Basic Pastoral Care Skills For Workplace Support Training

Objectives:
• Define pastoral care and its relevance in a workplace context.
• Understand the ethical and legal boundaries of pastoral support.
• Identify the role of a pastoral caregiver in South African workplaces.
• Explore the impact of personal values and biases on caregiving.

Topics:
• What is pastoral care? Historical and contemporary perspectives.
• The workplace as a context for pastoral support.
• Ethical guidelines: confidentiality, boundaries, and referrals.
• Legal considerations: labour law and employee rights.
• Self-awareness: recognising personal biases and limitations.
• Overview of the unit standard 115913 outcomes.

Objectives:
• Demonstrate active listening techniques.
• Use open-ended questions to facilitate dialogue.
• Apply paraphrasing and summarising to confirm understanding.
• Identify barriers to effective communication.

Topics:
• Active listening: attending, reflecting, and clarifying.
• Verbal and non-verbal communication cues.
• Questioning skills: open vs closed questions.
• Paraphrasing and summarising techniques.
• Common communication barriers and how to overcome them.
• Practice exercises in pairs.

Objectives:
• Distinguish between empathy, sympathy, and compassion.
• Develop empathetic responses to workplace distress.
• Recognise emotional cues and respond appropriately.
• Understand the importance of emotional self-care for the caregiver.

Topics:
• The neuroscience of empathy.
• Empathy vs sympathy: impact on the helpee.
• Techniques for expressing empathy verbally.
• Recognising and validating emotions.
• Boundaries in emotional support.
• Self-care strategies to prevent compassion fatigue.

Objectives:
• Identify signs of acute stress and trauma in the workplace.
• Apply basic crisis intervention principles.
• Know when and how to refer to professional services.
• Understand the psychological first aid model.

Topics:
• Common workplace crises: grief, violence, retrenchment.
• Signs of acute stress reaction and trauma.
• Psychological First Aid (PFA) steps.
• Crisis intervention: assess, listen, link.
• Referral pathways: EAP, counselling, medical aid.
• Role-play crisis scenarios.

Objectives:
• Apply basic counselling micro-skills in supportive conversations.
• Use reflection of feelings and meaning.
• Structure a pastoral care session (beginning, middle, end).
• Practice goal-setting and action planning with helpees.

Topics:
• Micro-skills: reflection, confrontation, immediacy.
• Structuring a helping conversation.
• Setting collaborative goals.
• Action planning and follow-up.
• Ethical considerations in brief counselling.
• Practice sessions with feedback.

Objectives:
• Understand the impact of culture on help-seeking behaviour.
• Adapt pastoral care approaches to diverse South African contexts.
• Recognise own cultural biases.
• Apply principles of cultural humility.

Topics:
• Cultural dimensions of pastoral care.
• Ubuntu and collective care in African contexts.
• Religion and spirituality in the workplace.
• Language barriers and use of interpreters.
• Cultural humility vs cultural competence.
• Case studies: diverse workplace scenarios.

Objectives:
• Identify common mental health challenges in the workplace.
• Provide supportive responses without diagnosing.
• Promote mental health literacy and reduce stigma.
• Know when to refer to mental health professionals.

Topics:
• Common issues: anxiety, depression, burnout, substance use.
• Signs and symptoms to observe.
• Supportive conversations about mental health.
• Reducing stigma through normalisation.
• Referral resources: psychologists, psychiatrists, helplines.
• Self-care for caregivers dealing with mental health issues.

Objectives:
• Apply ethical decision-making models to pastoral dilemmas.
• Maintain professional boundaries in care relationships.
• Manage dual relationships and conflicts of interest.
• Document pastoral interactions appropriately.

Topics:
• Ethical frameworks: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice.
• Decision-making model: identify, analyse, act, reflect.
• Boundary violations vs boundary crossings.
• Managing confidentiality: limits and exceptions.
• Record-keeping and data protection.
• Case studies on ethical dilemmas.

Objectives:
• Integrate all skills in a comprehensive role-play assessment.
• Develop a personal action plan for ongoing development.
• Identify resources for continued learning and support.
• Reflect on personal growth and areas for improvement.

Topics:
• Full pastoral care role-play scenarios.
• Peer and facilitator feedback.
• Creating a self-care and development plan.
• Building a support network: supervision and peer consultation.
• Resources: books, online courses, professional bodies.
• Course evaluation and certification.