As part of TAL Risk Academy’s education on mental health, life insurance specialist TAL will host a panel session next month on how to deal with heavy conversations with bereaved clients.
Glenn Baird (pictured), head of mental health at TAL, explained that providing emotional support to clients can “take a toll on advisers” since it’s necessary to proceed with more caution.
A recent TAL report showed that 43% of advisers don’t always know what to say to bereaved clients, while another 42% are concerned they might upset them. Three in five also claimed to feel stressed when working with clients on a life insurance claim.
As such, the panel session will focus on providing financial advisers with some conversation techniques that can be applied to support clients.
“It can be difficult to have conversations around sensitive topics but there are certain skills and tools which can assist,” Baird said. “TAL is committed to helping advisers feel confident in their important role of supporting grieving clients. The panel will explore key techniques to help advisers support their clients’ mental well-being while effectively helping with their claim.”
Baird will be joined by Corgenius chief executive officer Amy Florian, clinical psychologist Rebecca Van Lloy from Valion Health and clinical director Lucy Archinal-Hudson from Feel the Magic in the panel session.
“When engaging in conversations with clients experiencing grief, it’s important for advisers to consider how to demonstrate empathy, facilitate extraordinary communication, and foster more than transactional relationships,” Florian said. “We hope by providing advisers with access to this best practice mental health discussion, we can deliver confidence in maintaining considered lines of communication with their clients to support their overall wellbeing.”
Financial advisers are invited to attend the live panel session on October 26 from 12:00-1:00pm. To enrol in the TAL Risk Academy, advisers can contact a local TAL sales representative or visit the TAL Adviser Centre.
