Healthcare
National Leaders in Healthcare Consulting, De-Escalation Training, and Risk Management
Strategos International is a nationally recognized provider of healthcare security consulting, safety training, and threat prevention solutions, helping facilities improve preparedness, reduce risk, and protect staff and patients.
All of this with
40–50% Lower Investments.
Strategos International provides healthcare organizations with a comprehensive suite of safety and security solutions designed to protect your staff, patients, and facilities.
Strategos offers a broad range of critical services, including Physical Security Assessments, Active Assailant Response and De-Escalation Training for all clinical, support, and administrative staff, Uniformed Healthcare Protection Specialists and Executive Protection Solutions. Together, these programs deliver a holistic approach to creating safer environments, fostering confidence, and ensuring operational continuity in even the most challenging situations.
1. The S.A.F.E. Approach™ De-Escalation Training
Trauma-informed, care-first training designed to equip staff with the skills needed to prevent, manage, and de-escalate conflict.
2. Healthcare-Centric Physical Security Assessments
Strategos International offers specialized Healthcare-Centric Physical Security Assessments using the innovative Fortify healthcare physical security assessment software.
3 Active Assailant Response Training
Equip healthcare staff with strategies to recognize and respond to violent intruder situations, enhancing workplace safety.
4. Uniformed Healthcare Protection Specialists
Security professionals trained using a trauma-informed, care-first approach to integrate seamlessly into your team.
5. Executive Protection Solutions
Personalized security for high-profile individuals and executives, ensuring safety during travel and public engagements.
De-Escalation Training for Healthcare
The S.A.F.E. Approach™ is Strategos International’s trauma-informed method for de-escalation and crisis response. Built on principles of trauma-informed care, S.A.F.E. training teaches participants to recognize stress-driven behaviors, communicate calmly, establish safety, and reduce escalation while preserving dignity and trust. This practical approach helps organizations respond effectively to high-stress situations while supporting emotional well-being and safer outcomes for everyone involved.
About the Program
The S.A.F.E. Approach™ is an exciting training program designed specifically for those in the healthcare field where the effective use of verbal and non-verbal communication skills can reduce the risk of negative or violent encounters with patients, visitors and co-workers.
The S.A.F.E. Approach offers nursing contact hours for Levels I, II, & III. This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the Midwest Multistate Division, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
At the heart of The S.A.F.E. Approach is the concept of recognizing potentially hazardous situations and mitigating their impact, all while treating individuals with dignity and respect – a key component.
We know that compassion, empathy and a comprehensive understanding of human behavior can resolve or even prevent most conflicts. It\’s only on rare occasion that an individual must resort to some form of defensive posture or response, but it’s this key component of our training that separates The S.A.F.E. Approach from many others: our simple, effective and easy to remember methods for enhancing personal safety.
Curriculum Overview
The S.A.F.E. Approach offers nursing contact hours for Levels I, II, & III. This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the Midwest Multistate Division, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
We are fully aware of the demands placed on staff member\’s time. Every moment spent in training is time away from their ever important tasks. Therefore, our goal is to effectively train your staff, do so in a timely manner, and provide you with peace of mind knowing that your co-workers have the tools necessary to make sound competent decisions.
As you’ll notice, testing is an important component at each level. In order for the organization and The S.A.F.E. Approach to validate the learning process, each participant is tested on key information contained in their training. While not extremely difficult, this testing provides important feedback to the instructor and the organization as to the quality of instruction and materials and provides important feedback to administrators. Additionally, all students in Level II and Level III training receive handouts that are theirs to keep. This ensures that participants are afforded the opportunity to refer back to the techniques they have learned as needed.
There are generally three levels of training using The S.A.F.E. Approach method;
Level I (2 hours of CEU credit provided.)
Level I is a 2-hour block of instruction designed for those staff members who rarely, if ever, have care responsibility of patients. These individuals usually include office staff, phone operators, maintenance workers, housekeeping, food services, etc.
Level I Online (2 hours of CEU credit provided.)
An alternative we offer to classroom training is a customized computer-based training module designed for your organization\’s in-house Learning Management System. This method saves valuable resources as the employee may simply take the course while sitting at their workstation or anywhere computer training normally takes place, and takes approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Level I training includes topic such as:
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Customer Service
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Interpersonal Communication
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Safety Awareness, and
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Recognizing and Diffusing Conflict and Aggression
Level II (4 hours of CEU credit provided.)
Level II instruction is designed for those staff members who have responsibilities that include frequent patient contact. These individuals would include doctors, nurses, aides, technicians and others. Level II training includes Level I topics and adds two additional hours of instruction, for a total of four hours of training.
Many of the topics covered in Level II are taught in Level I. However, this level has the added component of Personal Safety Measures. We instruct the participant on how to protect themselves and potentially those around them before, during or after there has been a failure in communication.
