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Pouwel van de Siepkamp describes a strategy to help build safe, caring relationships with people with challenging behaviours
Summary
Social workers and other professionals can be helped to develop a mutually safe and caring relationship with those they serve with a strategy known as gentle teaching. This makes real support possible in times of stress or negative emotion, and disordered behaviours diminish as a result. Gentle teaching helps build safe, caring communities where the development of the individual can flourish.
Keywords
Gentle teaching, challenging behaviour, caring environment, self-development
Professionals who support people with a vulnerability, such as a learning disability, mental illness or dementia, generally want to help the people they serve and to have a good relationship with them. Sometimes this is difficult, particularly when a client is unable to cope with emotions or psychological stress, or acts out harmful behaviours. We usually try to control such behaviours but, without realising, may do this in a way that increases the person's stress. Individuals may have learned to fear others, particularly important figures in their daily lives, which makes it all the more difficult to assist them.
Gentle teaching is a strategy that can help staff to develop an unconditionally caring and safe relationship with the people they are serving, so that they can support them in times of stress or negative emotion. This strategy benefits the clients and the professional workers, who will find more joy in their work.
Gentle teaching was developed in the 1980s by John McGee and others (McGee et al 1987, McGee and Menolascino 1991). In the early days, the strategy focused on helping people with intellectual disabilities and severe behavioural disorders. The aim was to get them involved in safe, respectful relationships and joint activities, thereby preventing negative behaviours. Over the years, gentle teaching has evolved into a strategy for building safe, loving relationships and communities as a starting point for development of the individual.
Gentle teaching can be summarised as follows.
* I teach you to feel safe with us.
* I teach you to feel loved by us.
* I teach you to feel loving towards us.
* I teach you to feel connected with us.
* Together we learn to develop companionship, the most essential...