Dynamic Conflict De-escalation Training

Our conflict de-escalation training will take you and your staff through dynamic realistic scenarios which will help develop stress inoculation, muscle memory, self-confidence and confidence in each other. 

Learn More

Dynamic Conflict De-escalation Training

Our conflict de-escalation training will take you and your staff through dynamic realistic scenarios which will help develop stress inoculation, muscle memory, self-confidence and confidence in each other.

Learn More

Conflict De-escalation Training

Does Your Staff Need Conflict De-escalation Training?

Suddenly finding yourself dealing with an angry, loud, confrontational person is shocking and scary.   I’m John Riley, a retired police officer and certified crisis intervention specialist with the National Anger Management Association.

Beginning as a mission and ministry for church staff and volunteers, my team and I now travel all over the United States conducting Conflict De-escalation Training seminars.  Between my instructors and I we will bring over 100 years of practical conflict de-escalation experience to help you and your staff develop the skills and confidence to deal with a difficult person, and prevent a volatile situation from becoming a critical violent incident.  My team and I are a critical part of your risk management planning.

I am not just another lecture presentation, you and your staff will go through dynamic, realistic scenarios which will help develop stress inoculation, muscle memory, self confidence and confidence in each other.  You and your staff will also get real time feedback as to what was done right and what can be tweaked and done differently.  You can sit through another lecture, or get up and actually do some training!  Contact me and let’s set up a training date!

When Tension Rises
A gentle response book on conflict de-escalation with a ministry mindset
practical de-escalation for Patrol book for law enforcement

Who Needs De-escalation Training?

  • Churches
  • Healthcare professionals
  • Businesses
  • Corporations
  • State agencies
  • Teachers/education professionals
  • Law enforcement
  • Security guards

Get started with three easy steps!

Step 1 – Contact me so I can assess your specific needs.

Step 2 – Set up training date and time

Step 3 – Conduct training

Accreditations

Faith Based Security Network FBSN
NAMA National Anger Management Association
Certified Crisis Intervention Specialist

Testimonials

Thank you for helping teach awareness to the situation and “scene safety”. It’s something that is not taught enough to our ER staff.

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Very informative presentation, great scenarios! Please offer this training during nurse residency!

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Very engaging and funny! You made the presentation and scenarios relatable to my work environment. Thank you for helping me to become more aware of my surroundings. Best training class I’ve attended!

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Instruction was engaging and REALISTIC! Other courses don’t focus enough on how to recognize threats and de-escalate situations. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to keep themselves or their colleauges safe. Scenarios are realistic, just like real patients in the hospital; the instructors were unpredictable. It did not feel scripted.

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Great presentation! Kept it simple to reflect it’s not hard to apply these situations. Great scenarios that applied to us!

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Knowledgeable and relatable, you kept my interest because you made it personal. You were easy to listen to. The scenarios were the best in these kinds of training courses that I’ve ever experienced.

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Loved how you provided real-life scenarios and personal experiences! Thank you for making it feel real and legitimate compared to other safety classes, ie CPI! Something I will actually use as a nurse in practice!

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

I had fun! The class was very engaging, I like that the instructor had lots of years of experience. The role players were realistic to actual situations I’ve been a part of. Role players were great at giving feedback.

ER Nurse

Nov 2025, Trinity Health Hospital Grand Rapids

Hey Brother, I have to praise you for a minute. I was at the BMV this morning and a guy who was off his meds or whatever, focused on me and the gentleman who walked in behind me. He started off ” there is 2 of them fn cops now” I’m sick of them harassing me all the time. One lady at the other end of the counter said she would help me so I went down there. He kept running his jaw directed specifically at me now. I was standing there thinking what I would do depending on his actions. It got so bad the lady in charge tried to get him to calm down repeatedly. I thought to myself how many times I had heard you say ” take a deep breath, access the situation and don’t do something that may escalate it” I followed that advice and even though my first thought was to stay there until he left I didn’t, because it was obvious my presence was keying him up. Anyway thanks for all you do Brother, it’s hard to contemplate how many bad situations your influence has avoided

Christopher Lawrence

March, 2025, The Forge Christian Ministries

Your principles are eye-opening! Thank you for your energy and knowledge, real scenarios help to learn, physically doing the scenarios was very helpful!

