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The Psychosocial Hazards that university staff are exposed to need to be carefully managed and controlled in order to minimise the associated Psychosocial Risks of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and burnout. Recent changes to WHS/OHS regulations already in place, or imminent, across Australia, make that clear.
Long-term impacts of Covid 19, coupled with the spiralling cost of living, natural disasters and increasing interest rates, impact everyone, including staff and students. More and more of your colleagues now find themselves engaging with others who are in vulnerable circumstance, overwhelmed or in crisis – sometimes resulting in angry, agitated, distressing or abusive behaviour.
While our aim must always be to respond in an ethical, compassionate and effective way to that person in crisis, we cannot ignore the impacts these interactions have. The Psychosocial Hazards that university staff are exposed to need to be carefully managed and controlled in order to minimise the associated Psychosocial Risks of compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and burnout. Recent changes to WHS/OHS regulations already in place, or imminent, across Australia, make that clear.
This workshop delivered in partnership with Accidental Counsellor Pty Ltd will examine WHS/OHS regulations and organisational obligations in the context of the often confronting and sensitive interactions experienced by university staff. It will guide you through the skills and techniques that allow you to support your teams in an appropriate, ethical and empathic way, whist also protecting yourself and your organisation. The importance of clear and strictly defined boundaries, as well as policies and protocols, to manage, control and minimise the impact of the Psychosocial Hazards and Risks in your workplace will be discussed.
For those Psychosocial Hazards that cannot be eliminated, equipping ourselves and our teams with skills to reduce their impact – including debriefing techniques, self-care and the value of EAP – are examined in order to assist in managing the associated risks.
Program Outline
This workshop provides participants with:
- Information regarding legislated organisational WHS/OHS obligations when staff are interacting with others who are agitated, vulnerable or in crisis.
- Knowledge of common factors contributing to vulnerability or heightened emotions, and the dynamics which result in Psychosocial Hazard.
- The skills to de-escalate and negotiate through confronting conversations within the essential boundaries which protect the person in crisis and reduce the Psychosocial Risk to the staff member.
- Information about common Psychosocial Risks and skills to reduce their impact.
- Ability to self-debrief, safely debrief and refer in an ethical and effective way to appropriate support, including EAP.
Who should attend?
This workshop is for those in leadership, governance, risk and HR positions in the university sector.
If you have attended the Accidental Counsellor workshop, please note that the content covered is similar. The Recognise, Respond, Refer model is examined in both programs, however this new workshop focuses on the legislated organisational WHS/OHS obligations.
Expressions of Interest
Please email training@aheia.edu.au if you are interested in attending a face-to-face workshop in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane or a virtual workshop. We will be releasing further dates throughout the year.
Facilitator
Cutty Felton - CEO - Accidental Counsellor Pty Ltd
Cutty Felton is founder of Accidental Counsellor Pty Ltd. She is a speaker, consults with and trains those that engage with colleagues or clients in distress or vulnerable circumstances, having regard also to the particular requirements around awareness, management and control of Psychosocial Hazards and Risks in the workplace. Cutty appears live wherever in the world her work takes her, both in person and via remote delivery.
By profession, Cutty is a Solicitor, admitted to practice both in South Africa and NSW, Australia. Over time she felt the need to enhance the human skills required when interacting with clients who had experienced trauma or found themselves vulnerable. She chose to do this by volunteering as a crisis supporter on Lifeline’s 13 11 14 suicide prevention and crisis intervention line and holding various other positions within the organisation for many years, including as an accredited crisis supporter, as well as corporate and DV Alert trainer.
Cutty developed her own highly acclaimed and distinctive Approach to crisis and vulnerability communication in the corporate space, and a unique CPR framework for confronting conversations, based on a combination of her legal, commercial and crisis support experience.
Cutty’s Approach and training is well placed to assist employers to ensure that they are complying with their WHS/OHS obligations in terms of managing and controlling many of the Psychosocial Hazards and Risks experienced by their staff, particularly those that are inherent to the roles performed by their teams.
Boundaries are an important theme within her Approach as it is imperative that, within the corporate arena, employees understand the boundaries (of their role, of the conversations they have and as are provided by policy) when interacting with others who might be deeply vulnerable, agitated , angry, distressed or in crisis.
The universal applicability of the Recognise, Respond and Refer model upon which her Approach is based has seen Cutty present to an extraordinarily diverse range of clients across multiple industries. Her clients span organisations across all aspects of financial services, mining and construction, government services, tertiary and secondary education, medical, farming, retail as well as a multitude of industry associations and community aid organisations.
Cutty has been privileged to deliver presentations and briefings to staff at the House of Representatives in Canberra and was honoured to deliver her ‘Accidental Counsellor’ for the Office for Women in the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet.