The Oliver McGowan Blog
By Nicola Payne, Health and Families Manager at MacIntyre
We are now halfway into the year 2024 and MacIntyre is flying with the delivery of the Mandatory Oliver McGowan Training in learning disabilities and autism. We have been working on supporting our team to be able to run workshops in ways that they are comfortable doing, this of course takes time and will look different for each of the trainers.
I am writing this blog to provide you with an update on where we are now as an organisation and if you are reading this, you may be at the start of this journey or, like us, flying but stopping and pausing at times to reflect and ensure all of the team are happy and confident within their roles and responsibilities.
One of my responsibilities in my role as Health and Families Manager is working closely with the Oliver McGowan team here at MacIntyre. Part of my role is to deliver workshops around the country with people with lived experience. This is, if I am honest with you, what makes these workshops as engaging and helpful as they are. Our staff teams who attend the workshops are hearing directly from people with lived experience; if you have experienced workshops with the voices of lived experiences, you will probably agree with me that this is the best type of learning, and the stories you hear often tend to stay with you much longer, as they are being shared directly from the heart.
I work closely with 8 Co-Trainers within our team. Each co-trainer is flying in their unique way with the delivery of the workshops, with their confidence growing each time a workshop is running. We can't forget that this role was completely new for many of the Co-Trainers and this needed to be considered and supported to ensure that each trainer had the opportunity to grow but make mistakes and learn from these. I have seen mistakes happen but when we ensure support is put in place, we reflect and talk through how we can move on and in time become even better than we are right now. I like to think that bumps along the way help us all grow and learn and should never feel like a setback.
I would like to share a few tips that have helped our team feel supported with the hope that this will help you and your teams
- Meet frequently as a whole team to share what has been working and celebrate, also proving a platform of what hasn’t been working
- When a workshop is set in the diary make sure you have time to meet the week before to check-in; we have a plan; and are connected
- If it’s a new training venue, ideally a visit before can help, to get a feel of the building and what to expect on the day, and identify any changes that might make the experience better (lighting, windows, quiet areas, accessible toilets etc)
- Never reflect right after a workshop as we can all feel tired, so make sure either the next day or set a date to meet again to chat through and reflect together. If you reflect right away and things might have gone wrong, your mood can lower and you only focus on this feeling and don’t celebrate what went well.
- Make opportunities to learn new content so Co-Trainers have more opportunities to take more responsibility for slides on the day. Personal experience of this fills me with such pride to see a person grow in confidence. My voice is far less engaging than a Co-trainer
This journey has been a little up and down but with great teamwork, co-production along the way, and determination and commitment MacIntyre is so proud of how far our Co-Trainers have come and we are all excited for the next chapter of this journey.
I know I can't wait to welcome many more wonderful Co-Trainers over the next few months. The team will grow but the feeling of teamwork will always be at the forefront of everything we do #teamworkmakesthedreamwork.
