ACCIDENTAL COUNSELLOR TRAINING
Practical Tools For Supporting Others
Duration
HALF OR FULL DAY
Location
ON-SITE OR ONLINE
Group Size
UP TO 20
Certification
CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATION
Download Course Outline
OVERVIEW
Accidental Counsellor Training gives you practical skills for responding to distressed people on-the-spot. Make sure someone is ‘OK’ in the moment, and know where to send them for ongoing help … all while maintaining healthy boundaries and self-care.
This course is for people who find themselves in conversations with people who are distressed or upset, and in a heightened emotional state.
COMPLETING THIS WORKSHOP WILL HELP YOU:
Understand people's reactions to stress
Help someone talk through their experiences and feel heard
Gain Confidence Know what to say and do so you don’t feel out of your depth
Maintain Healthy Boundaries Don’t get sucked in to ‘rescuer’ mode and take on responsibility (and negative impacts)
Self-Care Strategies Learn to identify vicarious trauma and avoid burnout
WHO IS THE COURSE FOR?
Managers and leaders
Customer service staff
Caseworkers
People dealing with distressed customers
People who get sucked in to 'rescuer' mode
MODULES
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Understand the connection between thoughts, feelings and behaviours that contribute to people’s experience of different challenges they go through. It’s helpful to be able to make sense of why stress, loss, change and cumulative factors affect people and what they need in different situations.
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We discuss different ways to help someone to feel heard. It doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with their perspective, if you can give people a sense of being acknowledged and that their response is normalised
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Help someone to be more aware of what is specifically upsetting them about a situation. Guide a conversation to be future-focussed and solution-focussed.
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Learn the phrases and questions that spark someone to be committed to action. Just giving advice doesn’t often result in a change of behaviour – this is something many of us are aware of but it’s hard to know what else to do.
There are questions that are proven to help someone develop a plan for moving forward. Learn which questions and responses help someone feel more confident and capable to manage their situation and likely to follow up with next steps.
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Learn to demonstrate empathy (not sympathy) but to keep the conversation contained at the same time. Feel more confident ‘holding the line’ where needed and avoid getting sucked in to a situation. We discuss topics like how to end a conversation or how to clarify expectations where needed.
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During and after these kinds of difficult conversations it’s possible that you will be negatively affected. Over time, if not addressed, this can lead to things like burnout or vicarious trauma.
We discuss what these kinds of factors involve and how to protect yourself so that you keep your head above water and have the reserves to help the next person you are supporting.
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