Level II training includes topics such as:
• Customer Service
• Interpersonal Communication
• Recognizing and Diffusing Conflict and Aggression
• Personal Safety Measures including:
– How to avoid being trapped in a room
– Planning for escape as a matter of routine, before it’s too late
– How to quickly and effectively escape when you are hit, grabbed, knocked to the ground or in some way physically assaultedWe routinely receive positive feedback on this training. Not only do the participants often express their gratitude for the knowledge they receive, but they also appreciate their employer affording them this opportunity.
Level III (8 hours of CEU credit provided.)
Includes Level I and II with four additional hours added (8 hours, total) designed for those staff members who may or may not have frequent patient contact; however, they are often tasked with controlling and/or stabilizing disruptive or violent persons. Depending on your facility, these individuals may include both medical and non-medical staff members. This task may not only be hazardous for the patient and staff member, but it can open the organization to significant legal exposure if not performed and documented correctly. This training is especially important if your facility is confronted with situations involving trauma, mental illness, the elderly or drug and alcohol abuse.
Level III training encompasses all of the topics taught in Level II, but with the added component of restraint. One key component of this training is the team approach. Rather than rushing in with either no plan or a rather weak plan, we show participants how and why a careful, coordinated approach – utilizing proper communication and physical technique – will result in a successful restraint with minimal injury and complaint.
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Differentiators Between the S.A.F.E. Approach and Competitor Programs
1. Comprehensive and Balanced Approach (Verbal and Physical)
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Provides a structured balance between verbal de-escalation strategies, proactive situational awareness, and physical response training when necessary. It offers clear guidance on recognizing escalating behavior, applying communication techniques, and responding with measured, legal, and ethical physical interventions
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Competitor: Primarily focuses on verbal de-escalation, discouraging physical intervention unless absolutely necessary. While Competitor does provide some physical disengagement techniques, it places heavy emphasis on avoiding hands-on engagement.
2. Emphasis on Situational Awareness and Proactive Threat Recognition
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Incorporates a strong emphasis on mental awareness levels (oblivious, aware, focused, fight-or-flight) It teaches healthcare workers how to anticipate threats and intervene before a situation escalates, leveraging a law enforcement-based threat analysis model.
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Competitor: While Competitor does touch on situational awareness, it does not offer as structured or in-depth training on recognizing pre-incident indicators and proactive avoidance techniques.
3. Training in Physical Self-Defense and Patient Control Techniques
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Offers defensive tactics, including escaping grabs, chokes, and other attacks, as well as Stabilizing Arm Lock Techniques (SALT) for managing violent individuals The program recognizes that not all healthcare professionals will have security present and must sometimes protect themselves.
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Competitor: Competitor's Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (NCI) program focuses primarily on disengagement techniques rather than control techniques. While Competitor does include guidance on how to remove oneself from a dangerous situation, it does not emphasize physical control tactics.
4. Legal Considerations and Justifications for Use of Force
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Dedicates an entire module to legal concerns, covering reasonable use of force, self-defense laws, and documentation requirements It ensures that healthcare staff understand the legal justifications for intervention and the correct procedures for reporting incidents.
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Competitor: Focuses more on reducing liability through a hands-off approach. It promotes crisis intervention techniques that minimize legal risk but does not provide as much legal depth on self-defense and documentation.
5. Healthcare-Specific Adaptations and Real-World Scenarios
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Is designed specifically for healthcare settings, integrating practical scenarios from hospitals, nursing homes, and emergency departments. It accounts for patient rights, HIPAA compliance, and the unique challenges of working in medical environments
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Competitor: While it is widely used in healthcare, it is a more generalized program that is also marketed to education and social services, meaning some aspects may not be as tailored to healthcare’s unique challenges.
6. Train-the-Trainer Model and Implementation Flexibility
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Uses a train-the-trainer model, allowing organizations to have internal certified instructors. The training is designed to be scalable, meaning that an entire workforce can be trained efficiently by in-house personnel
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Competitor: Also uses a train-the-trainer model but requires Competitor certification renewals, often leading to higher long-term costs for organizations.
7. Realistic Conflict and Aggression Management Strategies
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Teaches real-world conflict management strategies based on law enforcement de-escalation, focusing on identifying aggression stages and applying verbal deflectors to redirect confrontational situations
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Competitor: Relies on empathetic communication but does not provide as structured a methodology for recognizing and defusing aggression at various levels.
8. Focus on Workplace Violence Prevention
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S.A.F.E. Approach: Aligns with OSHA and Joint Commission workplace violence prevention guidelines, ensuring compliance with safety regulations
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Competitor: Primarily focuses on reducing workplace disruptions but does not explicitly integrate OSHA and Joint Commission compliance strategies in as much depth.
The S.A.F.E. Approach is a superior alternative to Competitor for healthcare organizations by emphasizing:
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A Holistic Safety Model: Combining verbal de-escalation, situational awareness, and effective self-defense.
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Legally Defensible Training: Equipping staff with the knowledge to protect themselves while staying within legal guidelines.
