As a training company specialising in managing conflict, we are often complimented on the utility of our courses.
Utility: “functional rather than attractive” — “the state of being useful or beneficial.”
We are careful to make sure that our Functional Conflict Training and the tactics we embed with your staff are:
- appropriate and relevant for your setting, in which they are to be used
- practical and pragmatic, so that staff feel they will be able to use them easily
- taught on a strong foundation of legally robust advice and knowledge
Sometimes we are asked what makes our training different from others. Here is my answer — broken down into five things that set Dynamis apart.
1. Properly Qualified, Full-Time Dedicated Trainers
Our Functional Conflict Training trainers are all full-time qualified adult education professionals. They hold the BTEC Level 4 qualification in Adult Education and the BTEC Level 3 Award in Physical Restraint, properly vocationally accredited by Ofqual.
Beyond the paperwork, myself and my small team of trainers are very experienced in the tactics of safely approaching, holding, and keeping people safe during high-risk moments. That depth of hands-on experience makes the difference when a staff member needs a real answer, not a textbook one.
2. We Answer the Difficult Questions About Control and Holding
We have been teaching our Functional Conflict Training material since our very first professional course in 2006. One thing stands out from all the feedback: usefulness.
Staff who come to our training find that — because we can answer their many questions about what really happens in an incident and what the real considerations are that make up a good decision — our material is immediately useful to them in their work. My trainers and I know our material backwards and inside-out. You will not get a parrot answer from a manual, but a well-considered response from a position of deep understanding.
💡 Example: We visited a special school in south London where the staff had experience of all the other methods of holding and restraint. After the session, the head was extremely happy with our approach and how we helped the staff with specific child-centred solutions. Our answers go beyond the bounds of “what the manual says.”
3. Our Restraint-Reduction Approach
A key moment happened in September 2014 when my team and I returned to a school where we had taught Functional Conflict Training a year previously. The school is a special provision, and part of their team carries out assessments on children who may have SEN.
“After you came last year it really made my colleagues and myself think really hard. We hardly do any restraining any more, which is really good.”
That quote — from the leader of the SEN group — captures what we aim for. We present your staff with a decision-making framework that helps them make the best possible choices about when to intervene physically, and — crucially — when not to.
4. Non-Harmful Holding Methods
We teach restraining holds called “Non-Harmful Methods of Control.” There are only a few principles to learn, and we spend a lot of time in class showing how the same holds can be used across different situations and scenarios.
✅ Fewer holds, better outcomes: Fewer techniques to learn means greater retention and better performance when the pressure is on during an incident. The holds we teach are designed to respect dignity and treat the children with sensitivity — while also being effective in creating safety.
5. Practice Time That Actually Works
One point of difference in our Functional Conflict Training is that every attendee on our courses is given ample time to practice the holding skills and understand the principles with their own mind and body. Some providers do not allow for enough practice time, or for the inevitable questions about how the system of holding actually works.
These five areas are where I believe we excel and what differentiates us from other providers. In short: many staff who have had training in other systems of intervention report that they learn more useful things when their senior management team brings in a Dynamis training specialist.
Gerard O’Dea is a conflict management, personal safety and physical interventions training consultant, speaker and expert witness. He is the training director for Dynamis, a specialist provider of personal safety and violence management programmes and the European Adviser for ‘Verbal Defense and Influence’, a global programme which addresses the spectrum of human conflict. www.dynamis.training/