Working With Vulnerable Callers
Dealing with challanging and vulnerable customers
Duration: 3h
Delivery Method: Virtually
Course Capacity: 16
Handling Vulnerable Callers: A Practical Training Course for Frontline Professionals
This course is designed for call handlers, customer service teams, support centre operatives, reception staff, and other frontline professionals who regularly engage with vulnerable callers. It’s particularly relevant for those working in crisis response, healthcare, emergency services, public sector roles, helplines, or charity organisations.
Whether you’re a new recruit or an experienced team member, this skills-based training equips you to handle emotionally intense interactions with confidence, empathy, and professionalism—while also prioritising your own staff wellbeing.
Who Is This Course For?
This training is ideal for:
- Call centre and customer service professionals
- Front desk and reception teams
- Public service staff in high-volume support environments
- Employees working with the general public, especially those facing complex mental health challenges
- Anyone in a customer-facing or support role where emotionally distressed customers are common
No prior mental health or crisis training is required. The course is practical, accessible, and tailored to real-world call centre and customer support scenarios.
What You Will Learn
Participants will leave the session with practical tools to:
- Respond to vulnerable or at-risk callers with calm, clarity, and compassion
- Navigate emotionally charged conversations using structured de-escalation techniques
- Manage their own emotional responses before, during, and after calls
- Set and maintain healthy professional boundaries
- Reduce the risk of burnout and secondary trauma through proactive self-care
- Apply reflective practices to strengthen personal resilience
- Enhance communication skills to support respectful, safe, and effective interactions

Why This Training Matters
Many frontline staff are not given sufficient operational guidance for managing distressed customers. This training fills that gap—providing clear, practical tools that improve confidence, protect wellbeing, and elevate the quality of customer interactions.
By investing in this course, your organisation is also investing in long-term staff wellbeing, improved outcomes for callers, and a safer, more supportive workplace culture.
Tailored delivery
Since introducing this course, we have tailored content to organisations, at their request. Different organisations manage callers with different issues. Similarly, some people may respond in different ways.