Trinity Lutheran Church

Grand Rapids, MI, March, 2025

Good to have situational awareness, helpful to recognize that I need to be aware of situation and not just focus on empathy for person!

Trinity Lutheran Church

Grand Rapids, MI, March, 2025

I liked John’s presentation style! Confident and well-spoken, great examples and stories. Good, aggressive role-playing! I was shocked at how unsettled I initially felt in these situations! This was fantastic content! I was impressed with John and his wisdom!

Trinity Lutheran Church

Grand Rapids, MI, March, 2025

Good tips and explanations of how to approach potentially dangerous situations. Take a breath, don’t react too fast. Great presentation, engaging, time went very quickly. I appreciate the tolls we learned today!  

 

Trinity Lutheran Church

Grand Rapids, MI, March, 2025

Very well presented! Very believable! A very valuable experience!

Jim Coates

Trinity Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, MI, March, 2025

It was engaging, invaluable, and authentic.  The scenarios were phenomenal, so realistic and plausible.
Shea V.

Crossroads Bible Church, Sept 2022

John was awesome!  His presentation skills are excellent, information was powerful and relevant.  All 4 role players were awesome and believable!  And their follow up was very helpful.  Scenarios were good and challenging.
Stephanie W.

Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, June 2022

Excellent training, exceeded my expectations!   Training I did not know I needed!
Barbara B.

Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, June 2022

This was unlike any class I’ve taken, loved this class!  Hate it!  Love it!  This helps and feels real!  
Nikki H.

Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, June 2022

Love the entire program!  Appreciate the real life scenarios.  Your program NEEDS to be taught at every municipality! 
Cynthia F.

Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, June 2022

I plan to suggest this training to the rest of my coworkers, most of them could benefit from this great experience.  I love that the scenarios were done with only 2 people, I have done this type of training before but we played the scenarios in front of the class with everyone watching and it was much more stressful and everyone tended to perform poorly because of it.
Kari L.

Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, June 2022

Very much enjoyed the instruction.  Very Effective.  Not usually a fan of scenarios/role play but this was very effective, I learned a lot! 
Tina P.

City of Wayne, MI, September 2022

This whole presentation had skills that could be applied to everyday life situations, not just at work.
Patricia T.

City of Wayne, MI, September 2022

Very well done. Once again, thank you for all your work. I was genuinely impressed with the reactions from the participants. The participants were very amped up and were truly impressed with the training and what they didn’t know. Everyone thanked me for bringing your team in and for the professional quality training they received. I truly look forward to next week when the rest of the staff and volunteers get to experience this training. 
Kevin Van Horn

Elder/Security Director, Ravenna Baptist Church, Jan 2021

Thank you for the training John.  Your material and especially your life experience made me feel much more confident.  The feedback from instructor/role players was one of the most valuable parts of the training.
Stephen Vanden Toorn

Church Security, Resurrection Life Church, Grandville, MI Jan 2021

I appreciate the combo of lecture and real life scenarios. Also loved the wrap up at the end.
Staff member

Resurrection Life Church, Grandville, MI, Jan 2021

So informative, so helpful, very real scenarios and great instructors!  This is my second time doing this training and I am so glad I did it again.
Rachel Brouwer

Resurrection Life Church, Grandville, MI Jan 2021

This training was very intense, forcing us to deal with difficult situations – Very beneficial training!!
Matt K

Southwest Protestant Reformed

John’s training at our facility was outstanding. John spent a lot of time explaining the formula for successfully de-escalating an incident and provided a realistic and constructive environment to practice what we learned. I highly recommend John’s program for any organization who wants to provide their staff the necessary tools to navigate dealing with difficult situations or people.
Jon Fey

Physical Security Specialist, Van Andel Institute

Excellent scenarios, excellent instructor/role players!  This was exactly what we face every day, very helpful!
Kim B

Forge Staffing, South Bend, Indiana June 2019

Scenarios were well thought out and presented real possibilities, for me to have to act it out was very helpful.  I was placed in an uncomfortable position with the scenarios, this is a good thing because I now know more about how I will react and can prepare mentally.
Nate P

