Breakaway Training: A Judge’s Warning from a Dementia Care Case
This post is about conflict management | personal safety | dynamis training. A 75-year-old resident in a care home suffered from dementia. In just four months since arriving, he had committed 13 acts of aggression and at least 5 attempts at serious acts of aggression — including trying to strangle one of the other residents.
Witnesses gave evidence that he was not a weedy man. He was fit, small, and very strong. At times he attempted to climb fences at the workplace.
He had committed 13 acts of aggression and at least 5 serious attempts — including trying to strangle one of the residents.
What the Judge Found
The Judge found there was no evidence that the claimant or colleagues had ever received training in methods of physical self-defence. They were exposed to a man who had, on four or five recent occasions, actually attacked staff or patients.
He had made two attempts to strangle people. He had hit a member of staff on the head with his stick. It was thought necessary to sedate him. His behaviour had been described as extreme.
⚠️ The court’s finding: No evidence that staff had received breakaway or physical self-defence training — despite being exposed to a resident with a documented history of serious violence.
Watch the Full Case Analysis
Watch the video below to discover more about this case and the judge’s comments on training for breakaway and risk management in a dementia care context.
Conflict Management | Personal Safety | Dynamis Training: About Dynamis Training
Gerard O’Dea provides tailored Prevention and Management of Violence and Aggression (PMVA), Breakaway and Conflict Resolution training courses for education, care, health and hospital service providers around the UK — so that service-users and staff are treated with dignity and shown respect, even in their most difficult moments.
Combining respectful verbalisation skills with last-resort physical alternatives for true, full-spectrum patient care has been his specialty for over ten years.
This guide on conflict management | personal safety | dynamis training is part of our ongoing work with schools and academies.
See our guide to Breakaway Skills training for the full picture on what defensible breakaway training covers.
