Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a simple yet powerful way of helping someone in distress. It involves paying attention to the person's reactions, active listening, and, if appropriate, providing practical assistance to help address immediate problems and basic needs.

This course is designed for individuals who work with people — whether in healthcare, education, corporate, service, or community settings. It equips participants with essential, evidence-based skills in PFA that can assist anyone encountering emotional distress or psychological crises. 

Course Content:

• Introduction to Psychological First Aid
• Ethics of Psychological First Aid
• Crises and Responses
• Providing Psychological First Aid: Individuals, Children, Groups
• The ACR Framework: Acknowledge, Contain, Refer

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Recognise signs of emotional distress in yourself and others
• Provide immediate, appropriate, and effective stabilising support
• Respond with calm, clarity, and confidence during psychological crises
• Practise self-care strategies to manage stress and protect your own well-being

CPD-Accredited | 7 CPD Points 

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to participants of the course.

• 13 February (Friday) | Online
• 13 March (Friday) | Online
• 17 April (Friday) | In-person
• 22 May (Friday) | Online
• 03 July (Friday) | Online
• 18 September (Friday) | In-person
• 13 November (Friday) | Online

Session Type: In-person / Online 
Venue: G Floor, Neuroscience Institute Building / Microsoft Teams
​Time: 09h00 to 15h30

Course fee is R 2,200 per person (Group Discounts Available)

Register HERE

For more information or to register, email ce.administration@uct.ac.za 

Only participants registered for the workshop will be eligible to attend. Limited space available

Basic counselling skills are crucial for fostering healthy relationships when working with people, whether patients in a clinic or hospital setting, members of the community, or research participants.

This course stimulates growth in knowledge, self-awareness, and skills development. It aims to enhance participants’ ability to accurately empathise with their clients, develop and apply listening and communication skills, attend skills, active listening, body language, and verbal skills, such as paraphrasing, reflection, using questions appropriately, and summarising.

The course is aimed at lay counsellors, adherence counsellors, community health workers, research workers, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and medical officers. 

Entry requirements: There are no entry requirements. However, preference will be given to candidates working in a health- or social sciences-related field. 

Course Content:

• What is Counselling?
• The counselling process
• Basic Counselling Skills
• Role-play

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to participants of the course.

• 06 February (Friday)
• 06 March (Friday)
• 10 April (Friday)
• 05 June (Friday)
• 07 August (Friday)
• 02 October (Friday)

Session Type: In-person OR Online 
Venue: G Floor, Neuroscience Institute Building OR Microsoft Teams
​Time: 09h00 to 15h30

Course fee is R 2,200 per person

Register HERE

For more information or to register, email ce.administration@uct.ac.za 

Only participants registered for the workshop will be eligible to attend. Limited space available

South Africa carries the largest HIV burden in the world – approximately one in 10 South Africans live with HIV. As clinical and non-clinical staff working in the field of HIV, mastering effective HIV counselling skills is key to the prevention and treatment of HIV and the support of potentially vulnerable individuals in South Africa.

Research has shown that individuals who receive adequate HIV counselling can cope better with their diagnosis and related emotions, are more likely to engage in responsible behaviour to decrease transmission, and are more likely to look after their health. However, HIV presents health workers and counsellors with a unique set of challenges. While many health workers have worked with life-threatening illnesses before the HIV epidemic, few have had to meet the challenge of working in an area of such sociocultural sensitivity.

The course manual was developed to support a range of providers (trained counsellors, lay counsellors, researchers, peer educators, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, community health workers, and others) who work with people living with HIV. The purpose of this manual is to provide training in basic HIV counselling. This includes strengthening basic counselling skills, developing HIV-related knowledge, and learning strategies to manage difficult counselling situations.

This course is offered online and contains +/—6 hours of content. Participants will receive the content prior to the course for their own perusal. The content is then consolidated during a synchronous online session, where participants are encouraged to ask questions and participate in supervised role-plays.

This course is ideal for you if you are a social worker, psychologist, nurse, research worker, community health worker, lay counsellor, or any cadre of staff working in the HIV field.

Entry requirements: There are no entry requirements. However, preference will be given to candidates working in a health- or social sciences-related field.  

Course Content:

• Overview of HIV / AIDS Disease Process
• Overview of Counselling process and effective communication skills
• Legal and ethical issues including testing in children
• The contents of HIV pre- and HIV post-test counselling sessions
• Looking after yourself as the counsellor

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to participants of the course.

