In your line of work you need to be able to respond to emergences or unexpected situations. You will need to perform due diligence with your observations. Your intervention or response will need to be timely and appropriate to the situation.

Knowing your staff and people who use your services will assist with you to be observant and see any changes. You should be able to see changes in mood and any shifts to extreme anxiety. Please refer to any support plans if one is available on the support and interventions required. This might include the involvement of family members and other professionals.

An unexpected situation could be injury to staff or anyone using your services. You will need to provide or facilitate first aid if required. Emergency services will need to be approached for serious situations.

Other emergency or crisis situations can involve staff or people who use your services being incoherent or finding it difficult to communicate. You have to try your best to support them in this situation. If could just be a temporary situation brought about by new medication, lack of sleep or any other life changing situation. You will need to be calm, reassure and try not to make the situation worse and over dramatic.

Other situations can involve staff or people who use your service being disorientated and heavily confused. This could occur as a result of change of medication, shock or substance abuse. The disorientation can involve lack of understanding and awareness of time and place. You should ensure you respond inline with your organisational policies and procedures.

Other situations are when a member of staff or people who use your service discloses that they are suicidal or want to harm themselves or others. Immediate action is required. This should not be treated as idle threats. You should seek support to deal with this situation. Confidentiality can be broken in this situation.

Safeguarding and welfare issues should be considered whenever you spot signs of injury and self-harm. You need to seek immediate support. Remember it is not your role to investigate as this could compromise any safeguarding investigations. You should also consider the risks to your safety where employees or people who use your services can be aggressive towards you. Very important to remove your self from situations that could result in harm.

As part of intervention ensures you prioritise the need, which is the most dire. You need to ensure you signpost when require in order for needs to be fully met. For example, Citizen Advice Bureau for general issues. Your ultimate aim is to assist your staff or people who use your service to move out of crisis.