Course Description
Diversity Builder’s interactive training equips healthcare workers (public and private health workers) with strategies and skills to identify and respond to common patient, provider, and systemic stressors that often escalate situations to a crisis level. Healthcare workers will learn effective de-escalation techniques to apply in patient/provider relationships, employee relationships, and client/social worker relationships. Some of the key outcomes are reducing care disparities, building patient and client trust, lowering the incidence of patients and clients stopping their care programs, and decreasing incidents of violence and suicide.
The trainer will integrate the concepts of trauma-informed responses and best practices throughout the training and emphasize psychological safety. The participants will learn about the escalation cycle to include the six stages of escalation and how to navigate and respond to each stage. The trainer will include cases studies that reflect the work the teams perform as well as consider and reflect on the healthcare organization’s mission and core values.
This course provides the opportunity for healthcare professionals to identify, address, and reduce escalation and negative conflict in a health care setting.
Who Should Attend
Ask about
Training Benefits
De-escalation and Conflict Mediation in Healthcare training benefits healthcare organizations and their teams in reducing stress, conflict, and potential violence. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the incidents of workplace violence are on the rise in healthcare settings, which has vast negative impacts. The National Institute of Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration both recommend de-escalation training such as this violence prevention program offered by Diversity Builder for purposes of reduction of violence by patients, clients, and visitors. The NIH noted that in particular hospitals face a higher risk of workplace violence. The NIH and OSHA both note that many instances of workplace violence are not reported.
What is Workplace Violence
It is acts of harm caused to employees that threaten their psychological and/or physical safety at work. Such acts can be threats, physical harm, intimidation, harassment, or verbal assaults.
Core Learning Objectives
- Identify early signs of escalation for crisis violence prevention
- Utilize verbal and non-verbal de-escalation strategies and nonviolent communication techniques
- Understand how a person’s identity, trauma experience, and environment shape conflict
- Practice effective mediation strategies
Training Topics
- Understanding Conflict in health and social service contexts, with focus on systemic and emotional stressors
- Escalation Cycle education, including fight/flight/freeze behaviors and unmet needs
- De-escalation Tools, including tone, space, listening, empathy, and boundary-setting
- Identity & Bias Awareness, examining how power and identity affect interactions
- Conflict Mediation Skills for managing disputes on the spot
- Role Plays & Scenarios drawn from real public health situations
- Staff Safety Protocols and knowing when to disengage
- Self-Regulation Techniques to manage emotional load and avoid burnout
Course Outline
Understanding Conflict in Public and Private Health Environments
- What triggers conflict in health and social service settings?
- Emotional, cultural, systemic, and environmental factors
- Client stress and trauma as root causes
- Small-group prompt or poll: “What behaviors signal that a situation is escalating?”
Escalation Cycle
- Overview of escalation phases (trigger, escalation, crisis, recovery, post-crisis)
- Fight, flight, freeze, fawn responses
- Why clients/patients escalate (unmet needs, fear, perceived disrespect)
- Video or case study clip: “Spot the escalation cues”
Core De-Escalation Skills
- Tone and body language (matching calm with calm)
- Listening to understand vs. listening to respond
- Verbal techniques: Reflective statements, empathy, limit-setting
- Non-verbal techniques: Space, posture, hands, breathing
- Group exercise: Rewrite a reactive response using de-escalation tools
Identity, Power, and Bias
- How race, gender, language, and authority can fuel or calm conflict
- Self-awareness: “What am I bringing into this interaction?”
- Reflective prompt: “How might my identity impact how I de-escalate or mediate?”
Conflict Mediation on the Spot
- When you are in the middle of client-to-client or client-staff disputes
- Ground rules for engagement
- Staying neutral, setting boundaries
- De-escalating both sides safely
Staff Safety and Setting Limits
- Know when to disengage or call for help
- Language to protect your boundaries while staying professional
- Safety planning and organizational protocols
Self-Regulation and Recovery
- How to calm yourself in the moment
- Post-incident recovery strategies
Avoiding burnout and reactivity over time
Key Concepts
Preventing patient and staff harm and workplace violence
Minimizing staff stress and burnout
Improving patient trust and rapport
Supporting equitable care delivery
Enhancing organizational psychological safety