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Pack 8: Dealing With Difficult Behaviour

Every organisation has its share of ‘difficult’ clients, if your volunteers are not trained to cope, you could lose them.
Author

Kay Curtis

Resources

Handouts, Activity Sheets & Case Studies

Experience Level Needed

Beginner

Access

Download and Online Access

Duration

3 hours

Price

£
50

What's included?

  • Session Timetable
  • Timed Activities
  • Trainer notes
  • Training material in PPT files 
  • Pre Course questionnaire
  • Training Evaluation form
  • Session extension ideas
  • Activity sheets
  • Case Studies
  • Achievement cards and certificates

Overview

Every organisation has its share of ‘difficult’ clients, if your volunteers are not trained to cope, you could lose them.

Sometimes client’s can seem ‘difficult’ or present with challenging behaviour and volunteers do not always know how to deal with that. This session will help them explore the reasons behind the difficult behaviour and give them strategies to cope.

This pack includes an exercise on exploring the implications of clients’ difficult behaviour and practical activities on how to deal with it. There is a presentation on problem solving included.

Objective

By the end of this session participants will:

- have identified difficult behaviour
- have discussed the impact of difficult behaviour on both the volunteers and the organisation
- have recognised the reasons behind this type of behaviour
- have explored ways of dealing with difficult behaviour
- have considered how to create effective boundaries
WHY IT MATTERS

Why managing difficult volunteer behaviour matters for UK coordinators in 2026.

📅 Pack content last reviewed: April 2026
✍️ Authored by Kay Curtis · 30+ years' UK voluntary-sector specialism

Pack 8: Difficult Behaviour is a complete full-day trainer-led session for UK volunteer coordinators — covering the formal processes, documentation, investigation routes, and escalation frameworks that apply when supervision-level conversations are no longer enough. This is the coordinator-facing pack. For the volunteer-facing version covering response skills and conversation frameworks, see Pack 17.

Difficult behaviour is one of the most under-trained-for areas of volunteer management. NCVO guidance consistently identifies this as a top stressor for volunteer coordinators — and one of the main reasons coordinators themselves leave the role. The problem rarely sits with the loud incident; it sits with the slow-build pattern of behaviour that coordinators don't know how to name, document, or escalate.

Managing difficult behaviour in 2026 carries real compliance weight. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, in force from October 2024, places a proactive duty on organisations to prevent harassment — including by and toward volunteers. The Equality Act 2010 applies to volunteer-management decisions. And Charity Commission safeguarding guidance requires that conduct concerns are properly recorded and acted on, not smoothed over.

This training pack equips your coordinator with structured frameworks for the situations they cannot avoid handling — investigation, documentation, formal action, and the exit pathways when other approaches haven't worked.
TOP STRESSOR
For volunteer coordinators
Handling difficult volunteer behaviour is consistently named as one of the main reasons coordinators experience stress and leave the role.
PROACTIVE DUTY
Worker Protection Act 2023 in force
Organisations now have a positive duty to prevent harassment — including third-party harassment — in volunteer settings.
RECORD & ACT
Charity Commission expectation
Conduct concerns involving volunteers must be properly recorded, addressed, and escalated where the threshold is met — not smoothed over.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Quick answers from buyers like you.

QHow is this different from Pack 17?
Pack 8 is coordinator-facing — formal processes, documentation, investigation, escalation, and exit pathways when supervision-level conversations haven't resolved a situation. Pack 17 is volunteer-facing — understanding behaviour types, conversation frameworks, and the response skills volunteers themselves need. Coordinators benefit from both; volunteers usually only need Pack 17.
QIs this about formal disciplinary processes?
Yes — that is the core of this pack. Most situations are resolved at the supervision-and-conversation stage (covered in Pack 3). When they aren't, this pack provides the framework for investigation, documentation, formal action, and exit. It complements your organisation's formal volunteer policy rather than replacing it.
QHow does this fit with safeguarding?
Difficult behaviour and safeguarding overlap but are not the same. The pack covers where the line sits — when a difficult-behaviour situation crosses into a safeguarding concern requiring formal reporting under your safeguarding policy. For full safeguarding training, pair with Pack 16 (Adult Protection).
QDoes it cover the Worker Protection Act 2023?
Yes. The pack covers the new proactive duty to prevent harassment in volunteer settings — including third-party harassment by members of the public — and the practical steps coordinators must take to meet that duty. This includes active monitoring, recording, and response.
QIs it better to buy this pack or the full library?
Pack 8 pairs naturally with Pack 3 (Supervision), Pack 16 (Adult Protection), and Pack 17 (Volunteer-facing difficult behaviour). If difficult behaviour is your only training need, the single pack works. For the full coordinator skill-set, the £295 licence pays for itself after six packs.
RELATED TRAINING PACKS

Difficult-behaviour management connects to supervision and safeguarding.

Coordinators typically pair this pack with:

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