Counting on U

What is Counting on U?

Deakin Business School’s Counting on U (CoU) is a workplace mental health training program for client-facing accounting professionals across Australia and New Zealand who are looking to develop the skills and knowledge to better support the mental health and financial needs of their clients, as well as supporting their own wellbeing.

CoU upskills business finance professionals by integrating Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training with client relationship-centred communication and interpersonal skills to support the business and mental health-related needs of their clients.

Deakin CoU was designed in response to a growing body of evidence showing that financial stress can affect the mental health of business owners. The Counting on U program recognises that accountants and business advisers are in a unique position to support clients and is designed to:

1. Equip you with communication and behavioural skills that build trust and help navigate difficult conversations with clients,
2. Give you the confidence to support clients experiencing financial and emotional distress, and
3. Provide you with the knowledge to support your own wellbeing.

CoU training is delivered by Deakin Business School’s sole licensees in Australia – Mentally Well Workplaces – and in New Zealand – Humanex.

Training Modules and Learning Outcomes

The full Counting on U program, requires a total time commitment of max 13 hours, and consists of:

• Week 1: One client relationship building (RBT) virtual classroom module (2 hours)
• Week 2: One MHFA e-learning module (approx. 5-7 hours self-paced learning) and 2 x MHFA virtual classroom modules (2.5 hours each), and
• Six weeks post MHFA virtual modules: One booster virtual classroom module (1hour)

The client Relationship Building Training (RBT) module provides participants with a useful framework to identify and refine interpersonal skills needed to have empathetic, often difficult, conversations about mental health and financial wellbeing. Some of the difficult conversations explored include deep-diving into underlying issues; handling verbal aggression; handling upset or distressed clients. The overall goal of RBT is to help you get even better at developing longer-term, trusting and mutually beneficial relationships with your clients.

Learning objectives

• Improve knowledge of how to build trust with clients.
• Develop the skills required to have conversations with clients experiencing financial and psychological distress.
• Improve self-awareness to better support clients.
• Increase self-care skills.

The Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) module teaches participants how to identify and provide support to those with the most common mental health conditions until they are able to seek professional help.

Learning objectives

• Improve knowledge of mental illnesses, their treatments and appropriate first aid strategies.
• Improve confidence in providing first aid to a person experiencing a mental health issue.
• Decrease stigmatising attitudes.
• Increase the amount and type of support provided to others.

The booster session further consolidates these skills by giving participants the chance to debrief with a trained expert, practice more scenarios and activities, and learn from each other through sharing of knowledge and experiences.

Once all training and assessments are complete, participants will receive MHFA digital accreditation (valid for 3 years and recognised globally), and an email from the trainer to confirm and acknowledge completion of the program which will help you accrue CPD points* and receive 0.5 Deakin unspecified course credit towards Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) into a Faculty of Business & Law post-graduate degree, including the Deakin MBA.

Got questions? Check out these FAQs.

Click here to find out more about the program design and research.

Sign up to the CoU newsletter to stay across all the latest news and updates, free events, workshops and resources to support your workplace mental health and wellbeing journey.

Program Pricing

Counting on U training is delivered by Deakin Business School’s sole licensees in Australia – Mentally Well Workplaces.

Please contact Deakin’s training delivery partner for group pricing (min. 8 participants), in-house training or any other queries about program schedule and delivery:
Australia:

Mentally Well Workplaces Amy Guest E: [email protected] P: +61 (07) 3355 6688

B2B Solutions

Deakin also offer custom-designed Counting on U modules tailored to individual organisations’ needs, including stress and conflict management, resilience building and team development and more.

You can find out more here or contact Amy Guest at MWW - E: [email protected] | P: +61 (07) 3355 6688, for more information.