behaviour.

This person continues to ensure her prescence is still felt. 

That sounds horrendous Ghost, especially as few men tend to work with children and young people for the very reason she accused you of. How did your managers react? Were you supported?

How does the person make her presence felt? Is she harassing you?

 

I know exactly what you mean ghost. The service user who I was involved with told the courts I was running a peadophile ring from a night club boat in Newcastle and that the government was paying me for taking children away from families. On top of that she complained to the GSCC about me with thank goodness them trhowing out the complaint but it makes you feel very vulnerable. Many would say well thats what we make parents feel but to attack you personally is awful. This woman that threatened me still has an emotional hold over me as I still look over my shoulder and the fear is the unknown.

so what have people's managers done about these situations? I have dealt with aggressive and threatening clients in the past, when I was an outreach worker with homeless people. It was very much sink or swim, and it didnt help when I was physically shaking with fear while having to tell clients they were barred from the day centre, for example. But it was part of the course - my manager wanted to observe how I handled it, then gave me feedback. remaining calm, firm and having staff backup - ie when you know that certain clients are going to be around, plan in advance what you will do. If the person has a particular bugbear against you, get someone else to step in. the best managers will step in themselves. Team backup is everything, and good supervision where you can express your fears without feeling like a failure. How tough you are (or appear) should never be a measure of success.

I havent had to deal with anything as disturbing as previous posters, but I am frequently subject to verbal abuse, some of it quite vicious, which I am expected to tolerate as part of the job. My managers attitude is that if you can't cope with that, you really shouldn't be in the job. On two seperate occasions this week I have been threatened with physical violence, once over the phone by one service user and then again in somebodys house, by the family of a different service user. The incident in the house was very scary and intimidating and my manager happened to be present, but again, her attitude was that if we can't cope with that, we shouldn't be in the job.

I am due to visit the man who threatened me over the phone, and when I suggested that I take a colleague with me, I was told not to, as she wasn't having two off of us go off on an out of county of jolly, and that the staff team there could support me, which is fair enough I suppose, but it isn't something I feel particulary comfortable with.

When we draw up management plans and risk assessments for our service users who might be less than sweet natured, we always insist as that staff working with them, are suitably debriefed after any incident, a protocol which we clearly don't extend to ourselves.

I must point out that in the course of 15 years practise, incidents such as these have been very rare; I've just been a bit unfortunate this week!

pete, interesting point about "if you can't cope with that, you shouldn't really be in the job." My old manager used to stand a short distance away just seeing how I coped when people flew off the handle, to judge my capability. At the time I thought he was being mean to me, but he was actually showing me I had to draw on my own strengths to try and deal with things on the hoof and be prepared for unpleasant surprises...this is fine in principle, as I was a trainee at the time, but without the good feedback and support he gave it would have been a bad approach on its own. I remember how hard it was not to physically flinch when people were hurling abuse at me, how hard it was to remain standing without shaking and calm...but I learned after a short while which clients to avoid, and whose bark was always worse than their bite, who made up the majority

Hi Pete,  I found your post just as disturbing as some of the others on here. The fact that your mnager is prepared to allow you to visit someone who has already threatened you is aalarming. What does you Lone Worker policy say about such incidents? Do you have  an alarm or some way of contacting your colleagues should the need arise? Im worried that if the **** hits the fan you may be found guilty of failing to protect yourself and your manager will take no respnsibility.