77 Carer courses

In this course we explore how we have attempted to build inclusive circles of support around individuals and contrast this with a radical approach to hospitality and community building – the Community Circle. The purpose of community circles is to bring people from a local community together to share their skills, talents, gifts and resources. This idea is based upon the premise that ALL of us need three things in our lives to make us happy and fulfilled: these are money, friendship and meaning. We believe that everyone needs community, everyone needs to be heard and everyone needs to have fun. Online Course now available via Teachable Platform – Creating Community Circles Learn at your own pace… lots of text and video support Category Inclusion Peer Support Parents and Carers   Description  Building Community Circles In this course we explore how we have attempted to build inclusive circles of support around individuals and contrast this with a radical approach to hospitality and community building – the Community Circle. The purpose of community circles is to bring people from a local community together to share their skills, talents, gifts and resources. This idea is based upon the premise that ALL of us need three things in our lives to make us happy and fulfilled: these are money, friendship and meaning. We believe that everyone needs community, everyone needs to be heard and everyone needs to have fun. Community Circles are based upon reciprocity and the assumption that EVERYONE has both gifts and needs – whether these are labelled or not. The circles adopt the fundamental value of inclusion that ‘all means all’, no one is excluded from community circles, instead the circle members work out how to include everyone equally and safely. A community circle is made up of participants and allies from the local community. The meeting starts with everyone sharing food and conversations. Next the group comes together in a circle so that everyone can see each other and shares what is good and new in their lives, everyone gets a turn to be listened to. ‘New and Good’ breaks the habit of thinking about and acting from what’s wrong, it is an exercise of giving and receiving attention with one another and it also provides a strong foundation of strengths from which we can think about and tackle difficulties. The group is then asked the question what do they want, need or have to offer. Community circles provide a great foundation or starting point from which to explore connections, build relationships, locate resources and share skills. These circles will be a particularly important resource for Brokers and the people that they work for. They provide a safe forum in which people can meet and friendships can start, a natural reservoir of people and relationships where people can be invited to offer their time and capacity. To be successful we have to start from a belief in inclusion. A belief that: 1 We are all born ‘in’. 2 All means all. 3 Everyone needs to belong. 4 Everyone is ready. 5 Everyone needs support. 6 Everyone can communicate. 7 Everyone can contribute. 8 Together we’re better. Learning Objectives For participants to learn how to create a Community Circle. For participants to understand the underlying rationale and ethos of this way of working. To explore ways of maximising an individual’s inclusion and connection with the wider community. To explore ways of helping with friendship, social connection and education. To increase confidence, social skills and presence of disabled adults and those with a wide range of need in their local community by focusing on their contribution. Who Is It For? Anyone interested in mobilising the community to make it more inclusive around disabled or challenging individuals. Course Content Understanding ordinary needs – plus the true dimensions of social inclusion Building relationships Creating natural circles of support Creating a community circle If you like this you will almost certainly enjoy: Person Centred Planning using PATH and MAPS

