Communicating Through Complexity: Practical Skills for Navigating Challenging Conversations in Health Care
This workshop can also be delivered privately to your community, practice, or team. If you would like us to come to your community, please email us at @email.
Our health-care system is becoming more complex and uncertain, with unprecedented demands on individuals and teams. Issues of interpersonal conflict, misinformation, discrimination and hierarchy are increasingly being surfaced at all levels of the system, with patient encounters, team interactions and organizational dialogue are all at risk of communication challenges and breakdowns. This experiential workshop for health-care professionals, administrators and leaders explores foundational and innovative skills for both listening and speaking, helping participants develop greater understanding and find creative ways forward in these challenging communication situations.
Participants will also learn and practise a simple, embodied framework that can be applied universally, with any person and across a range of issues. You may recognize these situations:
- An anxious patient insists on unnecessary tests or medications they read about online
- A male rural immigrant physician always seems to get the worst on-call assignments
- A female locum midwife is reprimanded by a specialist over what they deemed was “inappropriate” care
- A busy surgeon is abruptly told by hospital administration that their operating room hours are being reduced
- A chief of staff is cornered by several colleagues with concerns and demands that seem unexpected and personal
The one-day Communication course will equip you to move smoothly through situations like these within the unique context of health-care, providing you tools to create safety, acknowledge the differing truths of those around you and prioritize equity. Through facilitated discussion, practical exercises and reflection during the initial workshop as well as through online check-ins and coaching post-workshop, you’ll have opportunities to share your insights, successes and challenges in a positive environment with both peers and facilitator.
"I am encouraged to keep on improving both my understanding of human behaviour and how I communicate to be able to more consistently bring my higher self into my daily life interactions, be they with family members, neighbours, clients, colleagues, administrators, regulators."
- 2025 workshop participant
"Everything about this course is impressive. It has the joyfulness of a walk in the woods and the gravitas of life-changing teachings. Thank you for this follow-up guidance. I love that you practice what you teach and show care for your students both during the first day in class and throughout this ongoing impactful experience. Even more than last time, I feel cared for. We matter. Thank you for making a difference, one conversation at a time."
- 2023 workshop participant
Participants complete accredited activities pre-workshop, during the workshop itself, and post-workshop:
Part 1: Pre-Workshop
- Learners complete three brief reflective activities, which provide the foundation for discussions and practical activities completed during the workshop. Activities include reviews of literature, case studies and reflective responses.
Part 2: Live Workshop
- Learners attend the full-day workshop, participating in facilitated activities and reflective exercises with their peers.
Part 3: Post-Workshop
- Six weeks post-workshop, learners complete check-ins with course peers, participate in a facilitated coaching call, and reflective survey activities.
Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:
- Apply an evidence-based model to enhance communication and partnership skills for providers across the health-care system.
- Recognize common challenging communication patterns that can arise in health-care environments, leadership roles, and organizational relationships.
- Identify and apply the qualities of a learning conversation for the purpose of effective communication.
- Practise applying a structured communication approach to their own scenarios and cases, utilizing peer and facilitator feedback.
- Identify and commit to incorporating newly honed communication skills in their own environment for the purpose of improved patient and self- satisfaction..
Dr. Rahul Gupta is a settler born on the lands of the Anishinaabe people and now lives and works on the ancestral and unceded lands of the shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations. He works as an integrative medical physician, professional coach, mindfulness instructor, and advocate for provider wellness. He also is a Somatic Experiencing (SE) Practitioner and integrates trauma-sensitive approaches into all of his trainings. He has over 18 years of supporting physicians and healthcare teams in cultivating compassionate self & situational awareness strength-based leadership, and curriculum and research design.
The Division of Continuing Professional Development, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine (UBC CPD) is fully accredited by the Continuing Medical Education Accreditation Committee (CACME) to provide CPD credits for physicians. This activity is an Accredited Simulation Activity (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by UBC CPD. You may claim a maximum of 9.50 hours (credits are automatically calculated). This activity meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by UBC CPD for up to 9.50 Mainpro+® Certified Activity credits. Each physician should claim only those credits accrued through participation in the activity.