Course: Responding to Emotional Content in Helpline Communication
Date: 16 May 2012
Location: London
Time: 10.30 am - 4.30 pm

People contact helplines when they have a problem. Understandably, your helpline users may be angry or distressed when they contact you and helpline staff often find it particularly challenging to deal with this. Responding to emotional content will build the confidence of your people to respond more effectively. The course also helps reduce stress by exploring ways for helpline workers to obtain and provide support after emotional calls. It will also help your people demonstrate empathy, which is critical to support your service users effectively. Participants will learn about:

• The difference between emotional support on a helpline and counselling
• The personal boundaries that are appropriate for a helpline worker
• How to sensitively explore feelings
• Paraphrasing emotional content sensitively
• Demonstrating empathy
• The helpline worker's role in relation to risk
• Identifying and handling things that are difficult to hear because of your own values and beliefs
• Using support and debrief appropriately to manage your feelings after challenging helpline contacts.

We explore the above issues in the context of telephone helplines. This is not a basic helpline skills course.

Please do not book staff or volunteers on this course if they have not mastered the skills covered in Essential Telephone Skills or equivalent other training.