Yasuhiro Kotera – why communication is key to counselling

We are delighted that Yasuhiro Kotera, Academic Lead for Counselling, Psychotherapy and Psychology at University of Derby, is delivering a one-off ‘Introduction to Basic Counselling Skills’ workshop for us on 4 November. 

As an Accredited Psychotherapist, Yasuhiro has worked with diverse client issues in Japan, America, and the UK. His research focuses on self-care and mental health in workers and students in the healthcare settings. Currently he is exploring interventions to support self-compassion and self-care.

In this blog we hear from Yasuhiro about the importance of communication and how the session will aim to equip you with the knowledge about this can be improved upon to make others feel understood and listened to.

“Employee wellbeing has been receiving attention, especially since the outbreak of COVID-19. Workers in many industries are going through a variety of changes during this uncertain time, which has been reported as having a negative impact on their wellbeing.

“My research reports that the mental health of healthcare and non-healthcare workers has suffered during the pandemic, which was associated with an increased sense of loneliness, and decreases in hope and self-compassion. Work-life balance was also identified as a predictor of mental health. Today, many organisations are implementing the return-to-work strategies, however it will not be as simple as it sounds. We need to re-create an old programme to adjust to an old but new working environment, which can be stressful to many workers. Organisations need to adopt some strategies to counter this mental health difficulty.

“One practical way to mitigate mental health challenges may be fostering good workplace communication. For example, research that I am about to complete has identified that amicable workplace communication was one mental resource to cope with heightened stress. Being able to talk honestly and supportively among colleagues is a great resource for an organisation.

“Many professionals are aware of this, and have a good mindset to do that, however how to improve their communication skills is another thing. This needs to be learned. Moreover, many professionals need to communicate with their clients, customers or service users. Good counselling skills are helpful here too.

“To meet these needs, I am offering this webinar for to allow people to learn and practice basic counselling skills, which can benefit their workplace. Based on my psychotherapy practice and research, the webinar teaches you how communication happens and how we can improve it.

“Communication is essential for many people’s quality of life. In fact, after my counselling training, the first thing I often hear is ‘my family relationship has been improved!’ as often they practice the skills at home, before their workplace. This suggests that the knowledge and skills you learn in this webinar can apply to many contexts of your life. I hope those who attend will enjoy and learn a lot from this webinar to improve their work life and beyond.”

The workshop is free to University of Derby staff and students with a connection to Chesterfield, as well as those working at or volunteering for Derbyshire-based not for profit community organisations helping people in Chesterfield.

There are just a few places left on this popular session - to book visit our Eventbrite page here. Once the event is full, you can join the waiting list.