Paediatric Optimised Conversation Approach (POCA)

Have you heard of the term ‘coaching’ but not sure what it is or how you can implement it within your paediatric therapy sessions? Then this is the course for you. The Paediatric Optimised Conversation Approach (POCA) takes the theoretical knowledge of concepts such as; parent engagement, therapeutic relationship and strengths-based approaches and packages them into a practical coaching framework. POCA acts as the conversational vehicle for successful and realistic behaviour change so the important adult in the child’s life can make informed and impactful changes between sessions.  Since it is a conversational clinical approach, it complements existing therapeutic strategies and programmes. Therefore, the approach can easily be implemented by therapists in their next therapy session for tangible, rewarding results for their clients.

Why attend

You believe in co-production approaches – seeking to work together with the adults in a child’s life and to have joint ownership of the work. You have moved away from a medicalised ‘doing to’ model, to a ‘doing with’ approach. And, you want to develop your knowledge and skills to have practical, positive and productive conversations during sessions; enabling the important adult in the child’s life can make informed and impactful changes between sessions.

Consider our free taster

To help clinicians gain a better sense of POCA we offer a FREE self-study taster opportunity via our academy. The free taster presents the fundamental principles of POCA via a short sequence of video explainers. From receipt of your invitation to the content, access remains active for one week. You can request access to this content via the booking tab

Course Times

Part 1 of this course is Self Study and Part 2 runs from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm (UK Time) – For a list of course dates and times please go to the Booking page

Please book your place here or alternatively, you can contact us if you are you would like to:

• Book four or more courses (we can offer you a discount)
• Make a block booking for a group
• Book a closed course

This course consists of a self-paced online module followed by an interactive, practical half-day training workshop delivered live and online by Elena Loraine. It is designed to provide you with tools by which to have practical, positive and productive conversations resulting in real-life impact for the child. The training will raise your awareness of the successful techniques you are already using and further strengthen your sessions with new and innovative approaches and strategies.

In this course, you will:
• Be introduced to the key concepts and theory underpinning coaching within the paediatric therapy context
• Delve into an evidence-based and practical model of coaching
• Watch and analyse real-life coaching video examples
• Reflect and discuss in small groups the workshop materials and your clinical practice
• Build a practical resource to develop your coaching skills in your next therapy session

This course is suitable for: Returners to Speech and Language Therapy, Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs), Speech and Language Therapy Students

This course is available on various dates throughout the year. To view available course dates, select your preferred date and book your place, please click here.

During the booking process, you can select to reserve a place instead (while you confirm you can attend or to organise payment through your employer for example). We can hold your place for up to four weeks, if we have not heard from you after this time, we may need to cancel your reservation so other people can attend the training.

Course Beetle is an approved supplier for NHS Trusts, Local Authorities and Schools.