A really important place to start with any interaction is to focus on the service user’s needs – to find out what kind of help they're looking for and how I can best support them. Sometimes setting boundaries is important - being clear and direct about what type of behavior you might not tolerate as a responder.
It also depends why the interaction is difficult. I think tuning into ourselves and realizing what's challenging us is important, because there can be many things that come up that we didn't prepare for or expect. In the cases where somebody is getting escalated, my first step is to breathe, slow down and try to resist the physiological reaction. When you're talking with someone who's really distressed, we tend to feel that energy ourselves. So the more escalated the other person gets, the more I try to lean into that breath.