ONTA STUDIO

PADS is a system designed to help care workers in education, health care, and habilitation environments create safe workplaces by teaching the critical skills necessary to successfully survive a physical assault with minimal injury. 

​

PADS was created because time after time we personally witnessed highly trained staff get injured, including serious career ending injuries, during the initial moments of an assault. After extensive research and experience we pinpointed the hole left by current training methodologies, and developed a system to address them.

​

PADS is not intended to replace your institution’s current nonviolent deescalation and intervention training. PADS is supplemental training designed to fill a critical gap left by other common training systems.  Most training systems focus on the time right before an assault, and the time immediately after.  There are many excellent systems which teach verbal and paraverbal deescalation skills and strategies designed to calm angry agitated people down, and thereby prevent assaults.  Likewise there are many excellent systems which teach various avoidance, control, restraint, and escort positions to safely control or move agitated violent individuals when deescalation is ineffective.

 

The flaw in most training methodologies is that they move from deescalation right into controls, skipping over the initial moments of the assault. But it is how staff react in this brief window, the crucial first ten seconds of an assault, that typically determines whether or not they will be seriously injured.  

 

We have developed techniques that allow staff to safely navigate the crucial initial seconds of an assault without sustaining serious injuries, allowing them to then implement the rest of the training they have received. As our system has evolved we have created a cutting edge methodology for teaching these techniques through drills, games, and roleplay scenarios which safely replicate the reality of a violent assault in a secure supportive environment, allowing staff to practice the appropriate responses until they become reflex.  All responses are physical but non-violent, in that they do not cause injury or harm to assaultive clients, while simultaneously keeping staff safe.

​

PADS training is typically taught in four hour seminar blocks, and consists of either our basic training of three blocks (12 hours of instruction), or our advanced training of six blocks (24 hours of instruction).  We are also available for safety consultation and custom training based on the specific needs of your organization. 

​

We have consulted or provided training with numerous local care providers, including Valley Court Diversion, and Orion House residential treatment programs, and currently provide ongoing training for staff at Howard Center, in a variety of different institutional settings, including staff who work in group homes with various populations, on the street outreach team, and in methadone clinic security.

​

Contact us using the form below to set up a consultation for your organization, and find out how we can help keep your staff safe during what is

​

​