Book excerpt: Once upon a time it was safe to go to work. Maybe that’s a fairy tale because the times have certainly changed. Increased violence has become part of our everyday life, be it at home or at work. We read about it daily in the newspaper and are bombarded with violent stories from the television and radio. PROtect Yourself Now! Violence Prevention for Healthcare Workers provides an integrative, non-violent approach to dealing with physical aggression and verbal threat. Its method of information delivery is designed to help you develop greater awareness and vigilance, hone observational and judgment skills & to learn communication techniques to defuse potentially volatile situations. Physical interventions such as restraining techniques and break-away techniques may be mentioned throughout this manual but are not expanded upon as they are beyond the scope of the manual. In a professional nursing career spanning four decades, working mainly in mental health & psychiatry, veteran nurse Rae A. Stonehouse shares sage advice for managing violence in healthcare settings. PROtect Yourself Now!Violence Prevention for Healthcare Workers is a practical "how to" manual that will enable you to... * assess and identify disturbed/aggressive behavior * provide effective therapeutic interventions for the benefit of your clients * develop winning attitudes to prevent aggressive behavior * utilize communication & leadership techniques to avoid client escalation and prevent disturbed behavior * recognize the effects of your body language in resolving a crisis * identify the influence that health care staff have on violence by a client * recognize a bully at work and develop strategies to minimize their damage * recognize and support a colleague that is experiencing the effects of compassion fatigue... and much more! Rae A. Stonehouse is the author of a dozen or so personal/professional self-development, self-help books and brings an easy, conversational style of writing to his publications. PROtect Yourself Now!Violence Prevention for Healthcare Workers is for anyone who works in healthcare and interacts with patients, the public and even your own coworkers. This book helps you understand the causes of violence and how to develop strategies to protect yourself from mental or physical injury. Protect yourself now!