Restraints and seclusion can mean a number of different things. Seclusion in its most mild form can simply refer to giving a child a time-out and separating them from the rest of the group that they’re with. In its most severe form it can refer to placing a child in locked padded room, and leaving them there unsupervised for hours at a time. Restraint similarly can mean anything as mild as simply separating two youths who are fighting and restraining them in such a way that keeps them from continuing their fight to something as severe as a five point face down restraint on a gurney while being injected with drugs.
In between these extremes are points in between that include time out rooms, use of bucket holds, four point face-up restraints, and chemical restraints. While restraints and seclusion are sometimes necessary to protect the life or health of the person being restrained or secluded, or those around that person, it is incumbent on the people using these measures to use the least invasive procedure. Use of mechanical (four-point, five-point) restraints have a track record of re-traumatizing the person involved.
Sadly, even though restraints and seclusion should only be used for safety measures, they are often used as punishment or as a coercive threat in numerous facilities.
CAFETY takes the position that it should be the goal of facilities to eliminate the use of mechanical and chemical restraints, and adopt more humane measures to alleviate crisis situations. Furthermore, the use of restraint and seclusion as a form of punishment or coercive threat should be abolished.
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