Accidental Counsellor Workshop - Virtual Workshop

Accidental Counsellor* is aimed at those who would like to be able to safely and effectively support friends, family, colleagues, and strangers who are in distress or experiencing a crisis.

The course will provide you with basic skills and a structure to enable you to provide immediate support and assistance using the ‘Recognise, Respond, Refer’ model.

The skills learnt in the Accidental Counsellor course can be applied in many contexts, and will provide participants with skills in active listening, calming and effective gentle questioning. You will also learn how to ask openly about suicide risk and respond safely whatever the answer.

Participants are provided with basic skills to support someone in an emotional crisis by learning how to recognise, respond and refer to an appropriate service. Participants also learn how to confidently and safely ask about suicide. All participants that attend the session in full will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

• What is a crisis?

• Mental health problems

• Substance use

• Loss and grief

• Trauma

• Relationship issues

• Stress (including workplace stress)

• Appropriate resources

• Interacting with people in crisis

• Appropriate language and terminology

• How to listen and support including the skills of: active listening, summarising, open/closed questioning.

• How to ask about Suicide

• Appropriate referrals

• How to make a referral

• Tips and tools for self-care.

eLearning: 1.5 hrs online, self-directed (Details will be sent 14 days before the workshop)

Group session: 4 hrs delivered virtually via Zoom

This class will be hosted on Zoom and may include breakout rooms where you will be interacting with other participants. Your individual link will be emailed to you 7 days prior to the training. It is recommended that you complete this training on your own individual device such as a PC or computer as some functions are not available or are limited on smart phones or tablets.

As preparation for this online workshop, you will be enrolled into the eLearning component on Lifeline Australia’s platform. A separate invitation with access details will be sent to you. This is a self-paced 90-minute introduction to the themes being presented in this online Accidental Counsellor workshop. While participation is not mandatory, it is highly recommended. You will also have a window of three months to continue to access this valuable resource. Once you have been enrolled into the eLearning component you will not be able to be issued with a refund .

*Please be aware this course is not intended to train participants to be a counsellor.

Host or Publisher UnitingCare Training Queensland