Acute Behavioural Disturbance: Recognition and Response for Nursing Staff
28 Jan 2026, 14:30 - 15:45
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Join us for this webinar on Acute Behavioural Disturbance, to gain vital insights into this all too often overlooked presentation.
Acute Behavioural Disturbance (ABD) is an umbrella term for a presentation of symptoms which include extreme agitation, tachycardia, rapid breathing, and paranoia. ABD can be rapidly life‑threatening if not recognised and managed promptly, yet it is widely misunderstood and not always recognised by clinicians. For nurses, awareness and early intervention are essential to safeguard patients and colleagues.
Join us for this webinar, hosted by a clinical expert and an expert by experience, to gain vital insights into this all too often overlooked presentation.
This webinar is aimed at all nursing staff, but may be of particular interest to those working in acute and emergency care, mental health, and forensic and justice health settings.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Describe acute behavioural disturbance (ABD) and its key clinical features.
- Recognise early warning signs and risk factors associated with ABD to support timely and safe intervention.
- Understand evidence-based strategies for managing ABD, including pharmacological intervention and multi-disciplinary approaches
- Reflect on lived experience, gaining insight from an expert-by-experience perspective to inform compassionate, person-centred care.
Speaker bios:
Dr Eleanor Jones
Eleanor has been an emergency medicine doctor since 2007, specialising in mental health care in emergency settings, violence reduction, and safe restraint. Over the past five years, she has trained police, security staff, and clinical teams across London in the recognition and management of Acute Behavioural Disturbance.
Julie Vass
Julie trained as a nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital (SRN) and at Guys and St. Thomas’s (RSCN) before settling in her home city of Bristol. Prior to retirement, she worked in a range of frontline and senior positions across many specialties within paediatric and women’s health settings.
Over the Christmas period of 2022, her son, Harry, died unexpectedly whilst detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, at the age of 24 years. At the end of the Inquest in 2024, it was determined that Harry had died from Acute Behavioural Disturbance. Julie’s aim is to share Harry’s story as a platform for learning in the hope that this will prevent further deaths from this clinical presentation.
Shirley Foster
shirley.foster@rcn.org.uk
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Page last updated - 15/12/2025
