Frontline Community Safety Strategies

Managing Conflict and Advancing Safety For Frontline Personnel

Trainers: John McKay & Judy McGuire

Frontline workers face distinct challenges in handling conflict and maintaining physical safety for themselves, for their program participants, and for the public at large. Problems happen. People become angry. Some individuals present chronic or particular challenges. A wrong response can turn a problem into a crisis with little or no warning.

Frontline Community Safety Strategies teaches practical and proven methods to prevent and deal with public and workplace conflict and violence. We maximize security for employees, service users, worksites and organizations. Based on extensive frontline crisis intervention experience in community settings, this training goes beyond the general guidelines of conflict management to teaching tactics that work in high pressure, unpredictable situations.

		“Thank you very much for your terrific program!  The staff response has been very positive in terms of content and particularly style.” ~ Britannia Community Centre

Specific areas covered will include, but not be limited to:

• Tactics for handling potential and actual conflict and violence that keep employees, program participants, third parties and organizations legally and physically safe.
• Strategies for preventing conflict, defusing hostile clients and gaining voluntary compliance.
• Verbal techniques for reducing hostility.
• How to recognize the cues to differentiate between anger and the potential for assault.
• How to disengage from folks who won’t listen and how to leave a scene safely.
• How to effectively let others know you need help.
• How to decide when you should engage somebody and when you shouldn’t.
• How to protect yourself against assault.
• How to cope with the stress of critical incidents.

Each session is targeted to the specific needs and challenges faced by those taking the training. Course content is specifically geared to meeting challenges on the frontlines. Techniques are practical, easy to learn and immediately usable. Strategies are based on years of experience, and exemplify best practice in the field.

		“Strong presentation, based on real life.” ~ Workshop participant

John McKay and Judy McGuire bring complementary perspectives to the training. John McKay is a retired Vancouver Police Inspector with a 36-year history in various aspects of community policing. He is a respected authority on use of force and personal protection training. Judy McGuire is a certified mediator who has worked in frontline community organizations for over 20 years. She has received extensive training in Conflict Resolution and Critical Incident Stress Management from the Justice Institute of British Columbia. 

		“It was great having you and John doing the workshop for our staff. Thanks and I will be contacting you for another workshop.” ~ Collingwood Neighbourhood House

Courses:

• Basic Risk Management: a practical overview that covers all of the basics
• Critical Incident Management: How to keep yourself safe in a violent situation and how to cope with the after-effects.
• Understanding Addiction: an overview of the physical, neurological, emotional and behavioural aspects of drug addiction.

Personal protection and use of force training for security professionals is available from John McKay through Use of Force Training Programs

Judy McGuire offers Interpersonal Mediation in personal and work settings, Meeting Facilitation, Critical Incident Support, and training in Personal Resiliency through JLM Resolutions.

		"As a community center in Downtown Eastside of Vancouver Ray-Cam knows the importance of having staff and volunteers with good safety sense, training and strategies that they can use in a crisis and to prevent unneccesary harm to themselves or program participants. We have and will continue to use Frontline Community Safety Strategies to do Safety training, because of the expertise first hand knowledge, relevant and realistic scenarios, and experience they bring to our team. The format and enagement techniqes they use are effective, enjoyable and educational!” ~ Ray-Cam Co-operative Centre

For further information or to set up a session, please contact:

Judy McGuire, Cert.ConRes.
604-889-8430
staysafe@telus.net