Promoting workplace health and harmony, learning and development, and psychologically robust practice.

Staff Training & Assistance

Our employee assistance service offers tailored solutions to promote additional support and wellbeing, learning and development, robust practice, facilitate mediation and conflict resolution, and prevent workplace sickness and absence.

Our comprehensive range of employee assistance services includes:

  1. Continuous personal and professional development training
  2. Supportive supervision
  3. Wellbeing coaching – through consultations and / or physical exercise.
  4. Counselling and psychotherapy
  5. Mediation and conflict resolution  

Why is managing the emotional state of staff extremely important?

If you ask people honestly how they feel about their job, a very large portion are disengaged, “It’s just a job; I just do enough to keep it.” This is the response of a person having too little cortisol (known as the primary stress hormone), they are in the wrong brain state at work. As you get such people more motivated, more interested, more engaged, they rise up towards the more optimal zone. However, if you give them too much pressure, too little support, too little time, too little staff, too much to do, they start to feel overwhelmed and they return to doing ‘just enough’ and performance suffers. So the art of leadership is to help people to get and stay in the optimal state for performance. That is how you get your best return on investment from a salary, and from a neurological point of view this means helping people to get and stay in the best internal state – the best state of their brain. This optimal state is called Flow, researchers have learned that flow is characterised by several things:

  1. Is calm attention (their focus is 100%). But how? – We teach some powerful methods to achieve calm attention and 100% focus in our training.
  2. – Completely flexible and adaptable (whatever comes up you can handle it)
  3. – Your skills are challenged to their highest level (and sometimes a little beyond)
  4. – It feels great (there is a joy from being in a flow state)

So the state where people are performing at their best, is also a state where they ‘feel’ at their best. A smart, effective and emotionally intelligent leader can help people get in that state. So how to create flow?

1 – Clear goals, with clarity about what to do, and flexibility about how to do it.

2 – Immediate feedback (it helps to know how you are doing, and to now if you are getting closer to the goal)

3 – Is to challenge and grow the persons skillset (give them a challenge that stretches them, and fundamentally match peoples abilities with the task you give them, to prevent boredom and disengagement).

So the leaders’ task is to get, and help people stay in a state of flow. This is regarding the social brain, and the big discovery is ‘Mirror Neurons’, something that happens in us all the time, whenever we are with another person it turns out that we have cells in our brain that are matching exactly what is going on in the other person and this is essential. It gives us an immediate unconscious sense of what’s going on, what are we doing, and it keeps the interaction running smoothly. The Mirror Neuron creates a brain-to-brain bridge that senses movement, emotion and intention. It’s why emotions are contagious. It has been known for decades in psychology that if you bring two strangers together, have them note how they are feeling before, and then sit looking at each other in silence for two minutes, the person in the pair who is most expressive transfers their emotional state to the other person in two silent minutes. Emotions are contagious, we are constantly sending and receiving them, but there is a special condition for leaders because it is human nature that people pay most attention to, and place importance on what the most powerful person in the group says and does. The leader is the sender of emotions, for better or for worse.

So leaders have a secret weapon for helping people to get into that better state for performance, by using the social brain skilfully, but what does that look like? – the key point for any organisation is that whoever in your organisation is the interface of your customers or clients, makes them feel better or worse, and how the client feels at that moment is not how they feel about that person working for you, it’s how they feel about your organisation. Therefore, managing the emotional state of people is extremely important from the highest level to the outer peripheral where your organisation makes contact with your clients. 

The fact that emotions are contagious is also significant on a personal level, for the parent-and-child, and husband-and-wife relationships. 

Why employee assistance?

Successful organisations that value their employees and wish to achieve staff preservation recognise their employees are human beings with holistic needs, and that no human is free from experiencing episodes of mental and emotional distress. When working in emotive environments without adequate support mechanisms, staff wellbeing commonly deteriorates, and is one of the most common reasons for staff sickness absence, workplace conflicts, and frequent resignation.

Employees can experience inner turmoil from vicarious (second-hand) trauma, anxiety, anger, depression and stress which can be picked up via working in emotive environments, from conflicts experienced in the workplace and in their own personal and family relations. Whether it is relational strain, separation, loss, bereavement, abuse, isolation and loneliness, alcohol and substance misuse or other reasons causing unhappiness; a workplace wellness coach / counselling-psychotherapist plays an integral role in enhancing and maintaining positive mental, physical, spiritual, social and emotional health, and promoting holistic wellbeing.  

Our comprehensive range of employee assistance services are detailed as follows:

Supportive supervision

We offer supportive supervision for staff and students from the following professional backgrounds: counselling, psychotherapy, children young people and families’ practice, youth and community work, care and support workers, health and wellbeing professions, mentors, hostels and residential homes. Providing opportunities for the supervisee to explore practice, workplace issues, dilemmas and solutions, learning and development, and any personal challenges, through a supportive reflective relationship with one of our experienced professionals.

Mediation and Resolving Workplace Conflict

Our mediation consultants are utilised to mediate conflict and achieve workplace conflict resolution. This process can occur by meeting with those involved with the conflict, or speaking via telephone to offer an opportunity for impartial attentive listening to constructively explore thoughts, feelings, wishes, solutions, and work towards a mediation meeting between all involved in the conflict. 

Counselling and Psychological Therapies.

