Training and Talks with Sandra Mazili
Online Training for Counsellors, Helpline Workers, and Organisations
I deliver online training via Zoom for counsellors, therapeutic practitioners, helpline workers, and organisations, focusing on specialist areas of counselling practice. I have over a decade of experience across helplines, crisis services, and counselling practice in both agency and private settings, including work with complex and high-risk presentations.
Training sessions are interactive, reflective, and practical, drawing on real-world examples and anonymised client work to bring theory to life. The focus is on supporting practitioners to think clearly, work ethically, and respond to complexity with confidence—whether working in ongoing therapy or within the immediacy of helpline settings.
How the Training Works
Sessions are designed to be:
- I nteractive and discussion-based
- Grounded in real practice
- Focused on practical application
- Informed by person-centred and inclusive values
Each course creates space to reflect on your own practice, consider different perspectives, and develop approaches that feel both professionally and personally congruent. This includes recognising the different demands of time-limited work, crisis response, and ongoing therapeutic relationships.
Course Topics and Key Learning Outcomes
More detailed course descriptions, including aims, learning outcomes, and structure, are available as downloadable PDFs and accessible Word documents.
Seeing the Unseen
Confident Practice with Clients with Physical and Sensory Disabilities.
Duration: 2 hours | CPD certificate: issued on completion
This course equips practitioners with the knowledge and confidence to support clients with physical or sensory disabilities, exploring access needs in a practical framework before, during, and after sessions. This includes consideration of both ongoing therapy and helpline-based work, where access and communication may need to be adapted quickly and responsively.
Participants will take away:
- Increased confidence in responding to access needs
- Practical strategies for adapting sessions and communication
- A reflective understanding of their own assumptions and potential barriers
- Tools to create an inclusive and respectful environment for all clients
Course Details & Learning Outcomes
This course is Quality Checked by the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS). This course alone is not a route to the Accredited Register, nor does it fully equip a graduate to practice as a qualified counsellor or refer to themselves as ‘a specialist’ in the subject matter unless they have other qualifications/training to support this.
Risk in Ongoing Person-Centred Practice
Duration: 3 hours | CPD certificate: issued on completion
Focuses on working with risk over time, including suicidal ideation, self-harm, and addiction, while maintaining a person-centred approach. The course also considers how risk presents differently in ongoing work compared to helpline or crisis contact, where immediacy and limited information shape decision-making.
Participants will take away:
- Understanding risk as a dynamic, relational process
- Strategies for monitoring and holding risk over time
- Skills to use outcome measures to support client voice
- Reflection on documentation, therapist subjectivity, and ethical decision-making
Course Details & Learning Outcomes
Living with a Disability
Duration: 2 hours | CPD certificate: issued on completion
This course explores how living with a disability may shape identity, autonomy, relationships, loss, and emotional experience, and how these themes may present in therapy or within single-session or helpline contact.
Participants will take away:
- Greater understanding of the lived experience of disability in therapy
- Strategies for responding ethically and sensitively to uncertainty
- Skills to reflect on personal assumptions and work inclusively
- Approaches to support client autonomy and resilience
Course Details & Learning Outcomes
Boundaries in Person-Centred Practice
Duration: 3 hours | CPD certificate: issued on completion
Explores boundaries as a relational and dynamic aspect of therapeutic work, supporting safety, trust, and client autonomy. Topics include time, availability, money, self-disclosure, endings, and working with dysregulation, addiction, and risk—across both structured therapy and more fluid helpline environments.
Participants will take away:
- Clear approaches to setting and maintaining boundaries
- Awareness of rescue dynamics and over-involvement
- Strategies for integrating boundaries into ethical, person-centred practice
- Tools for reflecting on personal practice within organisational constraints
Course Details & Learning Outcomes
Short Talks and Bespoke Training
In addition to full courses, I offer shorter talks and tailored workshops for organisations, including helpline services and crisis teams. These can be adapted to your setting and may include areas such as:
- Risk assessment and response
- Emotional self-regulation for practitioners
- Boundaries in practice
- Working within time-limited or high-demand environments
- Other topics relevant to your team
Who the Training Is For.
- Counsellors and psychotherapists
- Counselling and psychotherapy students (Risk and Boundaries courses)
- Helpline volunteers, call handlers, and supervisors
- Organisations seeking specialist training
- Professionals looking to deepen their practice in specific areas
Affiliations, Talks, and Media
I deliver training and talks through platforms including OnlineEvents and Counselling Directory, and I work as a freelance trainer with Cruse Bereavement Support.
I’m also available for podcasts, blogs, panels, and other media, contributing to conversations around counselling, grief, and inclusive practice with a focus on making these areas more accessible and easier to engage with.
Accessibility
Training is designed with accessibility in mind. PDFs and accessible Word versions of course materials are provided, and sessions are structured to support participation from all attendees.
Enquiries and Booking
All training is delivered online via Zoom.
For upcoming course dates and availability, please check my blog.
If you’re interested in attending a course, arranging training for your organisation, or would like more detailed course information, you’re welcome to get in touch.
Discuss Your Training Needs
If you're not sure which course is the best fit, or you're considering a bespoke session, you're welcome to get in touch to talk through what would be most relevant for your setting.