
Lifeline's Recovery and Resilience (R&R) project provides fully funded (Free) community training for this in New England North West, North West and Northern New South Wales. We aim to support people experiencing difficulty by connecting them to our crisis support, accessible referral services and education to support community capacity building.
The project is jointly delivered by Lifeline Northern NSW and Lifeline New England North West and covers 10 Local Government Areas to the end of 2023. This project is made possible by funding from the Australian Government.
Training Courses & Workshops
Lifeline is a registered training organisation with a broad range of training programs, including Accidental Counsellor, safeTalk, ASIST - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Mental Health First Aid, Mind Your Mates, All About You, START - Online Suicide Prevention. Find out more about our training courses below.
August 2023 Training - New England / North West
SafeTALK - Learn Life-Saving Skills
8th August - Inverell
SafeTALK - Learn Life-Saving Skills
9th August - Armidale
SafeTALK - Learn Life-Saving Skills
9th August - Kempsey
Accidental Counsellor Foundations
10th August - Evans Head
Blended Accidental Counsellor
16th August - Glen Innes
Mental Health First Aid - Blended
17th - 18th August - Armidale
Mind Your Mates
18th August - Wingham
All About You: self-care, resilience and recovery
22nd August - Tenterfield - Online
All About You: self-care, resilience and recovery
24th August - Glen Innes - Online
ASIST - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
29th - 30th August - Armidale
September 2023 Training - New England / North West
Blended Accidental Counsellor
4th September - Armidale
Mental Health First Aid - Face to Face
5th & 6th September - Glen Innes
Accidental Counsellor Foundations - Blended Online
18th September - Inverell
Accidental Counsellor Foundations - Blended Online
18th September - Tenterfield
All About You: self-care, resilience and recovery
21st September - Tenterfield - Online
September 2023 Training - Mid Coast to Northern NSW
Blended Accidental Counsellor
4th September - Taree
Mental Health First Aid - Non-Suicidal Self Injury
14th September - Port Macquarie
Mind Your Mates
15th September - Old Bar Bowling Club
Mental Health First Aid - Non-Suicidal Self Injury
15th September - Port Macquarie
Accidental Counsellor Foundations - Online
18th Sept - Online via Zoom
Accidental Counsellor Foundations - Online
19th Sept - Online via Zoom
Mind Your Mates
24th September - Coopernoo

Find out more about our Training Courses
Our training programs come in a variety of shapes and sizes: face-to-face, online, long, short and in-between. Lifeline works closely with people who have a lived and living experience of suicide to develop evidence-based programs to keep Australians safe.
We prepare caregivers to be ready, willing and able to respond when someone needs their help. Find out more about training courses and workshops below.
All About You: self-care, resilience and recovery
Online Presentation
Duration: 2 Hours
In this short presentation, we use a framework to explore physical, mental, emotional and social types of resilience. Our emphasis is more on the importance of micro-decisions that contribute to not only caring for ourselves but in helping to boost resilience, almost like boosting our immune system, drop by drop.
We ask you to tune in to your own needs, to listen to your body, and to plan for whatever “re-creational” and restorative experiences you need to help retain your enthusiasm, energy and general well-being. We touch on grieving and recovery hearing from Dr Rob Gordon, a subject matter expert in the field of dealing with crisis and we share ideas on the way through with members of the group. We hope that you will take away, at the very least, some new thinking about the importance of self-care, our point being is to take self-care seriously.
This class will be hosted on Zoom and include breakout rooms where you will interact with other participants. Your individual link will be emailed to you after you register.
Closed Captions are available for this online workshop. Please let us know if you would like to make use of this service.
safeTalk
Face-to-Face Program
Duration: 3.5 Hours / half day
safeTALK is a half-day awareness program to increase suicide alertness to signs that a person may be considering suicide. The program acknowledges that while most people at risk of suicide signal their distress and invite help, these intervention opportunities are often overlooked.
Participants learn to recognise when someone may have thoughts of suicide and to respond in ways that link them with further suicide intervention help. Suicide alert helpers contribute to a suicide-safer community.
Accidental Counsellor Foundations
Online Workshop
Duration: 5 Hours
Ever had to step into the shoes of The Accidental Counsellor?
In community services work, we may often be the first point of contact for someone in crisis needing immediate assistance. Even without a formal qualification in counselling, a toolbox of counselling techniques and questioning frameworks provides the necessary support to clients when they are anxious, angry, experiencing loss or in a challenging time in their life.
Participants gain a greater understanding of how to communicate more effectively and learn strategies to help foster effective and trusting relationships with clients or peers. In this workshop, we ask participants to reflect on personal values and beliefs and how they influence interactions with clients. How you respond will create an impact on the person in need of support or assistance and often determine the outcome of your interactions.
Our Accidental Counsellor Foundations Online Workshop consists of two parts, each 2½ hours on consecutive mornings delivered via an interactive virtual classroom. Participants need to be available on both mornings 9.15-12.00 to complete this workshop. When you register for the first part below, you will automatically be booked for the second part. A Zoom link will be provided to allow access to both parts and your workbook will be mailed ahead of time to your preferred address.