Employees’ issues may be pushed to one side rather than explored and resolved. Often this is due to a lack of time or access to tools, not knowing who to speak to, or being too embarrassed to discuss it with someone they know.  Our counselling-psychotherapists offer confidential sessions for employees to discuss any circumstance with a skilled solution-focused professional. Take a look at our Counselling and Psychological Therapies tab.

Wellbeing Coaching

Wellbeing coaching optionally entails consultations and/or physical exercise. Our friendly wellness coaches provide forward-thinking practical strategies to overcome symptoms and situations which are obstructing health and wellbeing. 

Take a look at our Wellbeing Coaching tab.

Continuous Personal & Professional Development Training

Employees have varying continuous personal and professional developmental needs, coupled with a desire for lifelong mental stimulation. When employers adequately invest in their teams the results entail increased energy, wisdom, productivity, positive psychology, dedication and organisational harmony.

Take a look at our Staff Training below for a full list of training, or contact us for tailored training. We are confident that you will want to contact us to find out more.

Staff Training

All training involves an initial consultation and is then tailored to meet your specific needs. We train and facilitate learning in a way that is relatable, and re-energises and empowers practitioners.

Our Training Menu

  1. Trauma Informed Practice – Understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma, that emphasises physical, psychological, and emotional safety for everyone, and that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
  2. Achieving Positive Outcomes for Children in Care – Understanding adverse childhood experiences, responsiveness to emotional and behavioural challenges, the Person-Centred and Trauma Informed Way.
  3. Anxiety, Anger and Depression in a Nutshell – Signs, symptoms, science and cures.
  4. Positive Psychology a Practical Guide: Exploring the science of happiness, the positive aspects of the human experience that make life worth living, revitalising and enhancing both individual and organisational wellbeing.
  5. Mental Wealth and Well Beings – Exploring holistic insights, and fun practical self-care and wellbeing methods. Additionally, we offer a neuroscientific-grounded training course with four modules:

1 – Awareness (assess and gain awareness of your strong and weak areas of wellbeing, to maximise your resources; and learn practices to enhance your self-awareness and holisitic consciousness).

2- Connection (which is about kindness, compassion and appreciation; and applying the learned practices to enhance your levels of consciousness and connection with others such as: colleagues, clients, family and friends).

3 – Insight (this is about cultivating insight on how the self works, what a healthy relationship is, and the narrative we carry around in our minds about ourselves).

4 – Purpose (Helping an individual identify their core meaning and purpose in life, and most importantly to align their everyday behaviour with what that purpose is).

6. Counselling Skills for All – Introduces you to skills that benefit all practitioners, whether a teacher, HR adviser, care/social or youth worker etc., there are ‘skills’ to be learned to enhance your communication, personal and professional relationships.

7. Introduction to Counselling – Including Attachment, Person-Centred Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and other empowering approaches.

8. Conflict Prevention and Resolution – Understanding conflict, responsiveness to the realities of managing challenging behaviour, including ways to prevent and resolve conflict. Including advanced insights, practical skills and physical breakaway techniques.  

9. Emotional Intelligence, Communication and People Skills – Exploring the art of effective communication, different skills for diverse circumstances, and the multifaceted channels of communication. Learn to sharpen your listening abilities, hear and achieve a deeper level of understanding. Understand emotional intelligence, and how to ask skilled questions to gain deeper understanding but without sounding intrusive. Acquire the states and skills of negotiation and persuasion, whilst gaining awareness of evoking positive and negative emotions, which are all helpful in instances of preventing and resolving conflict, and achieving objectives. 

10. Attachment throughout the Lifecourse – Understanding the introduction to child psychological development, the different attachment styles, and reasons for differing forms of challenging behaviour. Exploring the science and solutions to helping and healing those damaged by adverse experiences.

11. Mindfulness Based Life Enhancement – Includes edifying practical methods to feel less anxious and depressed, and more calm, focused and connected to all aspects of life; including presence with nature, learning, loved ones, personal and work-related goals.

12. Advanced Youth Work Practice – Exploring fun and engaging methods for building relationships with young people, advanced communication skills, behaviour management, wellbeing and therapeutic skills, and achieving positive outcomes for young people.

13. Self-Defence & Breakaway Techniques – Learn personal protection with our friendly GB qualified trainers, including techniques applicable to both the workplace and street settings. Outcomes include reduced anxiety, increased confidence and physical safety. Training is delivered using fun GB boxing and martial arts techniques. This includes pad-work striking and breakaway techniques, to equip people to escape holds and respond confidently with self-defence. The fact that no one gets hit or hurt during the training makes sessions comfortable and accessible for all confidence levels.

14. Fun Team Building Days – Whether a staff team building day, birthday or event we offer tailored fun sessions to help groups lower their guards, develop socially, personally or professionally. All sessions involve an initial consultation and are then tailored to meet your specific requirements. Some examples of our selection of activities includes: mindfulness and wellbeing workshops, introduction to boxing and self-defence, and other combined sports, games and more.

15. Real Resilience – A day exploring the domains of resilience, including: psychological, theoretical and fun practical methods to enhance resilience. 

16. Specific Skills Training – Offering short in duration, practical skills training in any of the abovementioned training and areas of knowledge; through either one-to-one or group facilitation.

17. GB Boxing Tutor Qualification – This course empowers you to become a nationally recognised GB Boxing Tutor, so that you can teach others the sport.

Fees

Fees for Staff Training and Assistance are by negotiation based on your needs. Please contact us to discuss your requirements. Questions are always welcome.

Please contact me directly on 07787413763 to book a free complimentary initial consultation.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Warm Wishes,

Javeed.