How to Talk Your Way Out of Trouble

Dfuse has developed a Young Dfuse programme to help young people acquire the skills to defuse confrontation, deescalate aggressive situations and avoid harm.

Working with young people ‘at risk of gang involvement’ and with Met Police Cadets in 2 London boroughs showed us that there is a huge need to give young people the skills to respond to challenge and conflict in more ways than just ‘fight or flight’. By raising awareness of different strategies and approaches when conflicts arise the Young Dfuse programme develops the ability of young people to compromise without showing weakness and to negotiate under stress. Participants also learn to recognize the potential risks and assess the appropriate response options in a range of situations as well as a number of physical defense skills to enable them to stay safe.

Liam 17: I found yesterday very interesting. I learned a lot that I can see helping me in the future and at work. Dick was very enthusiastic and made the lesson enjoyable. I could see what I learnt helping me at work, cadets and social life and made me see things from a different point of view. It has made me feel more confident in getting information that I need for example when I am doing a practice interview at cadets. I have learned how to match a person’s energy without causing a conflict.

Chris 19: Yesterday was a very good day. Well structured. The information was delivered in bite-sized chunks which was easy to learn.

Jaymin 16: In yesterday’s session I have learnt how to negotiate with a victim in a variety of situations such as violent attacks.

Bobby-Jo 16: I enjoyed the part where we had to talk to the girl in her bedroom. It helped me to understand the types of questions we should ask someone. I think the course was very helpful. It built up my confidence in front of a group of people.

Viola 16: I thought the whole day was good because I learnt new ways of communicating. Also I learnt how to solve a difficult situation. I also remember how to use the echoing word.

Adam 18: I found yesterday interesting. It was a great learning curve – many things yesterday were completely different than what I had thought.

Chris 19: The same scenario at both the start and the end, after learning and practicing skills was a good idea because you can see an improvement.

The Dfuse Programme for Schools

A local education authority in London described to us their concerns about young people facing confrontation and aggression in and out of school, of the problems of gang culture , of the prevalence of young people carrying knives and of the intimidation of young people who are not themselves involved in gangs. They also told us that teachers face confrontation from individual pupils, when intervening between pupils and occasionally even threats from parents.

As a result we have developed the Dfuse Programme for Schools which provides:

A one day initial training for teachers which will give them the skills to defuse difficult situations whether with pupils or with parents and guardians.

Materials to enable teachers to pass on some of these skills to pupils, in a range of settings such as PSHE classes, Citizenship classes, RE, Drama.

A one or two day course for pupils, during/at the end of the programme to consolidate what pupils have learnt during term/year.