Personal safety on a home visit
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should appreciate the risks to personal safety that social workers can encounter on home visits and understand what precautions can or should be taken.
As social workers we are working with people at their most vulnerable and with those vulnerabilities can come possible risk factors; domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental ill health. In addition to this we are making difficult decisions about families and may be telling them that we are asking the court to remove their children.
As a result of the work we do we may put ourselves in positions of risk and therefore it is essential we do everything that we can to ensure our personal safety and the safety of those we work with.
This guide will help you to do that.
Reflective Questions
- Have you ever considered yourself to be in a position of risk and if so how did you handle it?
- On reflection would you handle a situation you have dealt with previously, in a different way?
- Who do you think would be the service users who would present the greatest risk to you?
- Do you think it is more risky working in children, or adult services?