Coaching Skills for Learner-Centred Conversations

Arti Maini

Coaching lead for the Medical Education Innovation & Research Centre (MEdIC)

Imperial College London

Arti was appointed as Deputy Director of Undergraduate Primary Care Education in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health, within Imperial’s School of Public Health in June 2017. She holds degrees in Medicine and in Clinical Neuroscience from St Georges Hospital Medical School in London and completed an MSc in Medical Education. She has worked as a GP and medical educationalist for almost two decades and her clinical work is based in North West London.

Arti is an experienced, accredited coach, coach trainer and supervisor with diplomas in Coaching Supervision and in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring. She is also a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). She is the coaching lead for the School of Medicine and is the Deputy Director for the Medical Education Innovation and Research Centre (MEDIC) in the School of Public Health where she leads the Centre’s coaching theme.

Arti runs RCP-accredited training in learner-centred coaching skills for medical educators in conjunction with the Educational Development Unit (EDU). She also runs coaching training courses for medical students and has led the coaching training aspect of the successful School of Medicine Academic Tutor pilot. As a result of this work, all Phase 1 medical students at Imperial will have access to an Academic Tutor trained in coaching skills for medical education, and these students will also now themselves be trained in health coaching skills as part of the new curriculum, supporting them to develop person-centred approaches to healthcare, as well as develop advanced interpersonal communication skills, leadership and study skills, and a solution focused mindset to support resilience and wellbeing. She has led development of a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in Coaching skills for educators, in conjunction with EdX and Imperial’s Digital Learning Hub, due to launch at the end of 2019.

Arti works with the NHS London Leadership Academy as a coach for those working within the NHS, is on the faculty of the Coaching Supervision Academy and is an active member of the Imperial Coaching Academy. Her coaching work has attracted national and international attention and she has been invited to collaborate on research projects, run workshops and train medical education faculty and students at other institutions including Harvard Medical School and UCL.

She has an interest in the use of coaching approaches for capacity building and to address local and global health inequalities, and has previously been a member of the RCGP Health Inequalities Standing Group. Locally, she has co-led health coaching training for the Grenfell Outreach Team, supporting their work with residents affected by the 2017 Grenfell Fire disaster. She has also previously led a successful Health Education England international pilot to coach health professional leaders based in Malawi, and provides consultancy for a Tanzania-based coaching project involving community workers supporting education and healthcare for women and girls. She regularly incorporates coaching approaches into her own clinical practice and is co-author of the highly acclaimed book Coaching for Health-Why it works and how to do it.

She leads a course for Year 5 medical students on Promoting Health Equity where students have the opportunity to experience a range of clinical and community placements serving vulnerable patient groups, including people who are homeless or who are refugees or asylum seekers. She has contributed to Imperial’s Curriculum Review process from Phase 1 through to Phase 3. She has been actively involved in shaping the new Patients, Communities and Healthcare Course for Year 1 and 2 medical students, and in developing learner-centred and socially accountable approaches in undergraduate medical education.

Arti was awarded the Imperial President’s Medal for outstanding contribution to teaching in 2019, and the award-winning Undergraduate Primary Care Education team that she co-leads received the 2018 national AdvanceHE CATE Excellence in Education award, and the 2019 Imperial President’s Award for Societal Engagement.

Her education and research interests include coaching for health, education, wellbeing and leadership, person-centred care, capacity building, social accountability, medical humanities, professional identity and longitudinal learning.