Corporate Training · Staff Skill Development
An in-house workshop for your frontline team: we come to you, or meet you online. Give the people who face your customers the skills to stay calm, de-escalate anger and aggression, and protect their own wellbeing in the process.
Your frontline staff will know exactly what to do the next time a customer's anger is aimed at them.
The business case
Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 (October 2025); PwC for Beyond Blue and the National Mental Health Commission.
Staff who absorb anger and distress from the public every day carry a psychosocial load that shows up as stress, absenteeism and turnover long before it shows up as a claim. When it does become a claim, psychological injury is the most expensive category in the country. The exposure is a known one, and it is one your people can be trained for.
Under the Model WHS Regulations you must identify psychosocial hazards and control the risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Violence and aggression is one of the hazards Safe Work Australia identifies. Training your frontline staff to de-escalate does not discharge that duty alone, but it is documented evidence of a control measure — the record regulators and insurers ask to see.
What participants learn
Each one is a specific, practical thing your frontline staff can do the next morning.
Identify what is actually driving a customer's behaviour, and respond with empathy rather than reaction
Stay calm in a highly emotional exchange, drawing on a set of practical communication skills
Assert themselves clearly and professionally, including the use of “I Statements”
De-escalate an interaction with an angry or aggressive customer, confidently and without escalating it further
Recognise the signs of serious mental health concerns in a customer, and know how and when to refer on
Protect their own wellbeing, with boundaries and self-care strategies that guard against burnout
Compare formats & start the conversation
Pick the format that looks closest, tell us your numbers, and whether you are thinking onsite or online. We'll call you to talk it through and shape a quote around what your team actually needs. Tap a card to choose it. Not sure? Pick the nearest and we'll sort it out on the call.
Every format is run in-house for your own team, at your offices or online — we come to you. Large group seminar and webinar formats are available when you need to reach a whole site at once, and short lunch and learn sessions when you want a lighter touch. Every format is quoted per workshop. Tell us the scope and we’ll put a written quote together.
Outcomes
How it works
Tell us team size, format and rough timing.
2 minutesA short conversation about your team, then a quote built around what you actually need.
Personalised discussionRole plays built from the customer interactions that actually come up in your workplace.
1–2 weeks outAt your offices or online, by an experienced facilitator.
3 hoursWho delivers it
Associated EAP workshops are delivered by degree-qualified counsellors or registered psychologists, or adult education specialists where appropriate. Many of our facilitators also work clinically alongside their training, so the examples in the room come from real practice rather than a manual.
Associated EAP has provided employee assistance and workplace training for over 20 years. Workshops are delivered at your own offices, or online.
This program has been delivered to staff across customer services, libraries, local councils, tele-marketing, aged care, bereavement services, mental health and social services.
What participants say
“I feel more confident in my role and will use all the strategies discussed in the training. I now have a toolbox of ideas to use at work.”
“100% needed for all customer facing staff”
“Very useful training. Should be done by all Council employees”
“Sherisse was very good at delivering and articulating the workshop, and everyone walked away with a deeper understanding of how to manage conflict and behaviour”
“Excellent, calm presenter, so helpful and informative, learned so much”
“Very informative and instructional training with practical tips to follow”
“Really good, high impact”
“Presenter was amazing. I really enjoyed today’s session. It was very beneficial”
“We have done several training programs with Associated Employee Assistance Providers and have always found the service and consultation of an extremely high standard.”
“Katherine presented to our team of 40 staff at our annual staff symposium and it was absolutely fantastic. Katherine was engaging and really helped all staff members relate better to each other. We were so impressed we wanted her back for a conference of 150 medical practice managers which also went really well. Very happy with the resources provided by Associated Employee Assistance Providers who helped arranged both the above plus follow up articles. Highly recommended.”
“Effective and caring advice delivered in an easy to digest method.”
“What fantastic training provided on mental health in the workplace and the importance of educating and empowering our staff on this topic. The team thoroughly enjoyed the workshop which was engaging and lead by the fantastic Katherine Wagner. Thank you Associated EAP.”
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Common questions
Every format is quoted per workshop, not per person, so the cost does not climb with each extra person in the room. What shapes it is the format you choose, your group size, your location and whether you are running one session or a series across a larger team.
Every organisation's needs are different, which is why we don't do one-size-fits-all quotes. Tell us the scope of what you're after and we'll put together a written quote so you know exactly what you're getting before you book.
3 hours as standard. The same program can also be run as an immersive half day or full day, and there are shorter lunch and learn sessions and large group seminar or webinar formats when you need to reach a whole site at once.
Anywhere from 10 to 20 participants — big enough for a real discussion, small enough that everyone gets to practise in the role plays. This is an in-house workshop run for your team alone, so the room is only ever your own people. Bigger teams are usually run as a series of workshops, and large group seminar and webinar formats are available for whole-site delivery.
It is the response framework at the heart of the workshop. Participants are given practical strategies for responding to highly emotive interactions, then apply the model in role plays built from the customer interactions that typically arise in your own workplace. Where it is relevant, this component also covers how to respond specifically to a customer showing signs of serious mental illness.
Degree-qualified counsellors or registered psychologists, and adult education specialists where appropriate.
Yes. De-escalation is a component of the workshop in its own right: participants learn to recognise and communicate with angry or aggressive customers through a series of practical strategies designed to take the tension out of an interaction. The final component then covers staying safe and well afterwards, with debriefing strategies, professional boundaries and personal care strategies that protect against psychosocial risk and burnout.
Yes, and the role plays are the point at which it happens: they use examples from the customer interactions that typically arise in your own workplace. The program has been delivered to staff across customer services, libraries, local councils, tele-marketing, aged care, bereavement services, mental health and social services.
Yes. The workshop is presented in person at your premises, and online facilitation via Zoom is also available. Remote and hybrid teams get the same workshop, run live by the same facilitators, with the discussion and role play adapted for a screen rather than a room.
It contributes. Violence and aggression is one of the psychosocial hazards Safe Work Australia identifies, and training is a documented control measure under the model WHS Regulations. It works alongside a psychosocial risk assessment rather than replacing it. See our guide to psychosocial hazards.
Typically two to three weeks for a standard session, though we can often move faster. Tell us your preferred window and we will work out available dates with you.
Often booked together
For the same pressure coming from inside the organisation: spotting a colleague in difficulty and knowing what to say.
See the workshop →For teams who want the underlying skill built more broadly, not only for the moments an interaction turns hostile.
See the workshop →For roles repeatedly exposed to other people's trauma, where the harm accumulates quietly over months.
See the workshop →Tell us your team size, preferred format and rough timing. We'll call you to talk it through, then build a quote around what your team actually needs.
