A team of clinicians at Holland Bloorview is celebrating the recent launch of their new book— Coaching for Person-Centred Healthcare: A Solution-Focused Approach to Collaborative Care - that explores a more “humanistic,” person-centred framework to approach health-care interactions/conversations between clinicians and clients.

The book—described as a “labour of love” by its co-editors Elaine Cook, Gil Greene and Joanne Maxwell— introduces readers to the idea of person-centred care and offers both theoretical and practical advice to health-care providers on how to shift from “fixing” to healing clients by focusing on the inherent wholeness, strength, agency and autonomy of each individual.

“Often in health care we have so many balls in the air that we forget to take the time to reflect upon what we have already accomplished. The launch of the 160-page book—five years in the making—represents a chance to shine a light on the great work of a small team of clinicians, alongside family leaders and clients, who had a big vision to re-shape our collective experience of the health-care system,” says Maxwell, vice president, experience, transformation and social accountability, Holland Bloorview.

The book has something for everyone interested in learning more about solution-focused coaching in health-care settings…and beyond. It’s divided into four sections— theory and practice, clinical applications, lived experience and leadership. It also unpacks how this  evidence-based approach can create meaningful behaviour change—including happier, more connected and engaged clinicians and clients—when paired with tangible skills and strategies.

More than 16 authors from disciplines across the hospital—including research, bioethics, occupational therapy, registered nursing and social work, among others—as well as family leaders and former clients—penned chapters and shared deeply personal stories about the meaningful difference the person-centred practice has had on their professional and personal lives. By sharing their insights, lived experience and extensive knowledge of this topic with their health-care colleagues at Holland Bloorview, and beyond, their hope is to continue the conversation on the importance of solution-focused coaching and to influence change at a systems-level.   

“By putting the client and their family in the driver seat of their own health care journey, health care providers can begin to understand what it is their clients want instead of the problem they are currently facing. A future focus better equips clients to find solutions that are meaningful to them. Embracing and celebrating all people just as they are, and supporting what they want to by shifting the focus from problem to solution, the future of health care can be reshaped for the better. In our case, we weren’t asking the clinicians to withhold their expertise – we were asking them to grant our son and our family the space to amplify and reinforce strengths that were already present, and to see where that leads. Rehabilitation is a life-changing journey, and when clinicians respect and support their clients’ agency and autonomy, the outcome can be (surprisingly) wonderful.”

- Candace Muskat, solution-focused health care coach and health care systems navigator

“Solution-focused coaching completely transformed my practice,” says Cathy Petta, a registered nurse for nearly 40 years, including the last 20 at Holland Bloorview, who currently works in the psychopharmacology clinic supporting physicians and working with children with autism, intellectual disabilities or genetic syndromes.

“During the pandemic I, like many clinicians, was feeling burnt out. I even contemplated retirement. The challenges we face in our line of work can be huge. Health-care systems can be difficult to navigate for families. As a clinician you often end up taking on that responsibility. It’s hard to feel like you’re responsible for everyone being OK. It does take a toll when you feel that your job is to “fix” everyone.”

Petta enrolled in Holland Bloorview’s humanistic solution focused coaching program and never looked back. She says it gave her the practical tools she was looking for to reframe both her own, as well as systemic narratives, about what it means to work in health care. “It made it easier for me to come to work and actually made me feel more useful by allowing patients to be authors of their own health-care journey instead of the other way around,” she explains. “The way I communicate now is much more collaborative. There’s much less “problem talk” and a lot more solution-focused conversations.”

She points to the following example she shared in the book: “One of the first strategies I decided to start practising was holding the basic premise that everyone has inherent strengths and resources despite how things may seem or sound; that everyone is whole at their core and bringing this core belief into every interaction I had with families. I would begin to notice what difference holding this belief made to conversations I was having with families.”

Explains Cook: “This modest, yet mighty book offers insights into how we can, at both a personal and systems level, reframe the harmful social narratives about our health -care system that negatively impact providers as well as clients and families. By shifting our perspective from a health-care system that is “broken” and a workforce that is overburdened to one that focuses on the inherent resources, and wholeness of its clinicians and clients, we start to reframe the experience to a much more positive, generative and strengths-based experience.”

Order a copy of the book:

• Coaching For Person-centred Healthcare: A Solution-focused Approach To Collaborative Care Book By Elaine Cook, (Paperback) | Indigo
• Coaching for Person-Centred Healthcare: A Solution-Focused Approach to Collaborative Care: Cook, Elaine, Greene, Gilbert J., Maxwell, Joanne: 9781032539560: Education & Training: Amazon Canada