The Accidental Counsellor

Accidental counselling is when we might find ourselves in a counselling role “by accident”; because of something that may happen at work or personal life we find ourselves supporting a distressed friend, colleague, workmate, or client. Not all of us are trained counsellors but we can learn to provide appropriate support when needed.

Participants will learn practical skills to support others when they are distressed, angry or having a challenging time, including:

• Communication skills for active, empathic, and effective listening
• Ways to identify the signs that people may need emotional support
• How to create psychological safety
• Techniques to respond to distress
• The limits of your role in providing support: rescuer vs. helper
• Skills to develop boundaries, limits and self-care strategies.
• How to effectively provide support options and referral information to provide further assistance
• Looking after the Accidental Counsellors wellbeing

The learning will be assisted with active learning scenarios, case studies and group practice and discussion.

The Accidental Counsellor workshop has been utilised from high level public service to customer service-based roles with great success.