You are a practicum student in a residential program for young people with emotional and behavioral difficulties. You have just returned from a swimming outing with some of the youth. Upon entering the building, you hear screaming from an adjacent room, including "You're hurting me!" and "Get the **** off of me or I'll trash your car!" You enter the room to check things out and see Gerald (an Indigenous young person) being held on the floor in a prone position (on his belly) by two members of staff. All three are red in the face. You also notice furniture on its side, plants knocked over, and pictures off the wall and broken. Gerald sees you and shouts for you to "get these ****ers off me. They're assaulting me." When you do not respond, he starts swearing. The staff wave you away. You realize the rest of the group of young people may be hearing this, and you exit. As you leave, you hear Gerald wail and call out for his mother. You know that Gerald's mother cancelled his weekend visit this morning - again. He also has been fighting with another young person all week and was held back from the swimming for bullying. You have sometimes found Gerald difficult to work with; you find you are a bit scared when trying to set limits with him. Later, you decide you need more information and have a look at Gerald's file. In the intervention plan, you can find neither a mention of physical restraint nor a plan in place for how to help him when he loses his temper. You also look for the program's policy related to physical restraint but cannot seem to find anything. While you are looking over Gerald's file, a newer member of staff sees what you are doing and tells you that Gerald could not handle being held back from swimming, "freaked out," and smashed the place up. She then casually remarks that Jackson, one of the two staff who were restraining Gerald, has been "gunning for" (all over - hyper aware of) Gerald all week because he thinks Gerald stole his phone. She goes on to state that Jackson probably "wound Gerald up" on purpose. Staffing levels are poor just now. Jackson worked an evening shift yesterday and a double shift today. You are aware that he has been doing a lot of over time lately. 

1. Complete Critical Incident Report using the form below: Name of the Staff Reporting:

 Names of persons involved: 

Type of Incident: 

Date and Time of Incident:

 Location of Incident:

 Details of Incident (Outline the incident from your perspective):

 Actions Taken (Outline what you believe should happen in this case): 

Parties Notified: 

 2. Reflexive Relational Model Analysis: Use the following Bolded Headings to analyze the case study and how YOU feel about YOUR role in - what would you do in this situation? How would you feel? How would you decide the best course of action, based on the information you have from the case study? - you do not need to answer every question below the headings for every section, these questions are to help guide your analysis. Each heading section will likely be between 100 - 200 words and should be based on at least one of the analysis questions.

 

 Reflexivity: - What does this situation bring up for me, in terms of my body and my feelings? - How might my affective state influence my perceptions of what is happening? - What from your own background and upbringing is influencing your thoughts and feelings? - What further information do you find yourself wanting to know? - What are my values around the use of restraint?

 

 Relationality: - What is my current relationship to this young person? - What does this event tell me about our relationship? - How does this event impact other relationships in the residential program (between Gerald and the staff, between Gerald and the other young people)?

 

 Situational Details: - What is the ethical issue(s) at stake here?

 

 Ethical Theory: - What are the relevant duties, virtues, or outcomes according to theory? - What would an ethic of care suggest as the best course of action? 

 

Social Justice: - Are there any issues of difference (culture, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status) that are at play here? - What are the power dynamics of the situation? - Are there oppressive systems at work here? - Is advocating for social justice part of my responsibility here? 

 

Standards of Practice: - Which articles of the Standards for Practice of North American Child and Youth Care Professionals are relevant here? - How is my responsibility defined in those articles? 

 

 Legislation: - Is there legislation that applies in this situation? - How are the legal rights of the young person defined? Are their rights being honoured or violated? How is my legal duty defined?

 

Proposed Action: - What actions would promote the best outcomes and minimize harm? - Which actions fulfill my professional responsibility best? - Which actions are consistent with CYC Values? With my own values?

 

 Evaluation: - How confident am I in standing behind my decision and actions? - How willing would I be to share them with others I respect?

 

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Report of a critical incident Practice Student is the staff member reporting Gerald Jackson and another employee are the names of the parties involved Physical restraint and potential assault were t... View the full answer