Delivering Bad News with Confidence and Compassion
Who wants to deliver bad news? To potentially cause pain and suffering. To change the life path of another. As humans, we’re programmed to avoid painful events. At all costs! To be at ease with delivering bad news takes effort, skill, and training. It requires getting comfortable with uncertainty, unpredictability, and emotional situations. If these are the skills you seek, then this is the course for you.
Course Overview:
This course aims to provide participants with essential skills to deliver bad news in various contexts, whether personal, professional, or health related. It focuses on building trust, fostering hope, and utilising deep listening to support both the deliverer and recipient. Through interactive sessions and practical tools, participants will gain confidence in communicating difficult messages with care and empathy.
What You Could Gain from Attending:
1. Understand the emotional impact of bad news on both the giver and receiver.
2. Use listening to support the process of delivering bad news.
3. Build a framework of trust that eases the delivery of difficult messages.
4. Avail of hope as a coping mechanism to deliver and receive bad news.
5. Highlight the benefit of seeking support after delivering bad news.
The tools used throughout the course include:
Role-playing different scenarios of delivering bad news (e.g., job loss, relationship breakups, health diagnoses) to practice communication skills.
Group discussions on trust-building techniques, real-life stories, and experiences.
Use of case studies and review stories of how bad news and hope can be present in the same situation.
Sharing resources and strategies to build strong support networks.
Opportunities for self-reflection and sharing personal experiences.
Evaluation:
There are questions within the programme to check understanding. There is no formal assessment.
Feedback forms:
Self-assessment (SUDS) on readiness to deliver bad news with empathy and confidence.
Resources:
Digital information leaflet with links to course content
Facilitator:
Elaine has facilitated Delivering Bad News programmes to healthcare professionals for years.
Delivery:
This content can be customised and delivered in a variety of ways to fit the needs of the individual or group. It can be delivered as an overview talk or in-person session