Client Violence toward Social Workers: The Role of Management in Community Mental Health Programs

With the shift in mental health treatment from psychiatric hospitals to community agencies, mental health workers provide outreach interventions to clientele with increasingly acute psychiatric disorders in their neighborhoods and residences. This article examines job-related, client-perpetrated thr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Social work (New York) Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 532 - 544
Main Authors:	Spencer, Patricia C., Munch, Shari
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Oxford University Press 01-10-2003 NASW PRESS
Subjects:	Administrative agencies Administrative Policy Administrator Role Allied Health Personnel Assault Client Relations client violence Clients Communities Community based Community Mental Health Community mental health services Community Mental Health Services - manpower Community Mental Health Services - organization & administration Community Programs Community psychiatric services Community-Institutional Relations Counselor Client Relationship Crimes against Health professionals Health Professions Humans Inservice Training - organization & administration management Medications Mental Disorders Mental health Mental health care Mental Health Programs Mental Health Services Mental Illness Methods Occupational Health Professional-Patient Relations Psychiatric Hospitals Psychiatric social work Psychological aspects Psychological trauma Risk Assessment safety Safety training Schizophrenia Social Work Social Work, Psychiatric - manpower Social Work, Psychiatric - organization & administration Social worker-Client relationships Social Workers supervisors Trauma United States Victims Violence Violence - prevention & control Work Environment Workplace violence United States community mental health management client violence safety supervisors
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Summary:	With the shift in mental health treatment from psychiatric hospitals to community agencies, mental health workers provide outreach interventions to clientele with increasingly acute psychiatric disorders in their neighborhoods and residences. This article examines job-related, client-perpetrated threats or physical violence against social workers in general, and community outreach mental health professionals in particular. The article highlights the critical role of supervisors and administrators in community mental health programs in developing proactive prevention and postincident response policies and procedures that create an organizational climate of safety awareness, training, and psychological support to traumatized worker-victims. Recommendations for macro-level intervention are proposed, and implications for social work education and the profession are addressed.
Bibliography:	Address correspondence to Patricia Spencer. istex:38B61CFDB779B7BB20010D810D21229A03CBDDD0 The authors thank Laura Curran, Blanche Grosswald, Yvonne Johnson, Stephanie Mahfood, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable remarks and suggestions on the manuscript. ark:/67375/HXZ-6BM990M2-5 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0037-8046 1545-6846
DOI:	10.1093/sw/48.4.532