Safety First!
A topic that I address in my book, GetReal, GetGOING: The Definitive Roadmap to Starting the Private Practice of Your Dreams, is workplace safety, both during your agency years and then as you transition into private practice.
Safety is important! Especially during those early internship years when you might be working with a variety of clients from challenging backgrounds or with organizations that serve at-risk populations in less-than-safe environments.
As a mental health clinician, you might find yourself in potentially risky situations which are rarely confronted by members of other professions, this is especially true when you are in the field. While most clinics provide safety measures, from walls to people to policies to technologies, when you leave the premises, you won’t have backup right outside the door. Often, it is helpful to go into a particular neighborhood as a team, perhaps with a translator along. Someone from the opposite gender can accompany you in situations where gender-based aggression is a possibility.
What options do you have if a situation gets dicey? Trust your intuition. If you sense danger, listen, and extract yourself from the situation.Remember: there are times when people need to choose between being wrong and being dead wrong. Don’t be dead wrong.
Transitioning to your solo practice will bring another set of circumstances. It’s not uncommon to begin by renting a space in an office building and seeing clients in the evenings or on weekends -- the very times when other people might not be around.
Here are a few common sense things you can do to protect yourself:
Use your phone intake to “get a vibe” from a potential client. You may want to ask about their legal history and ask how they found you. Their responses can give you some insights as to whether you are the right provider for them.
Avoid night time appointments with a client until after you’ve had a chance to get to know them.
Set your office up to optimize safety. Your chair should be closest to the door.
If you share a waiting room with other clinicians, turn on an extra light or flip a door tag, to imply that you are not alone.
If another clinician is working, let them know to keep an ear out for anything unusual, or plan to check in on each other periodically.
Make plans to text a friend or family member right after a session, and ask them to call if they don’t hear from you.
You might also consider implementing some technological precautions. iPhone users can employ the free “I’m Getting Pulled Over” shortcut which puts your phone in “Do Not Disturb Mode” while recording video and sending your location to a selected friend. Android users can download an app called PulledOver that functions in the same manner.
Ultimately, the best advice is to simply trust your gut. Gavin de Becker, a leading expert on predicting violent behavior, refutes the notion that violence is unpredictable and random. In his book, The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence, De Becker urges people to respect the wisdom of their emotions, particularly those of the autonomic nervous system, the “I’m in the room with something dangerous,” heart-racing fear. He contrasts this fear with chronic anxiety, which is an often-exaggerated dread of threats that are not immediate or present. His book will help you to calmly assess and respond to anger and aggression. It will also help you to understand clients who are coping with the aftermath of violence.
Be safe out there!
