We all have a responsibility to protect vulnerable adults by creating environments in which abuse of any kind is not tolerated.
If you own, run or work in an organisation that provides services to the public you will interact with vulnerable adults on a daily basis. Quite often individuals may not appear to be particularly ‘vulnerable’ it’s however important to bear in mind that vulnerability is sometimes difficult to spot, as is when a vulnerable person is being mistreated.
The first step towards creating positive environments is to discard our preconceptions about what constitutes a ‘vulnerable’ individual – a person may come across entirely different to how they actually are and how they really feel. Abuse takes many different forms, is sometimes extremely subtle and in many cases the person being abused does not realise or fully accept what is happening to them.
The second step is to think about our own practices, the only person whose actions we can fully control is ourselves. Also, what we do defines the standards for others; the people around us will be directly influenced by our behaviours. Therefore consciously think about your actions, the way you speak to, and the way you speak about your customers – if you make derogatory comments about a customer you are indirectly providing your colleagues with permission to also be negative towards that individual, after all, if you have made negative statements you’re not going to care, are you?
The third step is to work with a heightened state of awareness, try to put yourself in your customers position, how would you feel if you were to be spoken to in that way? How would you perceive being treated that way? If you observe a practice or overhear a statement which is inappropriate, offensive or negative make a conscious decision to step-up and challenge the individual – in some cases, particularly serious abuse such as mistreatment of a physical or sexual nature the allegation is better passed onto your line manager for them to action.
The bottom line with any type of abusive practices is that we have a choice – we can either be part of the solution or part of the problem…
Matt’s Safeguarding Adults half-day programme will equip you with the key skills to identify and appropriately respond to signs of abuse, record observations or disclosures efficiently and work in a way which fosters open and respectful organisational cultures. The session can be delivered at your premises at a time to suit you. For more information about the programme please visit: http://www.mattjoyce.com/safeguarding-adults.html
If you own, run or work in an organisation that provides services to the public you will interact with vulnerable adults on a daily basis. Quite often individuals may not appear to be particularly ‘vulnerable’ it’s however important to bear in mind that vulnerability is sometimes difficult to spot, as is when a vulnerable person is being mistreated.
The first step towards creating positive environments is to discard our preconceptions about what constitutes a ‘vulnerable’ individual – a person may come across entirely different to how they actually are and how they really feel. Abuse takes many different forms, is sometimes extremely subtle and in many cases the person being abused does not realise or fully accept what is happening to them.
The second step is to think about our own practices, the only person whose actions we can fully control is ourselves. Also, what we do defines the standards for others; the people around us will be directly influenced by our behaviours. Therefore consciously think about your actions, the way you speak to, and the way you speak about your customers – if you make derogatory comments about a customer you are indirectly providing your colleagues with permission to also be negative towards that individual, after all, if you have made negative statements you’re not going to care, are you?
The third step is to work with a heightened state of awareness, try to put yourself in your customers position, how would you feel if you were to be spoken to in that way? How would you perceive being treated that way? If you observe a practice or overhear a statement which is inappropriate, offensive or negative make a conscious decision to step-up and challenge the individual – in some cases, particularly serious abuse such as mistreatment of a physical or sexual nature the allegation is better passed onto your line manager for them to action.
The bottom line with any type of abusive practices is that we have a choice – we can either be part of the solution or part of the problem…
Matt’s Safeguarding Adults half-day programme will equip you with the key skills to identify and appropriately respond to signs of abuse, record observations or disclosures efficiently and work in a way which fosters open and respectful organisational cultures. The session can be delivered at your premises at a time to suit you. For more information about the programme please visit: http://www.mattjoyce.com/safeguarding-adults.html
Copyright 2012 Matt Joyce – delivering empowering training that gets real results.
Matt can be contacted in the following ways:
Website: www.mattjoyce.com
E-mail: matt@mattjoyce.com
Twitter: @1mattjoyce
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/1mattjoyce