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Custom-Tailored for Healthcare: Built specifically for the realities of hospitals, clinics, and mental health settings.
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Proactive Risk Mitigation: Teaching staff to recognize and prevent violence before it escalates.
9. Sustainable Protection Model – 40–50% Lower Total Investment
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S.A.F.E. Approach: engineered to eliminate the inflated licensing structures common in legacy security platforms. No escalating renewals.
No hidden add-ons. No tiered access to essential capabilities. -
Healthcare systems gain full operational functionality at a materially lower total cost of ownership — preserving both safety and margin of integrity.
Enterprise-level protection without inflated pricing, escalating contracts, or surprise upgrade fees. -
Competitors: Higher Initial and Recurring costs, Higher instructor certification fees, Per- participant material/ workbook costs, burden on client to track and store physical materials. Strategos provides electronic materials, curriculum licensing based on total staff, not per seat, among other features.
Why Healthcare Organizations Choose The S.A.F.E. Approach
A Holistic Safety Model: Combining verbal de-escalation, situational awareness, and effective self-defense.
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Legally Defensible Training: Equipping staff with the knowledge to protect themselves while staying within legal guidelines.
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Custom-Tailored for Healthcare: Built specifically for the realities of hospitals, clinics, and mental health settings.
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Proactive Risk Mitigation: Teaching staff to recognize and prevent violence before it escalates.
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The word Safe in The S.A.F.E. Approach™ tends to speak for itself; however, to further define our program, we use the acronym S.A.F.E. as follows:
S – Safety
The S.A.F.E. Approach™ method has the safety or everyone in mind. Those who participate in our training learn techniques that will keep them safe and others as well.
A – Attitude
It’s been said that, “We can’t control others actions; we can only control our own!” While this may be true in many encounters, we believe that our own attitude plays an important role in any encounter and has a strong influence on the attitude of others.
F – Focus
In order to be effective, we must maintain focus on the techniques taught. As we all are aware, habits form when we repeat routines of behavior. Done enough, these habits become subconscious activities.
E – Empathy
Empathy has been defined as “the capacity to recognize, and to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another.” It is an important component of The S.A.F.E. Approach™ method.
The S.A.F.E. Approach™
(Safety. Attitude. Focus. Empathy.)
Delivers specialized training across six critical areas, ensuring a holistic approach to workplace safety and violence prevention:
The S.A.F.E. Approach has delivered measurable results for healthcare organizations, transforming workplace environments and boosting staff morale.
Physical Security Assessments for Healthcare
Strengthening Safety, Confidence, and Care Delivery
Strategic Consulting
Healthcare organizations face increasing safety and security challenges, including workplace violence, behavioral health incidents, access control failures, and emergency response gaps. A comprehensive Physical Security Assessment provides healthcare leadership with a clear, defensible understanding of vulnerabilities and a prioritized roadmap for improving safety—without compromising patient care or the healing environment.
Strategos International delivers expert-led healthcare security assessments tailored to hospitals, emergency departments, clinics, and behavioral health settings. Our assessments move beyond checklists to provide actionable insight, aligning safety strategy with operational realities, regulatory expectations, and budgetary considerations, and support compliance with TJC, CMS, and DNV.
Preparedness Training
While workplace violence has been a leading cause of occupational injury and death in the United States for decades, healthcare organizations have been the most disproportionately impacted. While healthcare presents its own unique occupational hazards, no employee deserves to live in fear or anxiety of violence. Strategos International helps eliminate this fear through healthcare violence prevention training that educate and empower individuals to make decisive, informed decisions in uncertain times.
The S.A.F.E. Approach™ is Strategos International’s trauma-informed method for de-escalation and crisis response. Built on principles of trauma-informed care, S.A.F.E. training teaches participants to recognize stress-driven behaviors, communicate calmly, establish safety, and reduce escalation while preserving dignity and trust. This practical approach helps organizations respond effectively to high-stress situations while supporting emotional well-being and safer outcomes for everyone involved.
A Care-First approach to protecting your facilities.
Specialized Protection
Healthcare Protection Specialists (HPS): At Strategos International, our Healthcare Protection Specialists are dedicated to safeguarding hospitals, clinics, and healthcare facilities with a trauma-informed, care-first approach. Recognizing the unique challenges of healthcare environment—from workplace violence to behavioral health crises—our specialists, both armed and unarmed, are expertly trained to protect staff, patients, and visitors while fostering a healing atmosphere aligned with your facility’s mission.
Why Healthcare Protection Specialists?
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Workplace Violence: Managing aggressive behaviors in emergency departments and behavioral health units with de-escalation techniques.
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Behavioral Health Crises: Supporting patients in mental health distress with empathy and trauma-informed strategies.
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Patient Elopement: Preventing unauthorized departures while respecting patient dignity.
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Family Interactions: Navigating emotionally charged situations with families and visitors to maintain calm and safety.