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In this second installment of the multi-part minisode series on worker safety and well-being, Ruth and David explore the important topic of workers being targeted by domestic violence perpetrators.   In a few minutes , David & Ruth discuss different ways   workers are targeted including:

• Manipulation,  intimidation  and bullying 
• Threats  of or actual lawsuits and  complaints lodged with managers, professional boards,  or courts 
•  Implied or real threats against family members 
• Stalking (online or in real life)

Ruth  & David also discuss how  misogyny, racism or other forms of discrimination can be factors in the targeting of workers.  

David  & Ruth finish the brief episode with specific suggestions about basic safety and support strategies that agencies can put in place to respond to the behaviors of perpetrators.  These include: 

• Explicitly widen out the concept of worker safety to include intimidation, manipulation, not just explicit threats or acts of  violence
• Make this wider definition of worker safety a regular part, preventative (not reactive)  supervision in cases
• Ensure that staff that handle client  complaint  or review boards are educated around coercive control and pattern based assessments
• Performance reviews and human resources procedures  need to be consider the impact of threats and intimidation  on a worker's performance      

About the  worker safety and well-being minisode series   
The goal of the series is to address the critical issues of worker safety and well-being as a critical aspect of domestic violence-informed systems. This is a series for frontline staff across child protection, mental health and addiction, courts and other systems. We hope it will validate their experiences. This is also a series for human resources managers and organizational leadership. Setting policies and procedures to address worker emotional & professional safety in the context of domestic violence cases is essential to creating a domestic violence-informed agency.

Topics in the series include:

• When workers are targeted by the perpetrator of one of the clients
• The connection between worker safety in engaging perpetrators and mother-blaming practice.
• When workers are being targeted by their own perpetrator (through the workplace and at home)
• When workers own experience of abuse are triggered by their work with families
• Managing your own fears, as the worker, about the safety of the family.

Listen to the introduction to the series
Read the Safe & Together Institute’s white paper on worker safety
Take an online course on worker safety related to domestic violence

Check out David Mandel's new book "Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to transform the way we keep children safe from domestic violence."

Visit the Safe & Together Institute website

Start taking Safe & Together Institute courses

Check out Safe & Together Institute upcoming events