Practical Skills for Difficult Conversations with Children and Young People
Fri 12 Mar 2027 09:00-15:20
Online Course, 5 CPD hours

Build confidence in difficult conversations with children and young people

Come together with GPs, practice nurses, youth workers and other professionals working with children and young people to explore practical approaches to sensitive and challenging conversations. Join Dr Stephanie Lamb, GP Partner at Herne Hill Group Practice and Clinical Director at The Well Centre, as she shares effective techniques for encouraging young people to open up, asking sensitive questions, overcoming communication barriers and navigating consent.

Book your place to develop your confidence in discussing mental health, self-harm, substance use and relationships with young people. Explore how curious enquiry can help uncover underlying concerns, how to respond when young people are reluctant to engage and how to maintain trust during difficult conversations. Through anonymised case studies and interactive discussions, share experiences, compare approaches with colleagues across the UK and identify practical techniques to take back to your everyday practice.

Improve communication skills

How to encourage openness, maintain trust and overcome communication barriers

Explore practical approaches to communicating with children and young people, from encouraging open conversations and uncovering underlying concerns to responding to sensitive disclosures and navigating confidentiality. Key learning outcomes include:

  • Use curious enquiry to encourage young people to open up and uncover underlying concerns
  • Move beyond checklist-style questioning to make sensitive conversations feel more natural
  • Ask sensitive questions with confidence about mental health, self-harm, substance use and relationships
  • Respond to sensitive disclosures while maintaining trust and recognising when further support is needed
  • Overcome communication barriers when young people are anxious, withdrawn or reluctant to engage
  • Navigate consent, confidentiality and Gillick competence while considering safeguarding responsibilities
  • Manage parental and carer involvement while respecting young people's wishes
Live online learning

Share experiences and put learning into practice

This interactive online workshop offers the unique opportunity to explore challenges around difficult conversations with children and young people, learn from colleagues and develop practical approaches to use in your everyday role. Throughout the day, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Connect with professionals across the UK working in healthcare, youth services and other roles supporting children and young people
  • Take part in guided discussions on encouraging open conversations, sensitive questioning and overcoming communication barriers
  • Explore anonymised case studies to consider different approaches to sensitive situations and disclosures
  • Share experiences and compare approaches to challenging conversations with colleagues from different services
  • Ask questions and gain practical guidance from Stephanie Lamb throughout the workshop
  • Identify realistic next steps to improve communication, maintain trust and support young people in your everyday practice
In-house training

Available as a bespoke course to teams of 25 people or more. Please do contact us if you would like this training delivered exclusively to your team, with the content developed to drill into the specific needs of your service. Please contact:

Sarah
Sarah Kemm
Production and Partnerships