Know how to approach those difficult topics

Under the Support at Home program, communication is no longer just a “soft skill”; it is a core component of safe, accountable, and evidence-based care delivery.

Care Partners are increasingly required to have conversations that involve:

• Changes to services or care plans

• Funding, pricing and consumer contributions

• Declining health, risk, or safety concerns

• Capacity, choice, and dignity of risk

• Family expectations versus assessed need

• Service boundaries and provider responsibilities

These conversations can feel challenging for both the worker and the participant but avoiding them can lead to:

• Misalignment between assessed needs and services delivered

• Poor clinical and psychosocial outcomes

• Reduced adherence to care plans

• Increased risk, complaints, or escalation

• Consumer confusion, distress, or loss of trust

• Lack of defensible documentation to support decision-making and claiming

In a strengthened regulatory environment, providers must demonstrate that participants are informed, involved, and supported to make decisions even when those conversations are difficult.

🔥 Overview

What are ‘difficult’ conversations in home care?

These are conversations where:

• The topic is sensitive, emotional, or complex

• The consumer or family may feel distressed, resistant, or uncertain

• There may be competing expectations or misunderstandings

• The outcome may involve change, limitation, or risk

Even highly experienced professionals can find these conversations difficult.

Why?

Because they require you to balance:

• Clinical judgement and evidence

• Participant choice and autonomy

• Emotional intelligence and empathy

• Clear, accurate communication

• Regulatory and organisational requirements

Without the right approach, conversations can become:

• Avoided or delayed

• Overly clinical or transactional

• Emotionally reactive

• Poorly documented or not followed through

Under Support at Home, this is critical because every interaction contributes to the evidence of quality care.

This training workshopprovides practical, real-world strategies to help Care Partners move beyond avoidance and into confident, professional communication.

🚩 Learning Outcomes

Attendees will learn how to:

• Recognise and describe emotional responses experienced by both participants and the workforce during difficult conversations, and understand their impact on communication, decision-making, and outcomes

• Identify when a conversation is ‘difficult’ and articulate the risks of avoidance within a Support at Home environment, including impacts on care quality, safety, and compliance

• Define and apply a structured 10-step approach to planning and delivering difficult conversations that are clear, respectful, and outcome-focused

• Apply best-practice guidelines for delivering ‘bad news’, ensuring conversations are handled with sensitivity, clarity, and professionalism

• Use a strengths-based approach to opening conversations, supporting engagement, trust, and consumer participation from the outset

• Structure conversations to empower consumers, promoting informed choice, shared decision-making, and alignment with assessed needs and care plans

• Navigate sensitive topics effectively, including funding, service limitations, risk, and changes to care, in a way that is transparent and defensible

• Manage and respond to emotional and negative reactions, including resistance, distress, or conflict, while maintaining empathy and professional boundaries

• Apply practical strategies to de-escalate challenging situations, maintaining focus on safety, dignity, and positive outcomes

• Transform difficult conversations into constructive outcomes, strengthening relationships, improving consumer understanding, and supporting continuity of care

• Document conversations clearly and accurately, ensuring records support compliance, claiming, and audit requirements under Support at Home

💡 Who will benefit most from this workshop?

Care Partners, Clinicians who are supervising care staff, and non-clinicians who want to learn more about communicating with clients.

📅 Date: 18 May 2026

• 1.00 pm – 3.30 pm – New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory
• 12noon – 2.30 pm Queensland
• 12.30 pm -3.00 pm – South Australia
• 11.30 am -2.00 pm – Northern Territory
• 10.00 am – 01.00 pm – Western Australia

🎖️ Recognition

All attendees will receive a Statement of Attendance upon completion of an assessment as evidence of Continuing Professional Development hours.

💼 Inclusions

• Online Workbook questions (and the opportunity to gain feedback from the LPA team)
• Downloadable tools and resources

💻 Learner requirements

• Computer or mobile device
• A stable internet connection (broadband/4G+ recommended)
• Speakers and a microphone are optional

Regarding online training, we know that staring into the “virtual classroom” can sometimes miss those moments that face-to-face events deliver. So, we are mixing things up. In a time of transformation in the sector, we want to ensure that you are supported now more than ever. We will focus even more on interactive, immersive training sessions (think break-out rooms, cameras on (yes, scary), opportunities to network, and maintaining the LPA way of tangible tools and resources).

💰 Investment: $ 437 inc. GST