Course Description

Client resistance and verbal conflict is a daily part of life for probation officers, parole officers, and treatment specialists. Clients frequently resist motivational interviewing, fail to provide proof that they are seeking employment, and fail to follow through on counseling appointments. At times they can become argumentative and evening threatening. What options do we have for handling resistance and noncompliance other than formal sanctions? Yet community corrections professionals are expected to only use formal sanctions sparingly. Have we been trained how to handle client resistance to compliance in a tactful, professional, and successful way? Have we been given tools for motivating compliance in ways that do not always have to fall back on threats of formal sanctions? Perhaps this may be an area where our training tapes have run out, where we do our best to improvise, based on trial and error. Wouldn’t it be better to have training in evidence-based techniques to help us deal with verbal conflict, and overcome client psychological resistance / noncompliance?

Surviving Verbal Conflict® verbal de-escalation training can provide community corrections professionals with time-tested, evidence-based communication skills proven to help de-escalate volatile situations, safeguard officers’ emotional and professional well-being, and significantly enhance the agency’s professional image. 

This 2-hour webinar is a brief primer of the full Surviving Verbal Conflict® course. This webinar will introduce the attendee to the basic tenants of the Surviving Verbal Conflict® system. It will give the attendee a basic foundation in verbal de-escalation skills that the attendee can start to practice and apply right away in their jobs. Attendees who do follow through on practicing the basic skills taught in this webinar will be well on their way to becoming more effective professionals in interpersonal communication.

Course Topics:

  • Improve public safety professionals’ verbal communication skills
  • How to apply Rhetoric- Aristotle’s Art of Persuasion (The art of using speech to persuade) when deflecting & redirecting verbal abuse
  • Develop an understanding of Chief Dolan’s “Guardians of the Peace” concept “Language of the Street Fallacy”, “TUI Pattern” (texting, typing or talking under the influence)
  • Defuse potentially volatile verbal encounters
  • Avoid the “Rope-A-Dope Syndrome”
  • Understand the importance of managing “Hyper vigilance”
  • Raise organizational morale and grasp the concept of “Police Legitimacy”
  • Manage your verbal triggers & sidestep the “Niagara Falls Walk”
  • Significantly enhance the agency’s image throughout the community

Practice “Verbal Contact & Cover” principles

Apply the FAA’s “Sterile Cockpit Rule” on duty

Understand the importance of “Chief Dolan’s 24 Hour Rule” as a key component of communication success

Instructor

CEO, Dolan Consulting Group

| Chief Harry Dolan (Ret.)

Harry P. Dolan is a 32-year police veteran who served as a Chief of Police since 1987. As one of the nation's most experienced police chiefs, he brings 25 years of public safety executive experience to Dolan Consulting Group. He retired in October 2012 as Chief of Police of the Raleigh (N.C.) Police Department, an agency comprised of nearly 900 employees in America's 42nd largest city.

Chief Dolan began his law enforcement career in 1980 as a deputy sheriff in Asheville, North Carolina and served there until early 1982, when he joined the Raleigh Police Department, where he served as a patrol officer. In 1987, he was appointed Chief of Police for the N.C. Department of Human Resources Police Department, located in Black Mountain. He served as Chief of Police in Lumberton, N.C. from 1992 until 1998, when he became Chief of Police of the Grand Rapids, Michigan Police Department. He served in that capacity for nearly ten years before becoming Chief of the Raleigh Police Department in September 2007. As Chief, he raised the bar at every organization and left each in a better position to both achieve and sustain success.

Harry Dolan has lectured throughout the United States and has trained thousands of public safety professionals in the fields of Leadership & Management, Communications Skills, and Community Policing. Past participants have consistently described Chief Dolan's presentations as career changing, characterized by his sense of humor and unique ability to maintain participants' interest throughout his training sessions. Chief Dolan's demonstrated ability to connect with his clientele and deliver insightful instruction all with uncompromising principles will be of tremendous value in the private sector.

Chief Dolan's unbridled passion to achieve service-excellence is a driving force behind Dolan Consulting Group. He is a graduate of Western Carolina University and holds a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and Management from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Before You Start

    • Consent Questions

    • Webinar Handout
  • 2

    Webinar

    • Surviving Verbal Conflict®: Overcoming Client Verbal Resistance for Community Corrections Professionals | Hour 1

    • Surviving Verbal Conflict®: Overcoming Client Verbal Resistance for Community Corrections Professionals | Hour 2