In June I had the privilege of coordinating a three-part training series – “Psychological First Aid” – for our network of child helplines. The training was led by expert speaker Koen Sevenants.
Aimed at serving the needs of our child helpline members, these trainings aimed to equip child helpline staff with essential skills and knowledge to understanding childhood and adolescent emotional development, healing from critical events, and how to provide adequate response through psychological first aid. Held online, the series brought together dedicated professionals from various regions.
Background
This training series serves as an exclusive resource brought to our child helpline members as part of Child Helpline International’s Learning Strategy. This Strategy serves to further enhance and support the quality of services provided by child helplines, and also contribute to our network’s strength, coherence and positioning by improving the use of existing knowledge and enabling the co-creation of new knowledge. With this structured approach to learning, we aim to strengthen collaboration and create a more interconnected community of child helplines, ultimately leading to an elevated quality of services, which can enhance the impact and effectiveness of our network collectively.
Highlights
Learning Style
The training included several hands-on activities designed to reinforce the concepts discussed.
One notable activity was Koen guiding us through an exercise on how to create a safe space based on eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and emotionally focused therapy (EFT) therapy. Together we practised a couple of guiding questions and techniques that can be applied to children and young people in times of distress to help calm them down.
Koen engaged the participants wonderfully, and these exercises were instrumental in fostering culture of exchange between members and helped us to consider some new techniques to put into practice.
Attendees
The attendees were the heart of this training. In total, we were joined by nearly 180 individuals, representing child helplines from various regions.
Concluding Thoughts
Being part of this training was incredibly rewarding. I am grateful to Koen Sevenants, our expert speaker, and the dedicated participants for making this training a success.
For any child helpline staff considering this training, you can find the materials on our eLearning platform.
Laura Holliday
Learning Coordinator
