Training Course:
Advance Care Planning with People Experiencing Homelessness

This course introduces learners to advance care planning (ACP) and provides tangible communication skills and tools that care professionals can use in their every day work with people who experience homelessness. The first chapter of this course will define the scope and process of ACP conversations, review common barriers to engaging in these discussions, and describe the role of surrogate decision-makers. The second chapter will introduce a framework and communication skills for having ACP conversations while chapter three describes strategies and tools to document values and preferences resulting from those conversations. Chapter four explores ways care professionals can use information from ACP conversations to advocate for people before and during a medical crisis. The final chapter considers the experience of grief related to illness, disability, and end of life—for PEH and care professionals—and ways to seek and offer grief support. 

Course Learning Objectives

1. Define advance caring planning and identify two specific ACP documents
2. Identify five communication skills that can be used in ACP conversations
3. Describe three ways care professionals can use ACP conversations and documents to advocate for an individual