NSW Health Connecting Care (Severe Chronic Disease Management) Program

Options for Training in Health Coaching and Self-Management Support 

Health Coaching Australia (HCA) provides training in health coaching-based self-management support to health practitioners and managers, to facilitate health behaviour change in patients.

What does HCA offer?

Health Coaching Australia (HCA) offers professional development training in health behaviour change/health coaching for self-management support as well as program implementation training and consultancy services for managers.

• We equip practitioners with the skills and tools to assist patients to better self-manage their chronic health conditions and increase adherence to treatment and lifestyle recommendations using the HCA Model of Health Change (see below for a brief description).
• We help managers to support health coaching program and clinical staff through assistance in aligning organisational systems and overcoming operational barriers to employing the health coaching approach.
• We offer consultancy services to assist in overall program development, implementation and evaluation.

The ultimate aim of practitioners employing the HCA Model of Health Change is to improve patient health outcomes and reduce unplanned hospital admissions.

About the HCA Model of Health Change

The HCA Model of Health Change provides skills, tools and a practical 10 step framework to guide health practitioners to provide self-management support by engaging in the following tasks in a time-efficient manner:

1. Build patient motivation to self-manage their health conditions,
2. Assist patients to prioritise health enhanching behaviour changes, and
3. Build patient self-efficacy to initiate and maintain these changes in an individualised and manageable way. 

The principles and techniques of the HCA Model draw from motivational interviewing, solution-focused coaching, cognitive behaviour therapy and other theoretical models from the evidence-based health behaviour change literature. The 10 step process of the model assists practitioners to determine the patient's readiness, willingness, ability and knowledge to take the required actions to manage their health. HCA skills training provides practical tools to identify barriers to change and to facilitate adherence to treatment and lifestyle recommendations in a manner appropriate to the patient's stated readiness, importance and confidence levels.

The HCA Model is not a set program. It is a flexible structure that guides practitioners in applying health behaviour change processes in any clinical practice or health program context. It is a skills-based approach that requires ongoing clinician skills development and program systems alignment in order for it to be successfully implemented.

Who is HCA Training for?

• Clinicians delivering telephonic health coaching/self-management support services (skills training)
• Clinicians delivering face to face or group-based chronic disease management programs (skills training)
• Clinicians conducting clinical practice as usual with patients who have one or more chronic disease and/or risk factors (skills training)
• Chronic Disease Management Team Leaders and Program Managers (skills training or overview and implementation information)
• Senior Managers (overview and implementation information)
• For organisations who opt to purchase managed services in the form of telephonic health coaching from an external provider, HCA training is appropriate for supporting clinicans that provide clinical services to patients receiving these external services (e.g., doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners)

About HCA

Health Coaching Australia (HCA) has trained almost 3,000 clinicians across Australia over the last six years in health coaching/health behaviour change using the HCA Model of Health Change. HCA has recently begun training in self-management support across Canada.

In NSW, HCA has worked with the Prevent Diabetes Live Life Well Program and the NSW 'Get Healthy' Information and Coaching Service, as well as several Divisions of General Practice and Community Health organisations.

HCA has also trained may clinicians involved in the Victorian HARP and Early Intervention Chronic Disease Management programs, has conducted training for 15 Primary Care Partnerships in Victoria at several different levels (managers, GPs, practice nurses and allied health clinicians), and has conducted a Train the Trainer programmme for Anglicare Tasmania. Nationally, HCA has worked with 30 Divisions of General Practice and approximately 40 regional and community health services (in 7 states and territories). All HCA training facilitators are health practitioners who use the HCA Model in their professional practice.

What are the Training Options? 

Training options are provided in the following categories. More detailed information is offered below.

1. Core training for clinicians, telephonic health coaches and team leaders
2. Advanced training for clinicians, telephonic health coaches and team leaders
3. Core Training for Managers
4. Consulting Assistance and other options 

The following pathway shows the core training package that HCA recommends to organisations wanting to not only equip their staff members with health coaching-based self-management support skills and tools, but also to build capacity and sustainability within the organisation.

Core training for clinicians, telephonic health coaches and team leaders

1. HCA Core Training Part 1 - Health Coaching for Health Professionals: The HCA Model (two-day workshop)
2. HCA Core Training Part 2 - Applying the HCA Model in Practice (one-day workshop)

For more information on these workshops, please click here 

Both workshops are available via the following means:

• Individual registrations at pre-scheduled HCA workshops run in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane
• In-house workshops for up to 24 staff run in-location for the organisation

Download pricing schedule here

Additional support provided by HCA for NSW Health staff:

• Access to the HCA On-line Study Guide for 6 months is included in the cost of HCA Core Training Part 1. This allows participants to review and work through the 10 steps of the HCA Model at their own pace and assess their progress through multiple choice questions.
• The HCA website offers extensive resources designed to support learning and skills development (e.g., practice guides and a case study library). It also offers a range of tools to use with patients in groups or individually. All of these downloadable resources can be freely accessed and used by clinicians.

