What is Safewards?
Safewards is an evidence-based model of care, developed in England by Professor Len Bowers, for reducing conflict (such as aggression and absconding) and containment (such as seclusion and restraint) on mental health wards. It explains the flashpoints that lead to conflict and gives staff ten practical interventions to prevent them. It is now used in mental health units and emergency departments across Australia.
What is a Safewards Champion?
A Safewards Champion is a staff member trained to lead the model on their own unit — modelling the interventions, coaching colleagues and keeping fidelity high after the training ends. In the Xantha Champion Program, champions complete the online Safewards In Practice masterclass and a one-day Interventions Simulation Workshop with simulated patients.
Do you deliver Safewards training outside Western Australia?
Yes. Xantha is based in Perth but delivers Safewards training on site across Australia, and has worked with health services in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT, the Northern Territory and Tasmania as well as WA.
Which staff should attend?
Nurses, consultants, allied health, security and administrative staff — anyone who interacts with a consumer. Mixed groups work best because the interventions depend on a shared approach.
How much time does a champion need?
The online masterclass takes one to two hours, self-paced, and is opened up to two weeks before the workshop. The Interventions Simulation Workshop is a single eight-hour day.
Can we run it ourselves after the first cohort?
Yes. Train the Trainer certifies your facilitators, and the Simulation Kit gives them the guide, costumes, character cards and props to run Woop Woop General Hospital on their own wards.
Do you work outside mental health?
Increasingly, yes: emergency departments have been the fastest-growing setting, and the same method underpins Care Under Pressure for general and private hospitals.
