Training – Defusing Workshop

This is another of Clarity’s most popular Workshops.

‘Defusing’ is the term used to describe what you do to begin looking after people who have been affected by a traumatic or possibly tragic event. It isn’t a version of counselling and doesn’t require Defusers to be trained health or social care professionals.

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a commonly used term, particularly in North America. The skills and knowledge making up Defusing are very similar to PFA. The main difference is that whilst PFA has been developed with civil emergencies in mind, Defusing is more relevant than PFA in a commercial setting where the people affected are either customers or staff of the organisation that is responding to an incident.

Who is this course helpful for?

The Defusing Workshop is most suitable for people likely to have face to face contact with colleagues, customers or family members affected by a traumatic or tragic event. They might be members of a specially designated team, or have a role making them ‘the face of the company’ after an incident.

Managers who are likely to manage their organisation’s response to an incident are also likely to find it helpful and informative to attend a Defusing Workshop, even though they may not expect to have direct contact with people affected by an incident.

The content of the Workshop is always adjusted to make it as relevant as possible to the organisation commissioning the training.

How will participants benefit from taking part in the Workshop?

They will feel more confident in their ability to cope with having direct contact with distressed colleagues, customers or others.

They will also be more helpful to those distressed people. They will learn:

• What reactions they or colleagues might encounter when providing support to people who may be traumatised or bereaved
• The importance of ‘Secondary Trauma’ and how it influences the outcomes (distress, reputation, cost) of an incident
• What to say and do and, very importantly, what not to say and do when providing direct support on behalf of their organisation
• What to be aware of and how they can look after themselves during the period of increased pressure that incident management often brings

Length of course

The Defusing Workshop is a one-day event. Start and finish times, as well as lunch and breaks are all flexible.

The Defusing Workshop is sometimes the main element of a larger training course; such as for a Special Assistance Team. On those occasions the total course may be up to two or even three days long.

A concise presentation based upon the Defusing Workshop has been delivered at events such as conferences where time is short.

How many people should attend?

At Clarity we don’t impose a limit on numbers attending. However, when there are 15 or more participants we find there is less opportunity for everyone to interact during the day, which reduces the benefit of an interactive workshop such as this one.

When the Workshop includes using telephone equipment; such as practicing receiving incoming calls from distressed callers, the ratio of equipment available to number of participants should be taken into account.

Training activities used in the Workshop: Trainer presentation, group discussion, small group work, video, role play

And finally…

No pre-Workshop preparation is required by the participants

Hand-outs, certificates of attendance and a short report containing a summary of participants’ feedback will be provided