Person centred rehabilitation is designed to create a better life for an individual by the provision of an intense input designed to being about social change. This usually entails a series of visits focused on getting the person out and about to increase confidence, social skills and presence in their local community and to pursue goals and dreams. Usually, the work is carried out under the close clinical supervision of a practicing psychologist. Course Category Inclusion Person Centred Planning Visioning and Problem Solving Peer Support Description Person Centred Rehabilitation Person centred rehabilitation is designed to create a better life for an individual by the provision of an intense input designed to being about social change. This usually entails a series of visits focused on getting the person out and about to increase confidence, social skills and presence in their local community and to pursue goals and dreams. Usually, the work is carried out under the close clinical supervision of a practicing psychologist. PERSON CENTRED PLANNING A Person Centred Planning event would be carried out using the PATH or MAP process – majoring on dreams and goal setting leading to precise action planning. Facilitators would carry out the PATH or other person centred process. A large graphic will be one of the outcomes of the meetings this is a great visual record and a shared memory of the event. This will also inform the priorities for the later follow up inclusion facilitation work. Following the PATH event a ‘scoping report’ is created outlining what Inclusion Facilitation could offer and highlighting what dreams and goals the individual has. INCLUSION FACILITATION The PATH is also provides a good opportunity for the Facilitator to meet the focus person in a comfortable positive environment. Agreed visits from the Inclusion Facilitator are then carried out over a 3 month period. After this intensive input the Inclusion Facilitator will hand over to the existing family, carers and PA team to carry on where he or she has left off. This transition time is planned from the outset. An experienced psychologist needs to be there to support the facilitator at all times and will guide all work done by the inclusion facilitator. Is this just Support work? No! This is proactive engagement – doing whatever is required. This is not passively or reactively providing what is asked for – we are actively pursuing a good life for the individual. The work is built on careful research around a person’s interests and what opportunities exist locally There is community mapping There is work to tackle an individual’s own resistance and reluctance to engage more socially There is a need to engage with people in social settings that the individual attends to build bridges and connections – we are bridge builders You will need to build circles around a person There is a need to create the conditions in which friendships can flourish There is a need for direct psychological supervision and support throughout This work is short term and intense. The facilitator’s main aims will vary depending on the dreams and goals of the focus person. The basic aim of the inclusion facilitator is to better the focus person’s quality of life. Learning Objectives 1 To create a better life for the Individual. 2 Give Individual and family a clear vision of a good life and to support first steps towards this 3 To maximise individuals inclusion and connection with the wider community. 4 To help with friendship, social connection and education 5 To increase confidence, social skills and presence in their local community and to pursue goals and dreams. Who Is It For? Anyone who is involved in the rehabilitation of children or adults who have become disabled through accident or trauma and who is committed to helping them get their life back on track. Course Content Understanding ordinary needs – the dimensions of social inclusion Pursuing the dreams and goals of the individual Improving social skills Community Mapping Being comfortable in social environments Developing conversational skills Having a positive mindset Staying physically active Building relationships Help in meeting new people Create natural circles of support Creating a community circle Having positive body language Employment of support staff Pursuing personal interests   If you like this you will almost certainly enjoy: Person Centred Planning using PATH and MAPs

A Psychology-led day retreat for parents and carers of children with learning disabilities and/or Autism in the beautiful Wye Valley. 9th October 2024 at Forest Retreats, Tintern, Monmouthshire, Wales.

