February 17, 2006

MGH Police and Security offers violence prevention classes

Nationally, workplace violence is on the rise, with more than two million reported victims of physical assaults per year. According to some studies, a hospital can be especially vulnerable to workplace violence because of its often tension-filled public environment.

MGH Police and Security has developed educational tools to minimize the threat of violence in a health care environment by using the proven management-of-conflict techniques of a program called Management of Aggressive Behavior (MOAB), which was conceived after years of research. The program — taught by certified instructors from MGH Police and Security and designed to increase one's confidence in managing conflict — provides strategies for preventing and diffusing aggressive, threatening or assaultive behavior and teaches active listening skills as well as personal defense, diversion and control skills in physical situations. The techniques offered in the class are effective regardless of participants' size, age, prior experience or physical condition.

A three-hour MOAB class "Strategies for Preventing and Diffusing Aggressive Behavior" will be held March 1, from 5 to 8 pm in the Thier Conference Room. To register, contact Stacey Kelley at (617) 724-3030. The cost is $30 per person payable before the course or at sign-in.

This class is a pre-requisite for "Strategies for Managing Physical Confrontations," which will be held March 8 and teaches participants how to defend against different types of assaults, attacks and overt harm. For more information about this class, contact Tom Murphy or Joe Green at (617) 724-8683.