De-escalating During Phone Calls

De-escalation skills are essential for supporting distressed, angry, or dysregulated behaviour.

However, de-escalating over the phone can often present a specific set of challenges:

• • We cannot see what a person’s body language is communicating

• • We may not know the individual we are talking to

• • We may not have a strong relationship with the other person

• • We are not able to change the environment for the conversation

In this guide, we offer 6 practical solutions to de-escalation on the phone. While every situation is different, these can be adapted to suit your individual context. There is also a handy checklist to refer to at the end.