Communicating with Clarity and Compassion

Communicating with Clarity and Compassion Online Course:

  1.5 – 3 hours self-paced online content. Learners have 30 days from enrollment to complete.

  Appropriate for wide range of professionals and peer helpers.

What You’ll Learn

The goal of this course is to build practical skills for effective and efficient communication about decision-making in a compassionate way. Skills include using ask-offer-ask for giving information and advice, teach-back for shared understanding, and the BRAIN worksheet to support informed decision making.

About the Course

  • Self-paced content: Complete the coursework at your own pace.
  • Variety of learning activities: Interactive learning modules, quizzes, and assignments with feedback from an instructor.
  • Progress updates: Sponsors receive regular participant progress reports.
  • Capacity: This course can accommodate up to 24 learners per group.

Ready to take your communication to the next level?

Practical communication skills for person-centred care.

Contact Us

What Learners Are Saying

Valuable training

“I thought this course was tremendously valuable. It provided tools and scripts and great guidance for communicating in a way that is respectful and engaging and compassionate. I will definitely make use of the tools, especially the BRAIN tool for decision making in future. Thank you.”

Helpful and informative

“Very helpful and informative. I will be using the BRAIN worksheet with future clients”

Helpful techniques and handouts

“the techniques in the program and handouts were very helpful for me.”

Inclusive and Respectful

The program was very easy to navigate and very well laid out. I liked how linear they made decision making. It was very inclusive to the client and their families in allowing them to make decisions that were right for their them as well as respecting all involved. I also liked how the teach method allowed full respect to each individual and their level of knowledge

Training for person-centred care

It was clear and made sense. I like how it created space for clients to make their own decisions in their health outcomes. This approach allows them to have more control and understanding.

Opportunity for reflection and improvement

It allowed me to be reflective of both my practice and the practice at my clinic. It provided new tools to help improve communication to better patients’ health overall.

Great learning experience

Programs are well designed, easy to follow and a great learning experience that helps me better my practice

Course Details

Learning Objectives

  • Consider how to communicate with a non-judgemental attitude.
  • Define ask-offer-ask, a skill for giving information and advice.
  • Demonstrate using teach-back to confirm understanding.
  • Demonstrate using the BRAIN worksheet to make an informed decision.

Training Approach

This is an interactive course that is designed for participants who want to consider practical applications to their work. CCMI uses learner-centred, performance-based approaches to adult education. The Communicating with Clarity and Compassion online course includes:

  • Learning activities that evoke understanding and build skills. These include interactive online activities, class forum discussion, and short quizzes to reflect learning and encourage application to practice.
  • Practice assignments that increase practical understanding and allow trainers to provide constructive feedback.

Course Modules

Module 1: Overview and Instructions

Module 2: Navigating Your Online Course

Module 3: Learning Module: Ask-Offer-Ask

  • Introduction
  • Giving information in the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing
  • Activity
  • What is ask-offer-ask?
  • Demonstrations
  • Exceptions
  • Activity
  • Summary

Module 4: Learning Check: Ask-Offer-Ask

Module 5: Learning Module: Teach-Back

  • Introduction
  • Defining Teach-Back
  • Why Use Teach-Back?
  • How to Use Teach-Back
  • Demonstrations
  • Step-By-Step Analysis of Teach-Back
  • Additional Materials
  • Summary

Module 6: Learning Check: Teach-Back

Module 7: Assignment: Teach-Back

Module 8: Activity: Informed Decision-Making

Module 9: Learning Module: Informed Decision-Making

  • Introduction
  • Defining Person- and Family-Centred Care
  • Informed Decision-Making
  • Step-By-Step Analysis of the BRAIN Worksheet for Informed Decision-Making
  • Demonstration
  • Reflection
  • Tips
  • Optional Reading
  • Summary

Module 10: Learning Check: Informed Decision-Making

Module 11: Assignment: Informed Decision-Making

Module 12: What's Next

Preview

This is an example of one of the instructional videos included in the course. It is accompanied by examples of people doing teach-back and activities to practice teach-back.

Certificate

The course takes approximately 1.5-3 hours, and a certificate of completion is provided to learners who complete the course in its entirety:

  • Four brief units of learning content, activities, and forums.
  • Three Learning checks
  • Assignments
    • A video or audio recording to demonstrate teach-back.
    • A written assignment to demonstrate using the BRAIN worksheet for informed decision-making.

Tech Requirements

In order to complete this course, learners will need
  • Access to a computer, laptop, or tablet with the capability to watch and listen to videos and audio recordings.
  • Internet connection
  • Audio recording app or software.
  • Up to date browser including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer has had known compatibility issues.
The audio recording app or software is for recording a skills demonstration. Some ways this can be done are with a computer, smartphone, a teleconference line, a webinar platform like Skype or Zoom.

See our CCMI Services page for an overview of all of our offerings and details like workshop prerequisites, duration, and capacity.