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June 9, 2016

Safe Holding Training – Manage Distress – Scotland

Safe Holding Training to deal with Distressed Behaviour with Older People in Care

Gerard O'Dea our Director of Training was recently asked to provide an opinion on how care homes in Scotland can deal with the issues of distressed, difficult or dangerous behaviours when caring for older people in their services, sometimes known as Safe Holding Training.  In this long-format video he covers numerous inter-woven safe holding training issues and relates them to existing guidance and statute which should guide practice and management in this area. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5RLHr5SiCU   On our safe caring training courses, your staff will learn how to ‘treat every person they meet with dignity by showing them respect’ and to apply our strategies for meeting the additional needs of persons who are in emotional distress, while ensuring their own personal safety and the safety of others around them.  In this way we will help you to have:
  • Enhanced confidence and Improved Staff safety
  • Closer compliance with regulations and inspections
  • Improved Health and Safety Compliance
  • Protection against litigation risks and claims
  • Reduced injury Rates and absences cause by incidents of violence
  • Perhaps most of all, Improved outcomes for people who use your service
Gerard O’Dea is a conflict management, personal safety and physical interventions training consultant with significant experience in Safe Holding Training for the care of older people.  He is the training director for Dynamis, a specialist provider of personal safety and violence management programmes and the European Adviser for ‘Verbal Defense and Influence’, a global programme which addresses the spectrum of human conflict.  Gerard travels across the UK to deliver safe holding training to care homes for older people.  His goal is to enable care providers to create safe and secure environments which are not compatible with violence.  www.dynamis.training Watch a video about our Safe Caring here or a video about Safe Holding here.

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Gerard O'Dea


Gerard O'Dea is the Director of Training for Dynamis. Training Advisor, Speaker, Author and Expert Witness on Personal Safety, Conflict Management and Physical Interventions, he is the European Advisor for Vistelar Conflict Management, a global programme focussing on the spectrum of human conflict.