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Essential Tips to Keep in Mind During Your Home Visit
By Betsy Cauble, PhD, MSW

Social workers are five times more likely than the overall workforce to sustain an injury from workplace violence, according to research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those conducting home visits can be exposed to particularly unpredictable and unstable environments. While many visits are uneventful, others can quickly escalate into dangerous situations, requiring preparation and quick thinking. During my decades as a social worker, these key tips helped me stay safe while doing home visits.

Know Where You Are Going
Understanding the circumstances regarding your visit is an important first step. Get as much information as you can about the situation and clients involved. Reviewing client intake forms that may indicate a history of violence or substance abuse can help you prepare for what you may face on the visit. Knowing the neighborhood in advance allows you to take steps to protect yourself, such as going earlier in the morning when more people are asleep. Researching the situation before entering it is key to preparing for and avoiding potentially threatening situations.

Communicate With Others
Make sure someone knows the location, time, and expected duration of your visit. This person will likely be your supervisor or colleague, and they should be on call in the case of an emergency. Keep your work phone charged and with you at all times. If you find yourself in potential danger, leave and call for help immediately.

Assess Your Environment
When arriving at a home, assess your surroundings. Look for anyone lingering around the house or watching you enter. Threats don’t just exist within the home, so staying alert for them at all times is essential. When you enter the home, maintain an unobstructed path to the door and take note of any other exits. Remaining vigilant and thinking ahead is the first step in ensuring an uneventful home visit.

Use Your Training
Some clients can be very volatile. Use your assessment and anger management training to determine whether a client is safe to enter into a home with. If not, ask to meet on the porch or at another open location. Be aware of both your verbal and nonverbal communication, such as body language and facial expressions. Proactively working to keep patients calm and assure them that you are not a threat allows you to mitigate the threat of outbursts. Still, stay sensitive to any changes in attitude, body language, or behaviors that indicate agitation. Behaviors such as glaring or standing too close are clear warning signs. If a client becomes unmanageable, leave the situation promptly.

Listen to Your Intuition
Your intuition is a survival instinct—listen to it. If you feel a sense of unease or discomfort, don’t disregard those warnings. Rather than risking your well-being by forging ahead, consider alternative options to protect yourself and your client.

Social work can be dangerous and taxing, but it is also rewarding. Social workers have the opportunity to greatly impact society by coming alongside people during some of their most difficult struggles. At the same time, working with people during their darkest moments can lead to high emotions and tensions that escalate into violence. Thinking through the client, situation, and potential outcomes beforehand is key to preparing for whatever you may encounter so that you can help them get back on their feet.

— Betsy Cauble, PhD, MSW, is a board member at Preferra Insurance Company RRG—a behavioral health liability insurance company overseen by social workers—and the retired department head and associate professor of social work emeritus at Kansas State University.