Click to read more about this training, in which we demonstrate a live problem solving approach which is based on the active participation of family members. Course Category Inclusion Parents and Carers Behaviour and relationships Problem Solving Description In this training we demonstrate a live problem solving approach which is based on the active participation of family members. ‘Family Circles’ is an evolving new approach to problem solving with families and is based on our years of family work and the development and use of the Circle of Adults process. Inspired by our own Parent Solutions work and the Circle of Adults process as well as Family Group Conferencing and other Restorative Interventions we bring you Family Circles. Essentially the approach involves gathering a family together for a process that is facilitated but majors on the family members offering each other their wisdom and ideas. The approach is capacity focused, person centred approach to working with families rather than the dominant deficit oriented and ‘medical model’ of viewing and planning for or doing things to families. This training can be modelled with a group of professionals or better still with a family. In our work with families we develop the importance of naming stories or theories and seeking linkages and synthesis between what is found out and explored about the family situation and its history. We like participants to sit with the uncertainty, to reflect on the question ‘why’ but without judgement of each other. Deeper reflections may span a whole range of perspectives from ‘within person’ considerations, to situational or systemic possibilities. Health or emotional issues can be reflected on alongside organisational or transactional aspects of what is going on for the family. The better the shared understanding the better the strategy or actions which emerge from these meetings. Quality hypotheses with a close fit to reality lead to more effective implementation in the real world. We encourage ‘loose’ thinking, a search for connections, deeper listening, an ‘open mind’, speculation and exploration without moral judgements. From this stance self-reflection as well as reflection on the situation can produce remarkable insights. The quality of theories or new stories generated is directly influenced by family members’ experiences and the models of learning, behaviour and emotion, systems, educational development, change and so on that they have been exposed to.  Learning Objectives To provide opportunities for: Shared problem solving in a safe exploratory climate in which the family will find its own solutions. Individuals to reflect on their own actions and strategies An exploration of whole-family processes and their impact Emotional support and shared understandings of issues at a child, parent, family, school and community level. Feed back to each other on issues, ideas and strategies that are agreed to be worth sharing with them. Who Is It For? Anyone interested in working with families in a way that builds and makes use of their capacities rather than focus on their challenges and difficulties. Social Care teams School staff Community organisers Educational Psychologists Course Content True family empowerment Deepening shared stories and understandings Facilitating groups Problem solving process Handling family group communication Allowing direct feedback and challenge between participants in a safe way Building relationships Process: Family members are welcomed: Introductions are carried out, ground rules and aims clarified whilst coffee is drunk. A recap from the last session is carried out: To follow up developments and reflections after the last meeting. One issue is selected for the main focus Issue presentation: The family member who raised the concern is asked questions to tell the ‘story’ of the issue or problem. Additional questions/information from the group about the problem are gathered: Ground rules may need to be observed carefully here. Individual participants need to be kept focused and prevented from leaping to premature conclusions or to making ‘helpful’ suggestions about strategy. Relationship aspects to the problem are explored. Metaphors and analogies are invited. How would a fly on the wall see your relationship? If you were alone together on a desert island, what would it be like? Impact of previous relationships/spillage from one relationship to another are explored. Eg what situation they are reminded of? For instance, does this situation remind you of any of those angry but helpless feelings you had with your other son when he was an adolescent? This provides opportunities to reflect on how emotions rub off on other people. The parent feels really frustrated, and on reflection we can see that so does the child System/Organisation factors (Family system/school and community systems and so on): What aspects help or hinder the problem? For instance, does the pastoral system of the local school provide space, or time and skilled personnel able to counsel this young person and work actively with their parents? Synthesis. At this stage the Graphic facilitator summarises what they have heard. They then go on to describe linkages and patterns in what they have heard. This can be very powerful. The person doing the graphic work has been able to listen throughout the presentation process and will have been struck by strong messages, emotions and images as they have arisen. The story and meaning of what is happening in the situation may become a little clearer at this point. Typical links may be ‘mirrored emotions’ strong themes such as loss and separation issues, or repeated processes such as actions triggering rejection. This step provides an excellent grounding for the next process of deepening understanding. What alternative strategies/interventions are open to be used? Brainstormed and recorded. ’Either/ors’ need to be avoided at this time also. This needs to be a shared session in which the family member who is presenting the concern contributes as much as anyone. Care is needed to ensure that this person is not overloaded with other people’s strategies. The final selection of strategy or strategies from the brainstormed list is the problem presenter’s choice. Strategies might include: a special time for the young person, a meeting with the child’s parents to explore how she is being managed at home and to share tactics, a home-school diary, counselling, or an agreed action plan that all are aware of, agreed sanctions and rewards and so forth. Strategies may productively involve processes of restitution and restoration, when ‘sorry’ is not enough. Making it right, rather than punishments or rewards, may then becomes the focus. First Steps. The problem presenter is finally asked to agree one or two first steps which they can carry out over the next 3-7 days. It can help to assign a ‘coach’ who will check in with them to ensure they have carried out the action they have named. This is a time to be very specific. Steps should be small and achievable. The person is just ‘making a start’. A phone call, or making an agreement with a key other person not present at the meeting would be ideal examples. Final reflections. Sometimes referred to as a ‘round of words’ help with closure for all involved. Reflections are on the process not the problem. In large families this is best done standing in a circle. In smaller groups all can remain sitting. Passing around a ‘listening stick’ or something similar such as a stone or light heighten the significance of the process ending and improve listening. Finally the problem presenter is handed the ‘Graphic’ this is their record of the meeting and can be rolled and presented ceremoniously by the facilitators for maximum effect! If you liked this course you may well like: Parent Solutions

Come and join us for another great event at Step Out on Thursday, 17th April 2025, 10am - 12 noon! Location - Evegate Business Park Station Road Smeeth, Ashford TN25 6SX Cost £4.50 per child, parents/carers free – Please only book a ticket per child attending. Please make sure you are dressed appropriately with wellies and waterproofs! Bring drinks and snacks if you would like them too! If you have any dietary requirements please let us know when booking.

The "Foundations of Immunisation and Vaccines for Non-Registered Practitioners" course is fully compliant with the National Minimum Standards and Core Curriculum for Immunisation Training and is designed to equip non-registered healthcare professionals with a solid understanding of immunisation concepts, vaccine administration, and the importance of vaccination in public health.

The 3-hour Baby & Child First Aid class covers CPR, Choking, Bumps, Burns, Breaks, Bleeding, Febrile Seizures and Meningitis & Sepsis Awareness and will give everyone who attends the peace of mind they deserve.

