Coaching in therapy

This course is for Cerebral Palsy Alliance employees

Who is this course for? 

This course is for allied health clinicians.   A coaching framework is increasingly being applied within our service delivery at Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Coaching involves relationship directed, and client/family centred intervention. It includes actions during which the allied health practitioner supports a client or a family in the process of decision-making on functional activity and participation in daily life, with the aim of client / parent empowerment and optimising child development. Implementing a coaching framework is an essential feature of many interventions we provide in our service delivery. Coaching is now considered essential to reach beneficial outcomes for the clients that we work with.

What content does the course cover? 

This coaching training is designed to help clinicians understand, use and reflect on their use of coaching strategies in therapy sessions and other interactions with clients and their families. There are a range of learning activities including videos, readings and opportunities for reflection on the use of coaching strategies in your own practice. Even more so than many other approaches used in therapy, using coaching requires practice and reflection over a long time to develop, refine and maintain this skill.  

Learning activities include: 

• introduction to coaching 
• joint planning 
• observation 
• action / practice 
• reflection 
• feedback 
• becoming a more effective coach 

A coaching workbook is used throughout this training to record learning activities and reflections during the learning process. Returning to the activities in this workbook and engaging in ongoing reflection of your coaching skills in clinical supervision will help you as you incorporate a coaching style into your interactions with clients. 

Does the course have prerequisites or specific requirements?

• 4 - 12 months of clinical experience working with a range of clients and their families  
• Experience with joint goal setting 
• Completion of advanced communication training (online) 
• Capacity to commit to the training hours (as described above)  
• Willingness to actively engage in all group activities and reflect on own practice to make some necessary changes  

There are a set of attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary for successful implementation of coaching in therapy. Some of these are listed in the table below: 

Attitudes /beliefs	Knowledge	Skills
Respect families values, routines, and cultural background Acknowledge a client/family’s knowledge, strengths, resources, and needs Belief in families capacity Acknowledge the client/family leading role in the intervention Focus on meaningful goals Be open and willing to change your own behaviours, habits, and attitudes	Client and family centred practice Theory of adult learning Definition of coaching and coaching strategies Joint goal setting Relationship directed collaboration Enabling and engaging strategies	To apply client and family centred practice To apply adult learning strategies To communicate openly To observe and share observations with client and family members To listen actively To provide suggestions (not instructions) To ask open-ended and reflective questions To provide reflective feedback To reflect on own behaviour, attitudes, beliefs and habits

What other details do I need to know?

The coaching training is offered as a blended learning experience. This includes : 

• 7 × 1 hour sessions scheduled weekly OR fortnightly (Teams meetings – virtual learning) 
• 1x 2 hour Advanced Coaching session, six months after the completion of the basic learning block, where a case presentation will be shared by participants discussing how they have embedded Coaching into their practice. 
• Self directed learning activities between sessions using the coaching in therapy workbook (independent learning) 
• Practising coaching within therapy sessions (independent learning) and sharing/discussing experiences and outcomes in group sessions. 

The total estimated time is 16 hours direct contact and 8 hours of self directed learning.  

Full attendance at every session is the expectation to allow successful implementation of the coaching model in practice.  

To register you must choose from one of the coaching program schedules shown below.

Choice 1 times 11am - 12pm	Choice 2 times 11.30am -12.30pm	Choice 3 times 1.00 - 2.00pm (includes new 2 hr 8th Advanced session)
Monday 29 January Monday 12 February Monday 26 February Monday 11 March Monday 25 March Monday 8 April Monday 22 April	Wednesday 10 April Wednesday 24 April Wednesday 8 May Wednesday 22 May Wednesday 5 June Wednesday 19 June Wednesday 3 July	Wednesday 18 Sept Wednesday 2 Oct Wednesday 16 Oct Wednesday 30 Oct Wed 13 Nov Wed 27 Nov Wed 11 Dec Tues 17 July 2025 (2hrs)

Attendance type: Virtual (minimum number for group 4, maximum 7)
Times: Please select a course start date below or if there are no dates, please click Enquire 
If you need to cancel: Cancellation guidelines
 

Where can I get more information?

It is recommended that you speak with your clinical educator and manager before commencing the coaching in therapy training. Understanding the prerequisites of the course is essential to get the most out of this training. 

Contact: The Training Alliance team
Email: training@cerebralpalsy.org.au
Phone: +61 2 9975 8715