Understanding Self-harm

Presenter: Dr Fiona Pienaar

Who should attend this webinar? This Webinar is designed to equip professionals and community workers with key knowledge, skills and resources to be able to provide informed, compassionate and appropriate support for those who self-harm. This is an educational, discursive and interactive webinar.

Overview: Self-harm has been highlighted as a major public health concern, both nationally and internationally, with serious non-fatal intentional self-harm injuries recently reaching their highest recorded rate. Research published in 2019 has identified self-harmful thoughts and behaviours as both multidimensional and complex in nature.

Key Learning Points

• Understanding the nature of Self-harm; Definitions
• Recent Research developments
• Misconceptions and what we can learn from the voices of those impacted by Self-harm
• Risk and protective factors associated with self-harm; Barriers to help-seeking
• Effective Interventions, Strategies, and Support, and your ‘coalface’ views
• National and International Methods & Resources
• Support options available in NZ and Australia
• Wellbeing and Self-care in your professional role

Dr Fiona Pienaar has had a career in education, research and mental health; both clinical and operational. With a life journey spanning South Africa, New Zealand and the UK, she has recently been involved as Chief Clinical Officer in setting up a digital service in the UK called Shout Crisis Text Line. Shout is a charity funded by The Royal Foundation as a legacy project out of the four young Royals’ Heads Together campaign.

Bereavement by Suicide

Presenter: Amanda Christian

Who should attend this webinar? Anyone working with or supporting those bereaved by suicide e.g. health professionals, social/family support workers, youth/community workers, mental health professionals, clinicians and guidance counsellors, church staff/chaplains, funeral directors, pastoral care teams, volunteers.

Overview: This webinar will equip helping professionals and support workers with key knowledge, skills, and resources to support those bereaved by a suicide death. Research tells us that an average of 135 people are impacted by a suicide, hence the importance of knowing how to offer them appropriate support.

Amanda brings her own lived experience to this training, having lost her daughter to suicide. She wants to help reduce the vulnerability of those bereaved by suicide by equipping the community with skills and knowledge to appropriately support.

Key Learning Points

• Bereaved by suicide - a unique form of bereavement
• The kinds of grief reactions
• A trauma-informed approach
• Grief Models
• Cultural competence
• Conversations with the bereaved
• Skills for managing intense emotions
• Communication with family/whanau, children and young people
• Strategies for the Workplace
• Other useful resources
• The imperative of professional self-care

Amanda is a registered psychologist and a trained social worker. She is an experienced trainer and brings her experience to this mahi from – trainer and facilitator for peer support groups, supporting individuals and families through their traumatic grief, membership to advisory groups and clinical advisor for a community postvention service & bereaved by suicide service (CASA). She is a recipient of the National Lifekeepers Recognition Award 2020 for outstanding contribution to suicide prevention in the community.

When Anxiety Builds and Intrudes

Presenter: Matthew Flynn

Who should attend this webinar? Any professionals working with children, teens, or adults experiencing challenging circumstances, significant change, or increased anxiety.

Overview: Levels of anxiety can increase through difficult change, challenges, loss, grief, and trauma. There is much talk about increased anxiety especially due to the worldwide pandemic. For some people, anxiety may begin to intrude and affect their daily lives, their relationships, and how they see the world and their future. What then is anxiety, and what are the causes and impacts? How can we support and equip those experiencing anxiety through challenging situations? What support, resources and techniques will help? When is it wise to refer on for further support?

Key Learning Points

• Anxiety explained
• Anxiety causes and influences
• Our experience in New Zealand & Australia: a look at some numbers
• How anxiety affects people
• Recognising the signs
• Strategies for coping and building resilience
• Referral and access to specialist help
• Self-care when supporting others

Matthew is an experienced presenter and lecturer and brings to our training programme his experience from a wide and varied background in law, community involvement and counselling with a wide range of clients. His counselling work has a particular focus on grief and loss, where he has a passion for supporting clients of all ages experiencing difficult and challenging times in their lives.

Tuesday evening Focusing 'Drop ins'

Presenter: Rachel Hendron

Focusing can be used by clients who feel stuck, stressed and overwhelmed to find just a little more space, it is useful in helping to make decisions or ways to move forward with blocked projects. Focusing helps us listen to our small voices which typically get overlooked or even stop speaking because of traumatic events. It is very helpful for brain-body conditions, fatigue, pain, addictive and obsessive behaviour. Focusing offers beautiful ways to find a new way of interacting with self-critical voices and dreams, even very hostile ones. Going at the clients’ pace and creating the right distance makes Focusing an effective but safe process that most people can learn with surprising ease even if they have never listened to their bodies before.

These weekly 'drop-ins' are an opportunity for individuals to have some self-care, community and time to practice Focusing as a way to relate to themselves and others in a more embodied, spontaneous and free-flowing way. Each event will be different depending on how many people attend and their interests.

For more information see www.vibrantlife.nz where you will also find a free downloadable guide which will be a useful accompaniment at the meetings.

Rachel Hendron holds an MSc in Person Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy from the University of Strathclyde. I’m a recognised Focusing-Oriented Therapist and Focusing Trainer by the Focusing Institute. I work with individuals, couples and families in a trauma-informed, relational way at Family Action in Auckland and in-person and online in Private Practice. I see adults and adolescents and children. I work to help my clients build better relationships with themselves and each other, using Nonviolent principles, Neuroscience and Attachment theories and the felt sense. Most recently I am training to become recognised by Brainspotting International using the optic nerve’s connection to the subcortical region to help my clients heal swiftly from trauma.

'Making the Difference' Online Training Module

Presenter: The Grief Centre

The course is designed to help participants support clients or staff who may be facing a difficult life situation, significant change, or any form of loss and grief. Participants will be asked to reflect on their own role and apply the content to their work.

This training consists of four modules:

Module 1: The Impact of Difficult Life Situations

• The nature and impact of difficult life situations, change, loss, and grief
• Common reactions that occur and influencing factors
• Ways people cope - helpful and unhelpful

Module 2: What Does Good Support Mean?

• What support can you offer?
• Support needs that people have
• Identify support priorities

Module 3: Providing Good Support

• Empathy versus sympathy and listening and empathy skills
• Handling difficult conversations and being with a crying, anxious or angry person
• When reactions are delayed or complicated
• Respecting boundaries and accessing extra support

Module 4: Strategies for Self-Care

• Strategies for self-care as you support others - working sustainably

At the Grief Centre we offer a variety of services to assist those who are grieving. They include counselling, support groups, brochures, books and articles. We also offer training and professional supervision to those who are working with individuals and families who are suffering from grief and loss.