Team Essentials for Engaging Families in Distress e-Learning Course

Issued on 10 Feb 2026 by

Ontario CLRI at Baycrest

This course was designed to offer long-term care (LTC) team members evidence-based tools and strategies that support residents, families and teams in the way they work together. These tools focus on compassionate care - where team members act on their desire to offer kindness, care, and a willingness to help. In this course, LTC team members: - practiced a method they can use when engaging with a family member who is in distress to respond compassionately - explored how a family member’s expression of distress is usually connected to feelings of grief and loss about their loved one’s situation - used a tool called ARC (Acknowledge, Reassure, and Clarify) to communicate effectively and compassionately with a family member who is in distress - reflected on conversations with family members to identify concerns that may be causing their distress - practiced using the SBAR (Situation, Background, Action/Assessment, and Recommendation/Request) communication tool to share information about a family interaction with your other team members.

Issuer

Ontario CLRI at Baycrest

ontarioCLRI@baycrest.org

The Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (Ontario CLRI) enhance quality of care and living for residents across the province. Our Learning Division develops, delivers and evaluates educational resources and programs to train the current and future long-term care (LTC) workforce.

Criteria

Type of Recognition

Completion-Based Certificate

Learning Objectives

Earners of this micro-credential are able to:

Recognize family conflict as expressions of grief and distress
Build a common understanding of the team’s role and contribution in engaging families in care
Develop communication skills in action and team reporting skills focused on family concerns
Enhance team skills and values related to being self-reflective, relational-centered and proactive
Apply team communication and collaboration strategies

Course Content

Module 1: Being Aware and Prepared – Self-care in Distressing Situations with Families
Module 2: Recognizing and Depersonalizing Family Distress While Remaining Compassionate
Module 3: Communicating Compassionately with Families in Distress
Module 4: Family Concerns and Causes of Distress
Module 5: Care Planning Collaboratively with Team Members
Module 6: Pulling It All Together: A Practice Scenario

Learning Experience & Activities

This self-paced e-learning course featured:

Text and simulation scenarios that introduced key concepts, strategies, and tools, and how to apply them in the workplace
Interactive checkpoints within the course to test for knowledge and understanding

Assessment

This is a Completion-Based Certificate with no summative assessment.

Estimated Learning Effort

2 hours

Alignments

Skills for Success - Collaboration

https://goframeworks.io/orion/roles/14032

Your ability to contribute and support others to achieve a common goal. For example, at work we use this skill to provide meaningful support to team members while completing a project.

Sources: Skills for Success - Canada.ca | SRDC Final report