Conversations Inviting Change: A Free Introduction
Conversations Inviting Change: A Free Introduction
This course includes
The instructors
Overview
Every patient arrives with a story, and the way you listen shapes where that story goes next. Conversations Inviting Change (CIC) is a narrative-based approach to clinical communication developed in the United Kingdom by John Launer and Caroline Lindsey, built on narrative studies, communication theory, and systems thinking.
In this free introductory course, physiotherapist Michelle Kleiner and registered massage therapist Alison Gigliotti show you how CIC brings narrative theory into everyday practice, using real clinical conversations to illustrate each principle. You will see how simple, open questions that follow your patient's own words can create space for new perspectives, especially when a patient, or an encounter, feels stuck.
Learning Objectives
In this 1 hour lecture, you will be introduced to:
- Explore narrative theory and how it relates to your interactions with patients, colleagues, and others.
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Examine narrative-based practices in health care and how you might use them in your own practice.
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Introduce the concepts and principles of Conversations Inviting Change, an approach designed to bridge narrative theory and clinical settings
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Apply the core CIC principles of asking simple, open questions while withholding advice and summarizing, including in paediatric care and structured assessments
Why this Course Matters
Much of clinical training teaches you to dig for a diagnosis, ask structured questions, and offer solutions. That biomedical lens is essential, but it can leave little room for your patient's lived experience and the meaning they make of their condition.
CIC offers a complementary narrative lens: rather than fixing or advising, you become a curious conversational partner who helps patients move their own story forward at their own pace.
The presenters also tackle a tension many practitioners feel, showing how to open with patient-led storytelling and then map what you hear onto your structured assessment tools. The result is a way of listening that supports patient agency and makes challenging encounters more productive.
Audience
This lecture is open to all health and social care professionals who are interested in narrative practice approaches to support their communication skills, person-centred care, and empower patients towards positive change.
Please note: This free introduction does not include a certificate of completion. It’s a 1-hour recorded lecture designed to introduce you to the concepts and principles of Conversations Inviting Change.
If you’d like a certificate, and the chance to put CIC into practice with your own cases, join the full Conversations Inviting Change course. Over 6 live sessions with Michelle and Alison, you’ll practise the approach in small peer supervision groups and receive a certificate on completion.
The instructors
BSc(PT), MClSc, PhD, FCAMPT
Accredited Trainer of Conversations Inviting Change
Michelle is an experienced physiotherapist who is credentialled as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physical Therapists and a certified vestibular rehabilitation therapist. She co-owns a multidisciplinary clinic in Barrie, Ontario where she practices full-time.
Michelle is also an adjunct research professor at Western University, London, Ontario where she completed a PhD in 2022; the title of her dissertation is: “Searching for the ‘Good’ in Physiotherapist Practice: Toward an Ethic of Care.” This research supports the importance of balancing biomedical knowledge and technical skills with a person-centred approach to practice. Her research interests include health professional qualities and practices, health professional education, reflective practice, the therapeutic relationship, and person-centred approaches to health care. Michelle has been working with the Conversations Inviting Change (CIC) approach to narrative practice since 2021.
She is a CIC accredited trainer and committee member for the Association of Narrative Practice in Healthcare.
BA, RMT
Alison Gigliotti has been a Registered Massage Therapist since 1997, with a practice focused on complex and highly individualized care. Her practice includes people of all ages, with a clinical focus on the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction, headaches, ears, voice, swallowing, neck, and tongue. She also works with infants experiencing feeding difficulties, torticollis, colic, or the effects of birth-related injury.
Alison’s approach to care is collaborative and person-centred, grounded in a biopsychosocial understanding of health and wellbeing. She has studied Narrative Medicine and Conversations Inviting Change (CIC), experiences that have deepened her interest in how people make meaning of their health experiences and how therapeutic conversations can support change.
Working with infants and children, as well as people who are non-verbal or experience challenges with communication, means that communication and consent is central to Alison’s clinical practice. She is committed to finding creative and respectful ways to listen, communicate, and establish consent, adapting her approach to each individual and their unique needs.
Alison values collaborative therapeutic relationships and strives to create a clinical environment in which people and families feel heard, respected, and actively involved in their care.
Material included in this course
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Course Materials
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Welcome!
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Full presentation
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Quiz
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Summary & Key Insights
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Feedback