Dfuse is a not for profit organisation which provides training to help people deal with challenging and antisocial behaviour wherever they encounter it, in the workplace, in the street, in their communities.

Everyone faces conflict and challenging situations at some point in their lives and some people face it daily as part of their work or in their communities.

Most of us don’t have the knowledge or skills to respond in an effective way to people who are being challenging and confrontational but there are people who do.

Working with one of the UK’s top hostage negotiators and the Met Police Officer Safety Unit, Dfuse has developed a unique training programme designed to help us deal with conflict and confrontation, whether it’s at the bus stop or in the boardroom, outside the school gate, in the office or on the way home.

Dfuse is committed to transferring these skills to as many people as possible so that individuals, organizations and communities feel confident that they can respond effectively to challenging and antisocial behaviour wherever they encounter it.

The Dfuse Programme

Communication and Appropriate Response

How many of us have thought about how to deescalate tension in different situations? How many of us have been taught how to deal with aggression? Watching police men and women on the beat, dealing with disorder and antisocial behaviour, it is quite striking that they do know how to respond, how to position themselves, how to stand, what to say to deescalate a challenging situation. Of course they have had first class training which is based on an unparalleled depth of experience.

Away from the beat there are also highly trained specialists negotiating in the most dire of circumstances, with people threatening suicide for example, or to murder hostages. Have you ever wondered what level of skill it takes to win people over in those situations? Would having those powers of persuasion and that sensitivity enable you to be more effective in the challenging situations you face now or might face in the future?

Dfuse has adapted the training the police receive in communicating in conflict and officer safety and condensed it into accessible modules from which you can choose. We have also identified the best trainers, people who teach from their life experience yet offer their professionalism with humour. We deliver our training in courses for the private and public sectors as well as for community and youth groups and schools.

Here are summaries of three modules:

Module 1 Communicating in Conflict

Are you doing all you can to build rapport, gain trust and exercise influence?

Focussed Listening:

Discover what can stop us hearing what the other has to say - asking questions; our agenda; not using our ears, eyes and heart; distraction; mindset and feelings; speed: and how focussed listening undermines aggression.

Choosing better Language:

Learn about effective open questions; the language of detachment; being non-judgmental; checking understanding; emotional labelling; plain speaking.

Knowing the Rules of Conversation:

Beyond the words we choose what else are we conveying? – your responsibility to adapt; empathy; sincerity; integrity; respect and dignity; staying positive; acknowledge first.

Using Social Conditioning to your advantage

Awareness of our social conditioning can help you – e.g. creating obligation; the moral high ground; submission attracts dominance; the power of embarrassment; the effect of ‘sorry’

Module 2 Risks and Responses

If you feel under threat how well will you assess the situation? What can you expect to feel? How can you respond? What’s the law on self-defence?

Recognising Risks

people, objects, places; assessing threats; continuous risk assessment

Response Options

challenging, diversion, creativity, seeking help, stance, positioning, movement

Your Legal Rights

common law, criminal law

Module 3: Deterrence and Defence

Learning some personal protection skills helps you maintain your communication skills when they are most needed. Increased confidence can deter an aggressor and if needed, aid an escape.

Personal Protection Skills 1 - releases from holds; body weapons;

Personal Protection skills 2 - self protection strikes

Delivery is through talks, demonstration, small group work, paired practice and role-playing scenarios based on participant’s experience. Learning materials will be provided to support tuition. All participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance on completion.

Our principal trainers are

Richard Mullender

Richard worked for 30 years as a CID detective, hostage negotiator and trainer. He has trained many law enforcement agencies in the UK and internationally in advanced interviewing techniques and hostage negotiation. He has designed and delivered bespoke courses in effective communication for private companies (e.g. Oracle, Sainsbury, Mars, Unilever) and local authorities and as a hostage negotiator is called upon by public and international organisations (e.g. the UN) to win people over in the most critical of situations.

Martin Graves

Martin has been a police officer for over 27 years serving in some of the busiest areas in London. He is in charge of the unit at Hendon that trains the 5000 plus new police officers and staff entering the Met Police every year. At a national level he leads the group that advises the Association of Chief Police Officers on officer safety. He is responsible for developing personal safety training at a National level and has recently written a new National Programme for Police Safety.