Assignment Task:
A 10-year-old male client named John is being helped by Barry, a residential support worker, in a one-on-one home. John is receiving residential care away from his home and has been subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse by numerous family members. John has a history of attacking employees and causing property damage. He is described as angry, aggressive, and explosive. Around 3 p.m., Barry had just started his shift and had noticed that John was not having a very good day.
Barry asked John how he was feeling. John looked at Barry and instantly exploded, he started yelling that his life was none of Barry's business. John screamed and cursed at Barry as he leapt onto the couch and came within 10 centimetres of Barry's face.
John then threw the clock at Barry hitting him in the stomach. Barry got up and suggested that they go get something to eat to divert John from his rant. John disregarded this and carried on yelling and hurling objects at Barry.
Barry became afraid when John grabbed up a chair and tossed it; he noticed his heart rate had quickened, his hands were shaking, and he felt like he was going to throw up. He advised John that his behaviour was unacceptable and that he was going to the office until John made up his mind to calm down.
John started banging on the door after Barry had shut himself in the office and threatened to kill him. He kept throwing items around the house but repeatedly returned to the office door to threaten Barry with death if he ever got a hold of him. At this stage, Barry called the on-call supervisor and asked for advice on how to handle the situation because he was terrified for his safety and had no idea what to do. He also requested that the on-call supervisor come to the house. Barry was in a panic. John made the decision to go outside, where he picked up a brick, and threw it through the office window because Barry was not responding.
Barry remained unresponsive as he yelled at him from outside the damaged office window.
"I'm going to kill myself," yelled John. Barry decided to call the ambulance due to the serious risk after immediately considering all the household tools that John could use to harm himself. Barry was weighing up his fear for his own safety against his duty of care to keep his client secure. John had calmed down so Barry made the decision to walk outside and have a calm conversation with John about the approaching ambulance because John was no longer endangering him. John was informed by Barry that he needed to go to the hospital to seek care. John drew quite near to Barry and started yelling angrily and boldly that he wouldn't go with anyone or get help. He raged at Barry for making the call and warned him to hurt him for "sticking his nose in where it wasn't welcome." Barry backed away from John and made another call to the On-Call Supervisor, then called the police
When the ambulance arrived, John started throwing rocks at the ambulance officers when they tried to speak with him. They waited in the ambulance for the police to show up.
Barry advised John to cool off and refrain from hurting the ambulance officers. John then pushed his body into Barry while shouting, "What are you going to do about it?"
The On-Call Supervisor arrived just in time. The On-Call Supervisor walked up and spoke to John telling him to go and sit on the verandah. He complied. Barry was sitting in the same area and listened in. The On-Call Supervisor proceeded to utilise the crisis training techniques in talking with John and managed to get John to agree calmly to go with the ambulance to be assessed at the hospital for his mental health needs. Once John had gone, the police arrived and they completed willful damage reports as they were no longer needed for John's escalation. The On-Call Supervisor then asked Barry to come down the street and sit in the car to debrief.
Question: Consider the entire scenario. Detail the indicators of risk to the staff member Barry, in this scenario. (Current or as a result of this incident.)