QA Level 3 Award In Paediatric First Aid (RQF) Two day course HSE highly recommends this course for those who work with children in a childcare setting Being able to deal with peadiatric emergencies can make the difference between the life and death of children, and save them a lot of suffering Course Contents: The Roles and Responsibilities of an Emergency Paediatric First Aider Assessing an Emergency Situation Accident Recording Minor Injuries Cuts, Grazes and Bruises Minor Burns and Scalds Managing an Unresponsive Infant and Child Recovery Position Infant and Child CPR Infant and Child Safe Use of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Choking Anaphylaxis Seizures Wounds and Bleeding Hypovolaemic Shock Head, Neck and Back Injuries Sprains, strains, dislocations and fractures Meningitis Asthma Diabetes Eye, Ear and Nose Conditions Poisoning Electric Shock Bites and Stings Hot and Cold Temperatures Benefits of this course: Would you know what to do if you saw a child in need of First Aid? Children are prone to minor injuries, but suffer from serious injuries also In 2014, 2,269 children in the UK were so badly bitten by an animal they had to be admitted to hospital More than 2 million children have accidents in the home for which they're taken to A&E - every year, with Under 5s accounting for 7% of all hospital emergency treatments Being able to deal with peadiatric emergencies can make the difference between the life and death of children, and save them a lot of suffering. This QA Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (RQF) qualification is ideal for: - Parents/carers or family members who want to learn key paediatric first aid skills - those who work with, or intend to work with children in a childcare setting as it is designed to fulfill Ofsted’s First Aid requirements for early years teachers, nursery workers and childminders (as defined within the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2014 and within the Child Care Register guide) Childcare settings who are working towards Millie’s Mark We also run a Paediatric Annual Refresher to keep those life-saving skills up to date Accredited, Ofqual regulated qualification: Our Paediatric First Aid at Work course is a nationally recognised, Ofqual regulated qualification accredited by Qualsafe Awards.This means that you can be rest assured that your Paediatric First Aid certificate will fulfill the legal requirements. It is a very good way to make sure you and your employees are trained in First Aid for Children and Infants (babies).The Ofqual Register number for this course is 603/0785/7

This one day training will give learners an overview of how to deliver Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST). CST is a brief evidence-based group treatment for people with dementia. This interactive course will include a background about CST and how it can be used, research overview and detailed presentation of the treatment, including video footage and role-play.

QA Level 3 Award In Emergency Paediatric First Aid (RQF) Full day course Would you know what to do if you saw a child in need of First Aid? Being able to deal with paediatric emergencies can make the difference between the life and death of children, and save them a lot of suffering Course Contents: The Roles and Responsibilities of an Emergency Paediatric First Aider Assessing an Emergency Situation Accident Recording Minor Injuries Cuts, Grazes and Bruises Minor Burns and Scalds Managing an Unresponsive Infant or Child Recovery Position CPR Safe Use of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Choking Anaphylaxis Seizures Wounds and Bleeding Shock Benefits of this course: Would you know what to do if you saw a child in need of First Aid? Children are prone to minor injuries, but suffer from serious injuries also In 2014, 2,269 children in the UK were so badly bitten by an animal they had to be admitted to hospital More than 2 million children have accidents in the home for which they're taken to A&E - every year, with Under 5s accounting for 7% of all hospital emergency treatments Being able to deal with peadiatric emergencies can make the difference between the life and death of children, and save them a lot of suffering. This QA Level 3 Award in Emergency Paediatric First Aid (RQF) qualification is ideal for: - Parents/carers or family members who want to learn key paediatric first aid skills - Those who work with children and are not required to comply with Ofsted’s Childcare Register or Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2014 requirements Those who want to provide additional support in their organisation to existing paediatric first aiders that are trained to meet Ofsted’s Childcare Register or Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2014 requirements. For those who will be directly responsible for children, Ofsted requires people to do our two day Paediatric First Aid course instead We also run a Paediatric Annual Refresher to keep those life-saving skills up to date Accredited, Ofqual regulated qualification: Our Emergency Paediatric First Aid at Work course is a nationally recognised, Ofqual regulated qualification accredited by Qualsafe Awards.This means that you can be rest assured that your Emergency Paediatric First Aid certificate will fulfill the legal requirements. It is a very good way to make sure you and your employees are trained in First Aid for Children and Infants (babies).The Ofqual Register number for this course is 603/0786/9