Violence in the workplace is a concern of many members. Learning self-defence skills is one way to mitigate risk. To that end, VPSA recently hosted a self-defence workshop with members from a cross-section of departments taking part.

VPSA Community Building and Wellness Task Group member Dr. Anna Borowska welcomed participants and introduced martial arts expert Master Michael Sirota. Under his guidance, the group learned some awareness and prevention strategies, basic striking and escaping techniques, and boundary setting and verbal assertiveness methods. The goal of the workshop was to build confidence and enable quick decision-making. Participants were enthusiastic with some keen to further develop their new-found skills.

Photos from the workshop are available here.

Survey feedback

Seven members completed the post-event survey with 100 per cent agreeing that the event supported their well-being and that they had learned something new or felt their self-defence skills improved during the workshop. Respondents gave the event a net-promoter score of 85.71.

Comments included:

• Wonderful event! I enjoyed connecting with colleagues, learning something new, and having fun together. I hope there will be more events like this.
• It was a lot of fun. Enjoyed talking to others. The instructor was great and provided some good tips for self-defence.
• Great session; good teacher.
• Great self-defence workshop. Fun and educational. Need more follow-up sessions.
• Fun and useful.

Violence prevention in the workplace

VPSA has heard concerns about physical safety and works with VCH to draw awareness to the current measures/programs in place and to make improvements.

VCH provides programs, resources, and services to help create a secure and supportive work environment. Key offerings include the SafeWalk program. Available at VCH sites to support safe travel on property, especially during off-hours by calling 604-214-7338 or your site’s local number. Other resources include violence prevention tools such as de-escalation tips and incident reporting, and the Protection Services Threat Assessment Program to address threats or acts of targeted violence. Staff are encouraged to promptly report urgent security concerns to Protection Services, emergencies to 911, and all acts of aggression or violence to the Provincial Workplace Health Call Centre at 1-866-922-9464. Psychological health and safety toolkits, training sessions, and “Safety Moments” conversation guides are also available to help teams strengthen workplace safety culture.

VPSA working with VCH has created a document outlining supports available to members for violence prevention. This includes customized violence prevention education sessions that are available from VCH’s violence prevention team. Read more here.

In addition, sessional funding is available for VPSA members to participate on VCH’s regional violence prevention committees. This includes its Vancouver Acute high risk units violence prevention working group and its PHC and VCH workplace violence acute committee. Read more here.

Ideas for other events?

The self-defence workshop was an initiative of VPSA’s Community Building & Wellness Task Group. We want to hear from you about ideas for VPSA events and/or workshops. Share your brainwaves with us and we’ll direct your suggestion(s) to the relevant VPSA committee or task group for their consideration and action. Please complete this form. Let’s care, connect and collaborate!