You are on duty in one of the tougher units where there is often hair-trigger tension amongst an often hardheaded and competitive group. One of the leading tasks of the unit is to work at non-violent conflict handling – and this group certainly provides enough material to work on!

A situation arises where you have to make a tough call. Two youths are squaring up over a billiard cue that one of them has broken in frustration. These two are key members in two distinct groups in the unit, and the stakes of this clash can quickly spiral. You decide in the moment to put the immediate circumstances above the unit’s general goals — you quickly close off your section of the unit to dampen down any possible spread of disorder.

*    *    *

It’s at time like this that we are reminded of our accountability to the team as a whole, and specifically of our association with our staff colleague on the floor. The person next to us may be any or all of ...

• Our co-worker with whom we consult and share decisions, who may or may not always see things as we see them and who may agree or disagree with our actions.
• Our back-up on whom we may decide to call – or not – depending on the circumstances, and the person who may just as well call on us for support..
• The staff member with a specific role in this group such as arbitrator, crisis intervener, group leader.
• A team member with longer service, more senior position, further training and to whom you would normally defer ... or a less experienced colleague whom you should be exposing increasingly to wider experience.
• Your role-model to whom you look up to and who mentors you in your occupation — or vice-versa, the person who models on you and relies on you.
• Your practice critic who, simply in the role of colleague, participates in your team supervision and shares responsibility for your professional growth.
• Your personal friend with whom you share a degree of your after-hours life, and which you have to scrupulously monitor insofar as private and working life can interfere with each other.

All this in the blink of an eye as we do our difficult work. We could lose this quality of collegial presence by closing ourselves off from this awareness — but certainly both we and the young people we work with gain immeasurably when we share our practice, in trust and openness, with our fellow care workers.