Risk Assessment 1- Personal Safety

If you’re involved in juvenile justice, risk assessment is important. A good question might be, “When is risk assessment the most important thing you do?” It’s most important when your personal safety is at risk. It’s important when there’s a risk to your co-workers, and when intuition, experience, or something more overt suggests your client is a risk to his or herself or others.

The obvious indicators of a potential risk issue are: history that includes violent crime, sex offenses, hostility, weapons charges, chronic involvement in the juvenile justice system, and gang affiliation. These are important to notice, but they don’t necessarily mean that the client sitting in front of you is a problem right now. How do you know when there is a problem in the moment?

Fidgeting, poor eye contact, a lack of engagement in the session, and a sense that the client is disconnected are warning signs. If you notice an unusual feeling in your body, heightened awareness of your surroundings, and you feel fear, it’s time to end the session immediately and report your experience to staff.

Sometimes, the policy of a company or institution creates risk. I worked in a 30-day residential chemical dependency treatment center that served adult males on probation or parole. Treatment was mandated. If a client was asked to leave, he knew he was violating probation or parole and was usually headed to jail.

Even so, standard procedure called for a meeting with the client where he was told he was being dismissed and then expected to sit still and sign numerous documents confirming the agency’s reasons for kicking him out. This was nonsense which served no therapeutic purpose and endangered everyone. Agency staff should have refused to do this and called the PO or the police to execute the transition.

Anyone facing a dangerous situation in juvenile justice should know the answers to the following:

1. What does my job require in this moment?

2. Is an explosive situation forseeable here?

3. Is there adequate support from trained and competent correctional staff?

4. Is the confrontation necessary? And, am I the appropriate person to carry it out?

5. What is my exit strategy if things go wrong?

The best predictor of violence is violence. This is something people say and there’s truth to it, but not every person with violence or even documented assault on staff is a risk all the time. A respectful, non-judgmental approach may go a long way toward a positive therapeutic experience. While a counselor in this field can expect to see some dicey situations, remember you’re not law enforcement. Know what your job is and how to execute your role with dignity, ethics, and integrity.

Artist Diana Hershey Wimberley, Texas

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