Lady in wheel chair sat with a laptop and headphones doing online training

Online training for helplines

We have adapted and developed our specialist helpline training courses to deliver them online.

Online helpline training gives you greater flexibility to access and engage with our specialist helpline training.

Our online training is interactive, practical and relevant, delivered by experienced trainers supported by a course facilitator.

You can access our online helpline training as an individual by booking your place on one of the online training courses listed below or as a helpline team through our virtual onsite training course.

SKIP TO THESE SECTIONS:

» Level 1 – Essential Helpline Skills Online »
» Level 2 – Developing Helpline Skills Online »
» Level 3 – Advanced Helpline Skills Online »
» Digital Helpline Skills Online »
» Helpline Training Courses – Online »

Level 1 – Essential Helpline Skills Online

Essential Helpline Skills Online is a foundation level course, recommended for those who are new to helplines or are looking to refresh their knowledge in the fundamentals.

This is a skills-based course that will give you the tools you need to confidently respond to calls to your helpline.

What you'll learn:

  • What a helpline is and how they help service users
  • The structure of a call
  • How a caller’s circumstances can make both access and communication difficult
  • What is meant by active listening skills
  • When to use questions effectively during the call
  • Reflecting back and paraphrasing
  • The importance of providing options
  • How to end different types of calls
  • How to look after yourself after a call

"The training was great! I was a bit worried about how a full days training online would be but it was really engaging and I learnt lots."

"Sharing the experiences of other participants on the course brought up a lot of good points that helped my understanding of the subjects."

Level 2 – Developing Helpline Skills Online

Developing Helpline Skills Online is recommended for helpline workers, volunteers and call handlers who have completed the Level 1- Essential Helpline Skills course and have some prior helpline experience.

This course will give you the skills to understand challenging calls, how to respond and engage using empathic listening whilst maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

What you'll learn:

  • The definition of a challenging call and how it relates to your helpline
  • How personal and professions beliefs and boundaries can impact on your work
  • The likely outcomes of different approaches to contacts
  • How positive language can impact on the call
  • The difference between sympathy and empathy
  • The core skills to convey empathy
  • Strategies that address the impact of challenging contacts

"This was a very interesting and insightful training session. The practical group work was particularly good."

"Really informative, and interactive. It's been great, and has really made me think of how to better deal with future helpline calls."

Level 3 – Advanced Helpline Skills Online

Advanced Helpline Skills Online is recommended for helpline workers, volunteers and call handlers who have completed both the Essential Helpline Skills and Developing Helpline Skills courses and want to further develop their skills.

This is a skills-based course that will build on your helpline experience and support you to effectively respond to emotional, angry and repeat callers to your service. Participants will also receive a top-level introduction to suicidal callers and safeguarding.

What you'll learn:

  • Key skills to respond effectively to an emotional call
  • How to respond to an angry call
  • How to define an abusive call and how to respond effectively
  • About the use of vocabulary to respond to a call
  • Skills and techniques for responding to callers with differing needs
  • How to distinguish between regular and repeat calls
  • When and how to set up a caller care plan
  • When and how when to respond safeguarding concerns
  • How to respond to someone with suicidal thoughts
  • To identify strategies that address the impact of challenging contacts

"It covered all the topics. Really super practical advice and sharing."

"The course has prompted actions for me to take forward."

Digital Helpline Skills Online

Digital-based support such as email or webchat requires a different approach, understanding and techniques to verbal helpline skills. Whether your service already offers, or is considering digital-based channels, this course, delivered online, provides vital insights on how to respond to service users effectively through written communication.

Through practical exercises and exploring best practice for each channel, you can ensure the people contacting and accessing your service receive high quality, consistent delivery across all your channels.

What you'll learn:

  • To identify key challenges of responding by email and live chat
  • Advantages and disadvantages of text-based services
  • About the resource implications for live chat
  • What is meant by the 'textscape' and its impact on helpline work
  • Options available for greeting service users and sign-offs
  • The structure of written communications
  • Assumptions made based on text and how to interpret and minimise them
  • How and when to use templates and standard responses
  • Your responsibilities in relation to managing confidentiality and safeguarding
  • How to convey empathy, use paraphrasing and active listening skills via text

 

Helpline Training Courses – Online »

Focussing on specific areas of helpline work they will give you an in-depth understanding, allowing you to develop robust working practices and policies to better support your team, service users and the service provision.

Vicarious Trauma Online
Online
11th Aug 2020
Vicarious Trauma Online
Online
29th Sep 2020

FAQs

How do I access the online training?

Once you have booked your place on an online training course, on the Helplines Partnership website, you will receive an email with an invitation to join the online training course.

How is the online training structured?

The online helpline training courses run from 10 am - 4 pm with regularly scheduled breaks. There will be opportunities to work with other participants on the training course to learn from and with other helpline professionals. You'll receive some materials to look at before your online training.

Do I need to do anything to prepare for my online training course?

You will receive an email reminder a week before your training course with some pre-checks that we will ask you to do to make sure that you are set up and able to access the training on the day. We will also ask you to have a look at some of the training exercises so that you can think about them and how they apply to the service your organisation provides.

What technology do I need to be able to participate in the online training?

You need a device that connects to the internet to take part in the online helpline training. It would be best if you can join the training from a laptop or PC but you could also join using a smartphone. You will need audio to be able to participate in the training.

Will you be able to help me if I have any issues during the training course?

Yes, we will have a course facilitator who will be available for the duration of the course, as well as our trainer, our facilitator will be able to support you during the course.

What happens to my responses to questions etc?

The training course is a safe space, we will not record the training or keep a record of the discussions that take place. If however we are alerted to a specific safeguarding issue then we will follow our safeguarding policy.

Cancellation Policy

You may cancel a place without charge if you inform us in writing at least 5 working days before the event.

The full fee is payable for any cancellations within 5 calendar days of the event, or if the participant fails to attend and we receive no notice of cancellation, or if the participant is unable to attend the whole of the event for any reason.

Some of our events are repeated, so you may transfer a place, without charge, to an alternative date as long as you inform us in writing at least 5 calendar days beforehand.

Transfers within 5 calendar days will incur a full fee for both dates.

All transfers are subject to availability.

In the unlikely event that we have to cancel a session, we will let you know as soon as possible and issue a full refund.