This important workshop is for those who are ‘accidental counsellors’; someone who is not working as a professional counsellor, and who needs to safely and effectively support people from refugee backgrounds ‘on the spot’ who are experiencing distress or a crisis.

Through discussions, videos and role plays, you will better understand trauma responses such as ‘black and white thinking’, angry presentations and dissociation. You will develop practical skills to communicate with empathy, actively listen, ask appropriate questions, paraphrase, acknowledge and validate, and to ground people.

At the end of the workshop you will have learnt how to contribute to the person’s trauma recovery and empowerment, act as a buffer against strong emotions, make sure the person is okay in the moment and safe to leave the session, and offer immediate support, assistance and appropriate referral.

Content includes:

Recognising torture and refugee trauma responses to the complexity of resettlement and seeking protection
Empathic listening
Active listening – reflecting feelings, paraphrasing
Asking appropriate questions
Containment skills
Acknowledging and normalising
Re-establishing boundaries
Grounding skills
Moving towards a resolution
Building resilience
Identifying supports and referrals
Ending the session

Who should attend?
This workshop is essential for anyone working with, studying a profession for, or volunteering with people from refugee backgrounds and people seeking asylum.

Our Trainer - Rafik Tanious
Bicultural Practice Specialist/Counsellor/Trainer, STARTTS

Rafik Tanious has worked across the social ecologies of education, mental health and social services with children and young people for the past 30 years both locally and internationally. He has extensive field work experience working with children and adolescents with refugee backgrounds in case work, education and counselling. Rafik has a continuing interest in trauma recovery, anti-racism, and youth identity formation and has developed racial literacy, and racial resilience programs for young people with refugee experiences and produced anti-racism films on Cabramatta for the NSW Premiers department.

Rafik has also been employed as a consultant and trainer with universities in supporting the mental health of international students, developing orientation programs and inter-cultural learning frameworks and facilitating cross cultural parenting programs. He has worked as an adult educator at TAFE NSW in the community services and health faculties and holds post graduate qualifications in counselling, education and film production with an interest in promoting children and young people’s rights, recovery, and facilitating opportunities for young people and children to tell their own stories of survival and healing. Rafik currently works at STARTTS as a school liaison project officer, counsellor and trainer.

Workshop delivery
STARTTS workshops are delivered by trainers experienced in the trauma field. They are interactive and normally include small group discussions via breakout rooms, case studies, self-reflections, videos and other types of activities. This workshop is delivered via Zoom. The Zoom link will be included in the registration confirmation email and the reminder emails.

Certificates and handouts
A PDF of the slides will be emailed to you a day before the event. A certificate of completion will be emailed to you the day after the event.

CPD points – 6 CPD hours
This workshop adheres to the continuing professional development standards of most professional bodies. Please check the CPD policy of your professional body.

Note that there are 5 Early Bird Tickets available for purchase 2 months and earlier before the workshop date.

Terms and conditions
Payment of the registration fee is online by credit card and a receipt/confirmation will be automatically emailed to you. An administration fee of $30 applies to all cancellations made more than 14 days the day before the start of the event. Registration once paid cannot be cancelled 14 days or less the day before the start of the event, regardless of personal circumstances. Registration can be transferred to another delegate only if STARTTS is informed of the name change. Registration cannot be transferred to another workshop. The concession price is for full-time students, seniors and the unemployed. A photocopy or pdf of a valid concession card must be forwarded to the STARTTS training team upon registration. Registrations will not be confirmed until full payment is received. The deadlines for the early bird and standard prices cannot be extended. Sometimes STARTTS will need to change the trainer of a particular workshop. The STARTTS Training Team can be contacted at stts-training@health.nsw.gov.au or (02) 9646 6700.