Southwest Protestant Reformed

Very engaging!  John did an amazing job, when I first told the staff about this training they were not thrilled, thinking it would be just another lecture, but now they want more!  The scenario instructors did an amazing job, I really enjoyed the training, so engaging, so real life!
Theresa R

Manager of Operations, Forge Staffing, South Bend, Indiana June 2019

I had fun, excellent scenarios and instructor/role players, amazing knowledge and acting!  Made me feel as though I was in a real situation!
Nick H

Manager of Operations, Forge Staffing, South Bend, Indiana, June 2019

I was surprised by the quality of the acting in the role playing!  Good job!  I think it was very good instruction, it made me really think about what I will have to do in a stressful situation.
Jim D.

March 2018 Workshop, Kalamazoo, MI

Loved the real life situations in the scenarios, very valuable feedback from the instructor/role players.  Awareness is one of the most important nuggets I took away!  Thank you so much for seeing the need for this type of training!
Jodi

March 2018 Workshop, Kalamazoo, MI

Great speaker, role players are great!  I enjoyed learning ways to handle different situations that are out of control.
Marta S.

Marian Burch Adult Daycare facility, Battle Creek, MI

The material was excellent!  The role plays were great and nerve racking in the best way!  They opened my eyes to not only talk about the situations but what to do in actuality!

I feel more confident!

Adam S.

Ravenna Baptist Church, Jan 2021

Excellent presentation! You rock!  The instructors gave good comments that built upon completion of each scenario.  We were able to use what we learned from the first 2 scenarios on the last 2 scenarios.
Morgan Gudino

Resurrection Life Church, Grandville, MI Jan 2021

Excellent presentation, knowledgable, really enjoyed the training!  Really a great job playing diverse scenarios!
Stephanie Kolakowski

President, Grow Business Today, Jan 2021

The scenarios were helpful and raised awareness of the types of situations we can face.  By the time we got to our last scenario, we felt well equipped.
Deb Kirgis

Resurrection Life Church, Grandville, MI Jan 2021

I attended John’s seminar for the first time and it was AMAZING. I have experience in this field and still learned a lot. The program and info itself is top notch. Add to that John’s style and Charisma and this is a high caliber learning experience. From the lecture phase to the practical, it was engaging and made you want to be there. I highly recommend this program and can’t speak highly enough of John. Great Job, John!
Shane McLean

Pastor

Excellent training at Res Life this past weekend. Solid, practical teaching and then, super, get your “calm” tested scenarios. I recommend this “Gentle Response De-escalation” for everyone, especially those who encounter people.

Accept the ability to be light and a peacemaker and practice the art!

Mike Kemple

Missional Chaplins

I had fun!  Excellent scenarios, very believable!  Super educational, glad for the reminder to look for weapons, I never think to do that!
Tammy M

Forge Staffing, South Bend, Indiana June 2019

Excellent presentation!  John demonstrated a command of subject matter without coming across in a condenscending manner, very engaging.  Appreciated all of the post scenario critique.
Jim D

Resurrection Life church

The role playing is key for this training, I loved it!  I checked my fitbit afterwards to see that my heart rate had escalated.
Russ

Resurrection Life church

The scenarios might have well been actually happening.  Great learning experience due to the reality.  This would be an excellent series annually to cover different scenarios.
Kurt

Crossroads Bible church

Great presentation, very informative and helpful.  I learned a great deal of useful information, I will definitely utilize the training we learned today!  The scenario instructors did amazing jobs, your collective experience is invaluable! I feel so much more confident about handling volatile situations and people!
Heather T

Forge Staffing, South Bend, Indiana, June 2019

Overall this was fantastic, presentation was engaging and interesting!  I really felt like this was a fantastic class, super useful and practical!
Eric P

Southwest Protestant Reformed

What an amazing experience our staff at Marian Burch Adult Day Center had! This program was so very well put together, and the hands on training that is provided is so valuable. Absolutely beneficial for people who work in health care! Keep up the great work!!
Amy B.

Marian Burch Adult Daycare Center, Battle Creek, MI

A gentle response defuses anger… Proverbs 15:1 MSG

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