In the previous paper in this series we identified some of the situations in which conflict might arise in the health or social care setting (Ellis, 2022a). We said much conflict arises as a result of poor communication, be that between staff or between staff and patients. We considered how patients may become agitated when they feel they are being treated badly or that the system just does not care about them. In this paper we consider some of the strategies a health or social care professional might use in order to defuse conflict situations.