How should I respond to arguments or disputes between young people?

In addition to the guidance above:

• respond quickly
  
  
• avoid assigning blame; allow each young person an equal opportunity to give their side of the story
  
  
• establish all the facts; don’t make assumptions
  
  
• support the young people to understand how the other person may feel
  
  
• positively acknowledge where a young person has owned up and/or apologised
  
  
• if a young person has not owned up, rather than force the issue, focus on what happened and ask young people what they can do to prevent a reoccurrence
  
  
• try to find a way to defuse an incident so that no one loses face.