All professional therapists are required to complete Continual Professional Development (CPD) every year to demonstrate keeping up to date with industry standards and to expand their skills set.

The case for elearning

Having delivered face-to-face cancer care workshops globally for many years, I had many therapists approach me describing their personal obstacles to attending and completing oncology training. These range from living remotely and CPD training not being provided in their locality; the cost of travel to courses, further cost of accommodations and meals as well as the cost of the course itself. Add to that the loss of earnings while away from their busi­ness and clients, time away from home, child-care, health restrictions, learning disabilities and the list goes on.

What does this mean for therapists? For those who are not located close to city centres, where most training courses are provided, they face an inequality in their career advancement and development. Additionally, their financial and personal lives are affected due to increased cost of training and travel as well as time away from home and work. Most importantly they cannot offer their wonderful treatments to clients with a cancer diagnosis.

There are so many reasons a therapist can be restricted by personal circumstances, there are amazing therapists who are juggling life as caregiver to their partners, children or parents. They love their therapies and wish to develop their skills further, feeling it is part of maintaining their own identity and lives, but travelling even a day away from home causes so many practical difficulties that attendance is virtually impossible for them.

The answer for many of these problems is CPD elearning, which offers an accessible learning pathway to keep abreast of industry practices, while improving skills and learning new techniques. It pro­vides a training platform which aligns with many other healthcare systems such as the NHS (National Health Service, UK) and caters to the individual’s learning style and pace of learning.

Is elearning better than face-to-face training? I do believe it is very important that our initial train­ing should contain a high level of direct teaching. However, once we are qualified and looking to add to our skills set, eleaming for CPD opens an additional pathway to training. It provides a level playing field for those therapists who are not close to training programs or who are restricted because of other issues.
Providing the course is developed using the same high-quality content and integrity to modality best practices as an in-person CPD course, I do think elearning can be as good as face-to-face training. I can vouch that the elearning CPD course which evolved from my face-to-face workshop for cancer care required far more thought, time and work. This was essential to create a learning program suitable for all therapists, all learning styles and catering for each individual’s learning pace.

Am I saying elearning is the best choice for everybody? No, of course not. Some therapists are going to love this learning pathway and value its accessibility, while many others prefer to attend face-to­face training. Face-to-face courses are a great way to continue our education after completing our basic training. It offers us the reassurance of a trainer being in the room to demonstrate and guide with new techniques. Many therapists like to attend face-to-face courses to meet other therapists and expand their circle of support, and I must admit I love this element, too. Lots of therapists including me are happy to have a mixture.

However, even this can be easily addressed by the trainer providing personal and technical support via email, calls or Facetime as needed during the training program. A private forum can be set up for therapists who have completed the training works for all to stay in touch and support one another.

elearning or face-to-face workshop? There is no right or wrong way, it is all down to giving thera­pists a choice and to offer learning pathways for everyone.