Advanced training for clinicians, telephonic health coaches and team leaders

1. Ad hoc 1 day workshop
2. HCA Model Certificate of Accreditation - Level 1
3. HCA Model Certificate of Accreditation - Level 2
4. HCA Peer Leader Certification & Support Program

Ad hoc 1-day workshop

Additional face to face training can be offered to service the need of the organisation. For example, HCA can provide workshops to assist organisation/program staff to adapt their current group education programs for patients to be presented in a format consistent with the HCA Model and hence promote health behaviour change. Alternatively, HCA could provide additional basic skills training in motivational interviewing/self-management for organisations that recognised a need for this to support their practitioners. Additional telephone and web-based training can be accessed by utilising the consulting items.

HCA Model Certificate of Accreditation - Level 1 & 2

Click here for more information on the HCA Model Certificates of Accreditation

Peer Leader Certification & Support Program

Click here for more information on Peer Leaders

Core Training for Managers

1. HCA Core Training for Managers - Implementing Health Coaching in the Workplace: The HCA Model (half-day workshop)

Download pricing schedule here

Consulting Assistance and other options

1. Consulting assistance
2. Short overview presentation (1.5-2 hours)
3. Overview of Health Coaching for Health Professionals: The HCA Model (half-day workshop)
4. Purchase of access to HCA On-line Practitioners Guide
5. HCA Peer Leader/Trainer (PLT) Certification

Consulting assistance

Consulting assistance to organisations in designing and implementing health coaching programs including clinician skills development, systems compatibility and quality assurance issues, data collection and reporting of health coaching processes and outcomes etc.

Short overview presentation

HCA can provide a short overview presentation of 1.5-2 hours including a short demonstration and practical session.

Overview of Health Coaching for Health Professionals: The HCA Model

This is a half day workshop format that provides an overview of the HCA Model and techniques, plus some limited skills practice, but does not provide sufficient training for clinicians to implement the model in practice. Unlimited numbers.

HCA On-line Practitioners Guide

This is based on the HCA Health Coaching Guide for Health Practitioners (a desktop practitioner's manual). It allows participants to work through the 10 steps of the HCA model at their own pace, and assess themselves at various stages of the process. A suite of 5 DVDs is provided that features health coaching using real patients.

Access to the HCA On-line Practitioners Guide can be purchased for individuals or group of up to 10. Individual purchases are provided with one set of DVDs per purchase, whereas batch purchases (up to 10 people per batch) are provided with one set to be shared between individuals.

HCA Peer Leader/Trainer Certification

This option involves intensive training to enable Peer Leaders to deliver an abridged version of HCA Core Training Part 1 (two-day workshop). Peer Leader/Trainers need to have pre-existing skills in presentation delivery and basic skills and knowledge in applying motivational interviewing, solution-focused counselling/coaching, cognitive behaviour therapy and health behaviour change theory, and be practicing clinicians able to develop their own clinical health coaching skills in the workplace. This training is not suitable for trainers who are not clinicians or do not have a current clinical or health coaching load. Organisations require a licence to run these abridged workshops within their organisation.This option is only cost effective for organisations that wish to train a large number of clinicans and intend to train on an ongoing basis. The study and training contact hours required from Peer Leader/Trainer candidates are substantial.

The pre-requisites for Peer Leader/Trainer Certification are attendance at HCA Core Training Parts 1 and 2 and completion of the first 12 weeks of HCA Peer Leader Certification training prior to enrolling in PLT training. PLT training is conducted in a 5 day block, with significant pre-course study of workshop delivery materials expected. The minimum number of PLT trainers required for HCA to run this training in a group is four. Following this training, HCA senior Facilitators are required to observe and mentor PLTs during the first workshops they conduct (with no more than 4 PLT in each training delivery group).

Peer Leader/Trainers are only certified to deliver an abridged version of HCA Core Training Part 1. In order to pursue this option, organisations need to commit to providing HCA-delivered Core Training Part 2 to all staff that attend in-house Peer Leader/Trainer-delivered workshops. Evaluations are required to be submitted to HCA for all Peer Leader/Trainer-delivered workshops. HCA retains the right to withdraw certification from Peer Leader/Trainers that fail to provide training of a reasonable standard. Consulting items in this document can be used to provide mentoring support for Peer Leader/Trainers. Workbooks for all Peer Leader/Trainer-delivered workshops need to be purchased through HCA.

Ongoing certification requires each Peer Leader/Trainer to attend HCA-delivered Core Training Part 1 or Part 2 each year. Re-certification is required every third year. This requires Peer Leader/Trainers to attend an HCA-delivered Core Training Part 1 workshop followed by a one-day Peer Leader/Trainer Re-certification workshop (in a 3 day block).

To discuss whether or not the Peer Leader/Trainer option is suitable for your organisation and staff, please contact us.

What are LHD requirements in implementing HCA training?

LHDs are required to provide a training venue (please see the HCA administration guideline documents for set-up requirements), catering (please see HCA catering suggestions), audiovisual equipment, name tags, place cards and attendance certificates (using the HCA template) for face to face training.

Pricing

Download pricing schedule here