Communication & Behaviour Change Skills for Clinical Practice – Register Interest
Interested in attending ‘Communication & Behaviour Change Skills for Clinical Practice’?
If you are interested in attending this live, online course, please click the NEXT button at the bottom of this page and let us know which month/s would suit you (three consecutive Saturdays or Sundays from 1pm to 5pm). We will then do our best to set up a course that suits you, and will inform you.
🧠 Course Overview
Format: Online, interactive (Zoom)
Duration: THREE SESSIONS × 4 HOURS = 12 hours total
Suitable for: MSK Clinicians (Soft Tissue Therapists, Sports Therapists, Massage Therapists, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Dieticians / Nutritionists, Coaches / Personal Trainers)
🗨️ Why This Course Matters
Effective communication is at the heart of quality healthcare. Whether you’re supporting a client or patient through health related behaviour & lifestyle changes, or collaborating with colleagues, your ability to communicate clearly, empathetically, and persuasively can dramatically influence outcomes. Rather than blaming clients for ‘not doing what we told them’, we now understand that achieving a behaviour or lifestyle change, even if temporary, is often not as easy as it sounds, and we the practitioner can often be the catalyst for either success or failure.
‘Communication & Behaviour Change Skills for Clinical Practice‘ is designed to equip healthcare professionals with the skills and strategies needed to navigate the complex human dynamics of clinical practice. Delivered online by Matt Phillips, Communication Skills Specialist, host of the STA Clinician Podcast, the course will guide you through a selection of approaches that illustrate how small, simple tweaks to our normal way of communicating can help clients & patients embrace positive, meaningful behaviour change, and see opportunity in our professional advice rather than hinderance & challenge. Blending evidence-based communication techniques with practical behaviour change models, the course will help you to:
✨ Build stronger relationships with patients
✨ Encourage adherence to treatment plans
✨ Handle challenging conversations with confidence
✨ Promote long-term health behaviour change
Over the three sessions, you will explore real-world scenarios, practice key techniques, and reflect on your own communication style. By the end of the course, you will have a toolkit of approaches to enhance your clinical effectiveness and improve patient outcomes.
Session Breakdown
Session 1: Foundations of Clinical Communication
Duration: 4 hours
Topics
• What we can learn from Classical Greek Philosophy
• Descartes and the Cartesian Model of Pain
• The Birth of Psychology: Wilhelm Wundt and William James
• Psychoanalysis & Behaviourism
• Maslow, Rogers and Humanistic Psychology
• Introduction To Motivational Interviewing
Session 2: Behaviour Change Models & Techniques
Duration: 4 hours
Topics
• Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change) and Motivational Interviewing
• Identifying barriers to change
• Engage, Focus, Envoke, Plan
• Open-ended questions
• Affirmations
• Reflective listening
• Summaries
Activities
• Case study analysis
• Practice motivational interviewing in pairs
• Group feedback on communication strategies
Session 3: Advanced Communication & Challenging Conversations
Duration: 4 hours
Topics
• A deeper dive into reflective listening
• How to communicate with angry patients / clients
• How to communicate with very sad patients / clients
• The neurodivergent clinician & neurodivergent patient
Activities
• Simulation exercises with feedback
• Peer coaching sessions
• Structured reflection & action planning
📘 Supporting Materials
• Presentation slides and link to recording will be shared after each session
• MSK Case study handouts
• MSK Role Play Assessment Forms
• Self-Scoring Worksheet for MSK Clinicians
Minimal Requirements Of Qualification:
All health care practitioners with Level 3 qualification or above are welcome to join the course, but attendees must be aware of their own personal scope of practice, as directed by their personal level of qualification.
About The Presenter
Matt Phillips is a Communication Skills & Running Injury Specialist with over ten years of clinical experience in a multidisciplinary practice. He created his website Runchatlive.com to help MSK therapists move beyond outdated approaches, and adopt a more evidence-informed approach for clinical treatment. A sought-after speaker at national and international conferences, Matt has contributed to numerous websites and magazines, and delivers his popular CPD courses ‘Communication & Behaviour Change Skills for Clinical Practice’ and ‘Gait Analysis For Runners: A Modern Approach‘.
As well as MSK practice, Matt also has a long history of working in further education, helping a diverse range of students & professionals improve their communication skills. His CPD course ‘Communication & Behaviour Change Skills for Clinical Practice’ blends evidence-based communication techniques with practical behaviour change models, to provide MSK clinicians with a selection of approaches to help clients & patients embrace positive, meaningful behaviour change, and see opportunity in professional advice rather than hinderance & challenge. Full details are available at The ST School website.
Matt is also host of The STA Clinician Podcast (formerly the Sports Therapy Association Podcast), now in its sixth year. Recorded live every Tuesday on the Sports Therapy Association YouTube channel since November 2020, the podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