• 20 February (Friday)
• 20 March (Friday)
• 17 April (Friday)
• 19 June (Friday)
• 14 August (Friday)
• 16 October (Friday)

Session Type: In-person OR Online 
Venue: G Floor, Neuroscience Institute Building OR Microsoft Teams
​Time: 09h00 to 15h30

Course fee is R 2,200 per person

Register HERE

For more information or to register, email ce.administration@uct.ac.za 

Only participants registered for the workshop will be eligible to attend. Limited space available

Life Steps is an adherence intervention comprising of 13 education and problem-solving steps. The intervention aims to identify structural and psychological barriers to adherence and problem-solve ways to overcome these barriers. Near-perfect adherence to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is needed to fight HIV successfully. However, ART adherence remains one of the major challenges compromising care for people living with HIV. 

The course is aimed at lay counsellors, adherence counsellors, community health workers, research workers, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and medical officers.

Entry requirements: There are no entry requirements. However, preference will be given to candidates working in a health- or social sciences-related field. 

Course Content:

• ART Adherence knowledge
• Life Steps intervention exposure
• Application of Life Steps Intervention
• Mental health assessment and referral

CPD-Accredited | 7 CPD Points 

A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to participants of the course.

• 27 February (Friday)
• 27 March (Friday)
• 24 April (Friday)
• 26 June (Friday)
• 21 August (Friday)
• 23 October (Friday)

Session Type: In-person OR Online 
Venue: G Floor, Neuroscience Institute Building OR Microsoft Teams
​Time: 09h00 to 15h30

Course fee is R 2,900 per person

Register HERE

For more information or to register, email ce.administration@uct.ac.za 

Only participants registered for the workshop will be eligible to attend. Limited space available

The Applied Community Counselling Course offers 8 weeks of training followed by 12 weeks of supervised practicum. The course is hosted by The Counselling Hub.

Interns gain core counselling skills, ethical insight, and real-world experience to support mental health in community settings as a lay counsellor. 

Course Content:

• Counselling Skills
• Psychoeducation
• Ethics and Administration
• Key Counselling Techniques

*Assessment after the theoretical component to complete the practicum*

Who should attend: Psychology, Social Work, and Health Sciences graduates interested in gaining practical counselling skills in community settings.

Date: Starts 2 March 2026
Time: 8-week theory, 12-week supervised practicum

Session Type: Hybrid (online and in-person)
Venue: The Counselling Hub, Woodstock, Cape Town

Course fee is R 5,500 per person

Register HERE

For enquiries, contact: stephan.rabie@uct.ac.za

*The first five delegates to register will receive a Behavioural Scientist subscription – the go-to magazine for the most exciting ideas in behavioural science.*

This short course introduces professionals to the foundational principles of behaviour change and behavioural science. It is designed to build a practical understanding of what drives human behaviour and how to encourage positive change across individual, team, and system levels. 

The course aims to equip participants with the mindset and essential tools to analyse behavioural challenges, design context-appropriate solutions, and communicate for change effectively across diverse professional settings, using principles of behavioural communication to design messages and interventions that resonate with real human motivations. 

Who should attend: The target audience is pan-sectoral and includes professionals from health, education, business, government, and NGOs – who want to understand and influence human behaviour in their work. 

The course covers key foundations of behaviour change, balancing conceptual understanding and applied learning. 

Course Content:

1. Introduction to Behavioural Science – what it is, and why it matters for effective communication and change.
2. Understanding Human Behaviour – overview of how people make decisions, form habits, and respond to context.
3. Barriers and Enablers of Change – identifying psychological, social, and environmental influences.
4. Designing for Behaviour Change – translating insight into practical strategies for influence and engagement. Overview of behavioural communications: how message framing, timing, messenger effects, and social proof influence attention, motivation, and follow-through.
5. Empathy and Context – understanding audience mindsets and mental models to craft communication that aligns with their values and lived experience.
6. Application and Reflection – applying behaviour science thinking to participants' own work challenges. 

By the end of this course, participants will be able to: 

• Explain the core principles of behaviour change, behavioural communication, and their relevance across sectors.
• Analyse behavioural challenges by identifying key barriers and drivers.
• Apply behavioural insights to design or improve initiatives, programmes, or communication.
• Use empathy and contextual understanding to make sure change strategies are more effective.
• Develop a simple action plan to apply behaviour change approaches in their professional setting.
• Design communication strategies that apply behavioural principles such as framing, salience, messenger, and timing to improve engagement and impact. 

A digital certificate of completion will be issued to participants of the course. Participants will receive a 'Certificate of Completion' from the University of Cape Town's Continuing Education Unit (CEU) upon completion. 

A verifiable 'Fundamentals of Behaviour Change in SA' digital badge is also included, making it easier to display your achievement on LinkedIn or other professional platforms. 

Date: 25 February 2026 
Venue: UCT Neuroscience Institute
​Time: 09h00 to 15h30

Course fee is R 2,200 (private individuals) 

Bespoke corporate and organisational bookings are available — request a quote. 

Register HERE

For course-related queries: ce.administration@uct.ac.za 

For registration and administration matters: contact@behaviourchange.africa

Learn more about: Behaviour change in South Africa

This course is under development - watch this space!