The workshop is flexible and interactive, encouraging participants to ask questions, share their experiences, practise skills and engage in self-reflection.
This class will be hosted on Zoom and include breakout rooms where you will interact with other participants. Your individual link will be emailed to you after you register.
Closed Captions are available for this online workshop. Please let us know if you would like to use this service.
ASIST - Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training
Face-to-Face Workshop
Duration: 2 Days
LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) aims to enhance a caregiver’s abilities to help a person at risk avoid suicide. Participants learn to recognise when someone may be at risk of suicide and respond in ways that help increase their immediate safety and link them to help.
Although it is highly standardised, ASIST has been used in a range of settings with trainees from a variety of backgrounds and countries. ASIST has been implemented in secondary and post-secondary schools, mental health centres, hospitals, social services, public safety agencies and numerous other community settings.
Extensive evaluations of ASIST outcomes have shown that participants demonstrate increased intervention skills, and that ASIST training has led to positive changes in both knowledge and attitudes about suicide.
ASIST is based on principles of adult learning. It values the experiences and contributions that participants bring and encourages people to share actively in the learning process.
Key Features
- ASIST facilitates involvement. Participants will spend over half of the workshop in the same small group with one of the two trainers.
- Learning is stimulated by audiovisuals and teaching. A suicide first aid model provides the framework for the workshop and skills practice.
- The workshop provides opportunities to learn what a person at risk may need from others in order to keep safe and get more help. Participants consider common factors that may flag potential suicide risk.
- ASIST has a training focus. Personal and professional experiences that participants bring contribute to everyone’s learning. Experiences with suicide and intervention are focused on the overall learning goal, which is to provide suicide intervention first aid.
- Participants are also encouraged to share and reflect on their attitudes about suicide and suicide intervention and hear those of others. People are invited to reflect on how these attitudes may affect their caregiver role with a person at risk and to appreciate diverse perspectives.
- The workshop encourages honest, open and direct talk about suicide as part of preparing people to provide suicide intervention first aid.
If you have lost someone to suicide in the last year or so, please speak with one of our training team members before participating in an ASIST workshop. We recommend that you delay your participation, although we appreciate that everyone grieves differently.
Mental Health First Aid
Face-to-Face Workshop - Duration: 2 Days
Blended Learning - Duration: 2-part online workshop - e-learning and online workshop
The program has been well evaluated and found to be effective in improving mental health literacy, reducing stigma and increasing helping behaviours.
Mental health first aid is the help given to someone dealing with a mental health problem or crisis. Until appropriate professional treatment is received or until the crisis resolves. Participants will learn the signs and symptoms of these mental health problems, where and how to get help and what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective.
Who can attend an MHFA course?
Any interested adult can attend. This course is not a therapy or support group, rather it is an education course. Our instructors are trained by Mental Health First Aid TM Australia, and more information about MHFA Australia can be found at www.mhfa.com.au
The Standard Mental Health First Aid Course has also been endorsed for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Points for a number of professions. This includes nurses, pharmacists, fitness instructors, social workers, physiotherapists and others.
MHFA Training can provide members of the community with:
- Skills in how to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health problems
- Knowledge of the possible causes or risk factors for these mental health problems
- Awareness of the evidenced-based medical, psychological and alternative treatments available
- Skills in how to give appropriate initial help and support to someone experiencing a mental health problem
- Skills in how to take appropriate action if a crisis situation arises involving suicidal behaviour, panic attack, overdose or threatening psychotic behaviour.
Mind Your Mates
Face-to-Face Workshop
Duration: 45 Minutes
How do we know the signs that someone – one of your mates – is not necessarily coping or may be developing a mental health problem, especially when our familiar face-to-face gatherings are unavailable? Most of us have heard of or undertaken training in physical first aid, but, when it comes to mental health or emotional first aid, we are not so well trained or equipped.
This 45min ‘toolbox tool’ will enable you to recognise the signs of depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide in your mate. This presentation is delivered by Lifeline skills-for-life suicide prevention trainers.
Bring awareness to your organisation
Harden up. Suck it up. Man up. We’ve been telling ourselves this for years, but is it healthy? Suicide is now the leading cause of death for Australian men aged 15-44. Alarming new research suggests that some men choose to take their own life rather than appear weak by asking for help.
But then there’s the biggie. The number one thing you’re meant to be able to offer your mates – support when they need it. Aussie's excel at the day to day of mateship, but often aren’t there to lend a hand when a friend is doing it tough emotionally, because they don’t know their mate needs help. We need to know, we need to be real and open to someone being able to voice emotions around mental health issues. Not just men, of course, but especially men.
We'd love to hear from you!
Get in touch with your local Community Advocate and tell us about your community and have a chat about how we can help.
Phone 1300 152 854 or email [email protected]