This seminar is about clinical work with violence and aggression. It will examine different aspects of caring for people experiencing intense emotional discomfort.

Understanding violence and aggression as attempted coping strategies can help us create empathetic, helpful responses. In addition, it can provide us with a solid basis for effective aggression management and treatment. 

What are violence and aggression, and how are they expressed in a milieu-therapeutic environment? How does this affect us as mental health personnel, and how can we best take care of ourselves in these situations? 

We will explore how relationship-building can play a preventative role, as well as highlighting the significance of de-escalation skills in the following situations: 

• caring for people in a state of intense emotional distress;
• braking the escalation process
• reducing the unnecessary use of force

Experiences of the use of force and constraint in mental health care will be discussed from professional, personal and ethical perspectives.

Introduction: Alain Topor

Triggered by violence - Per Isdal

Milieu-therapeutic work in dealing with aggression and violence - Ole Greger Lillevik

De-escalation - skills and knowledge - Lene Lauge Berring

Experiences from the use restraint in mental health care will be discussed from personal, professional and ethical perspectives - Unn Hammervold