The Story

"Dynamis" is the spark of thought which gives rise to action

My name is Gerard O’Dea and I am the Director of Training for Dynamis.  I help staff and services who have to deal with distressed, aggressive or violent people - who are sometimes vulnerable - to deal with those situations appropriately.

The 3 biggest urgent needs of my clients are that:

• their staff are being hurt or intimidated during their work tasks
• their service risks being non-compliant on inspection, because of staff training needs
• they have reached their final options in dealing with an individual's high-risk behaviour

So, my qualified team and I help my clients with those issues by providing training which enables their staff and management to better plan for, avoid and if necessary employ the relevant tactics to deal with those situations in the most appropriate way.

What’s more, my clients experience deeper core benefits like:

• protecting their service user’s dignity during their ‘worst moments’
• retaining their best staff longer because they feel safe and supported
• lowering their work-injury litigation risk and absences
• improving their inspection results

The #1 result that my clients experience when they work with me and my team? They gain peace-of-mind that their service is as safe as possible for all who participate and work there.

We provide our training and advice in the prevention, management and reduction of violence risk for social and healthcare services, security operations and any teams who work in public services. See Who we Help for more details.

Our training is:

• Delivered by Professional Trainers with Adult Education Qualifications
• Designed and Developed according to the latest Learning and Performance criteria
• Accredited by the ICM as a Quality Award Centre for Health and Social Care
• Quality Audited by the Institute of Conflict Management
• Medically Reviewed for Use with Adults and Children
• Risk Assessed for both our Training Delivery and Operational Use of Force

Since 2007, we have been a specialist provider to:

• Mainstream, Special and Alternative Provision Schools
• Care Homes with special units for Older People with Dementia
• Services which look after Children and Adults on the Autistic Spectrum
• Care Homes and Private Hospitals for people with Mental Health / Learning Disabilities
• Specialist Units (sexual disinhibition, alcohol-related disorders, mental health)
• Brain Injury and Disabilities Rehabilitation Units

We have developed specialist experience which we use to help your staff to manage the stress-related behaviours of vulnerable people in care.

• National-level guidance regarding restraint and the limitation of freedom
• Restraint Minimisation and Restraint Reduction Strategies
• Statute and Common Law regarding the use of force in physical interventions when they become absolutely necessary
• Risk Management principles of Health & Safety for dealing with violence at work

With this in mind, and with experience of hundreds of courses with staff just like yours, we can help you:

• How to create a 'Non-Escalation' environment
• Treating people with dignity by showing them respect
• Gateway Behaviours and Expectation Contracts
• Consistent ways of communicating Empathy and Being Persuasive
• Physical Safety and the appropriate use of Restrictive Practices

We are particularly experienced in providing training for teams who manage violence risk for people with any kind of care or health need, including people with longer term needs such as some people with a learning disability, autism, acquired brain injury or dementia, those with intermittent or frequently changing needs such as people with mental health or substance misuse problems, and people in an acute health crisis such as following an accident, severe infection, recovering from an anaesthetic or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Our training is designed to help you and your staff to make better, more robust verbal and physical interventions based on guidance, law and evidence

Please look through our training course information and contact us with any information you may need.  Feel free to contact my office or request contact from me personally to discuss your needs.

Gerard O'Dea, Director of Training

Office:  0844 812 9795

Email:  gerard@dynamis.training