They must be able to sustain their roles throughout a complete interview from introductions to closure.
We understand the need to remain in role even if the learners are struggling. We have techniques that enable us to encourage and guide the learner through difficult moments during the interview, where appropriate to do so.
During debrief sessions, we offer our feedback from a ‘how we, as the character, were made to feel’ perspective rather than telling your professionals how to do their job. We fully recognise that that is not our place. The role actors must respect the need for confidentiality at all times as many of the courses we work on reveal sensitive subject matter that should not be discussed outside the work place.
All of our role actors are very aware that many of the characters we are asked to portray have suffered some kind of physical/mental/sexual abuse. Catherine takes great care to ensure that each role actor she supplies is comfortable with this for very important health & safety reasons.
We work with Counter Terrorism branches of the police in the UK & overseas along side forensic psychologists (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/13/the-scientists-persuading-terrorists-to-spill-their-secrets?CMP=share_btn_link) helping them train their officers in specialised interview techniques.
Click on the audio links below to hear more about Characters from Catherine Hamilton herself, in two interviews conducted with Eddie Mair from Radio 4.