Courses & Seminars

To register - Please us this registration form:  1ACOUAug2012 Registration form (227 kB)

Introductory Level

This course teaches basic emergency and engagement counselling skills to staff who
have contact with the general public and have no formal counselling training. These
staff members might be the first port of call in an agency and may encounter individuals
in distress and require this course to assist them to intervene appropriately and ethically.

Accidental Counsellor training teaches basic counselling skills and allow adequate practice
in these skills to embed this new expertise in everyday work. Participants will be
competent in intervening in emergency situations and engaging clients. Ethical and
policy considerations will be workshopped thoroughly in the training.

Key subject areas covered:

• Scope and limitations of the role
• On-the-ground assessment of needs and risks
• Active listening skills in real life situation
• Moving a person from problem to seeking a solution
• Skills to assist others to use their inner resources
• Making assisted referral to outer resources
• Gentle and clear strategies for people who are angry, frustrated or
  distressed
• How to manage a recurring situation
• Brief solution focused counselling models
• Other techniques appropriate to the accidental counselling role
• Issues of documentation and confidentiality
• Ethics and the accidental counsellor
• Self care

Participant Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will confidently be able to assess their role in the accidental
  counselling situation and have a range of options of response to choose from.
• Participants will be able to intervene in a brief, effective manner with counselling
  issues
• Participants will be confident when and how to refer to other staff.

The target group for this course is:
Workers who find themselves in the front line in human services roles but are not
trained as counsellors