Learn the five fundamental skills necessary to support a culture of safety. Once these easily-understandable principles become second nature, they can be applied to any situation. Asking how current behaviors can influence future events allows trainees to eliminate challenging behaviors before they happen.

Learn this assessment tool to use with people whose baseline behaviors have escalated into a state of escalated stress. Using this tool, trainees will be able to identify behaviors, then understand what risks those behaviors present, and then determine the appropriate Minimum Impact response to take in that specific situation.

Learn how to document incidents in an objective, concise and consistent manner. The common language of the behavior scale ensures that documentation is consistent over different departments and easily-understood by everyone. There are three components of a well-documented incident, including behavior level, specific behavior, and the staff response to that behavior. The opportunity to learn and prevent future incidents exists in simply learning to complete a successful review.

Learn skills that trainees must develop before communicating with individuals exhibiting escalating behaviors. In this module, students will learn the importance of precise language and effective requests in an attempt to avoid misunderstandings and the resulting resistance. Maintaining the appropriate tone while keeping a request positive will enable trainees to avoid resistance and ambiguity in an escalation situation.

Provides students with the best responses when an individual escalates. A measured response, according to the level of aggression displayed, is of absolute necessity. Students will also learn the importance of using the Minimum Impact Response, while allowing the Welle foundational principles to guide that response to keep everyone safe. Learning to look, listen, and test for cooperation at every level of the behavior scale will enable students to use these responses in a safe and effective manner.

Learn an approach designed to avoid resistance and encourage cooperation. Used with people on the lower end of the Red Scale, the objective is to avoid hearing no by assessing when a person is ready, willing, and able to cooperate. The verbal and non-verbal techniques for generating cooperation include a pleasant approach, positive requests, offering choices, using cues, assessing for resistance, and accepting positive responses and moving forward.

Develop crucial skills before addressing avoidant behaviors such as changing the subject, attempted distraction, or playing word games. The typical response to these behaviors is to either walk away or argue, neither of which is effective in accomplishing the original goal. Welle training teaches a third alternative that we call professional persistence. Trainees will learn the three techniques that it involves: planned persistence, tactful interruption, and creating an expectation of cooperation.

Learn to offer positive choices in order to replace unwanted behaviors. Providing choices has been proven to give a sense of control over a situation that often results in positive outcomes. The specific formula for offering choices, known as Choice A/B, requires persistence without being controlling and positivity of words and body language, both in order to make the choices more appealing.

Identify areas of richness that can improve quality of life, thereby decreasing resistance and violent behaviors. Focusing on these elements diminishes the instances of escalation up the Red Scale. Welle’s advice to Live in the Green reflects the power of the triad that includes a Caring Community, Productivity, and High Quality Relaxation. The more these aspects of life are kept in balance, the less stress and anxiety will enter into the workplace.