General News
4 April, 2025
Training to help diffuse tense situations
IN response to recent incidents of ‘confronting behaviour’ in the CBD, Warrnambool City Council is bringing a de-escalation expert to the city this month.
Free training sessions will be available for local businesses wanting to learn some effective methods to best handle confronting situations if and when they arise.
Training will be delivered over two sessions, with afternoon and evening workshops available to better suit more businesses.
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said that with an increase in confronting behaviour experienced by businesses in recent months, this training would prove invaluable.
“While a lot of the issues with anti-social behaviour involve criminal offences and are best handled by Victoria Police, this training is something we can do at council to help equip the local business community with the knowledge and confidence to de-escalate situations where they can, and to seek help when needed,” Cr Blain said.
The training will be delivered by Resolution Education, with CEO Nathan McDonald saying that the course will cover scenarios from dissatisfied customers through to people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“What we try and do is provide people with a toolkit that they can use,” Mr McDonald said.
“The biggest difference (between a dissatisfied customer and someone with more complex issues) is the timing.
“The warning signs can be a bit different and the time in which you have to act might be shorter, so knowing what to do in that situation is really important.”
He said that across the country, instances of poor customer behaviour were increasing.
“Incidents are on the rise in general. There’s definitely a trend upwards,” he said.
“In terms of the challenges that people are facing every day, things have gotten a lot tougher for people.
“Especially with the cost of living crisis, housing issues, trying to make ends meet… circumstance have gotten more difficult for people on a daily basis and that can lead to people that would normally be slow to anger acting more erratically.”
He said that generally, empathy was the best tactic to stop incidents from escalating.
“Sometimes it’s really the acknowledgement that people need when they are heightened or frustrated,” he said.
“It’s not about taking blame or admitting fault, it’s about acknowledging the other person’s perspective.”
The training sessions will take place next Wednesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 16.
For more information and to book, visit www.eventbrite.com.au and search “De-escalation & Occupational Confrontation Training Warrnambool”
