Development & Training Officer's Report

 

I hope that most of you reading this will be aware how indebted the Services are to the King's Fund and not just for their start-up grant which brought us into being in 1989. They have paid my part-time salary and part of Raksha's for the past two years, which of course has meant that we could afford the very real pleasure of having Paulo on board as Co-ordinator. They have also agreed another two year grant as from the summer for us to provide a service to bereaved people with learning difficulties. This means that shortly my job will again metamorphose into Training Officer whilst the newcomer will be our Development Officer - another exciting move. However this Report is an opportunity to tell you of some of the work undertaken last year so here goes.

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

First of all as you see from the photo, there is the constant need to update our information, database, training and counselling materials and create and maintain new links. One of the major resources for this is in attendance at conferences, local, national and international for which some King's Fund monies have been used. I have been to The National Organisation of Practice Teachers in Warwick University, British Association of Social Workers (on maintenance of Quality Standards) in Birmingham; CCETSW conference re Diploma in Social Work competences and a second re Services for the Elderly; West London Research Network (Imperial College) training day in Northwick Park Hospital and the 6th International Conference on Bereavement in Contemporary Society held in Israel. At each of the above I have met with fellow professionals - from many walks of life but with common aims - and learnt and shared a lot.

Creating Links with other Youth Bereavement Services
I have continued to forge links with Children's Services throughout London:

· Marie Curie Cancer Care Foundation requested our help and advice to set up their children's   bereavement service.

· Hackney Bereavement Service provided an art therapist for a day seminar for our volunteer     visitors, someone who is also a lecturer at Regent's College.

· Dr Jim Kuykendall - a leading figure in youth bereavement work - led a day seminar for our       volunteers on Bereavement; not another teenage problem!"

· Zig Zag - the children's project at Whipps Cross Hospital - gave a half-day workshop for our   volunteers on play therapy.

· Guildhall School of Music and Drama are holding discussions with us on running a training     course incorporating music and possibly drama therapy.

As well as this, I have led a half-day seminar for our volunteers on Photo therapy - something I became familiar with at the conference in Ontario last year. I have also been invited to join a new community facilitators' team of a Brent Primary Care Group. One of the extra benefits of this is access to the methodology and training offered by the West London Research Network particularly re whole systems analysis.

Forging links with schools
Via the inspector of Education Standards we have developed initial links with schools, which has resulted in BBS being invited to join a professional group and to offer input at case conferences. We have successfully held two, two-day seminars for teachers and more are planned for the current academic year. Discussions are also being held with secondary school teachers to setup training for mentors (older students who care for first years)

Bereaved people with learning disabilities
As mentioned earlier we have been extremely fortunate in obtaining a grant from the King's Fund to run a two-year project to help people with learning disabilities who are bereaved. This is to he evaluated and written up thoroughly so that the information can be fully shared later. Links are currently being established with ROC Training and Development, Mencap, MIND, and social services in Brent. The first step is to research the existing provision of support and this is currently in progress.

Groupwork
We are looking at the feasibility of introducing family group work into the service. I have been researching this very complex subject and discussing with the Management Committee the feasibility of taking on another part-time staff member to run this and introduce specialist training for volunteers. Funding applications arc currently being made for this exciting new development of our Service.

 

TRAINING ASPECTS

· Basic training for new volunteers. The sixteen-hour bereavement counselling training course for new volunteers has been provided regularly, replacing leavers, sometimes even producing a waiting list!

· Upgraded training for long-term volunteers Annual appraisals of volunteers highlights areas where further training is needed. Some of this has now taken place and more seminars arc planned. Very positive feedback has been received from volunteers on these.

· Specialist training (for those working with young people) Further volunteer training continues -much of what has been done this year has been mentioned earlier in my report. We continue to work with other local training providers and, where relevant, give volunteers opportunities to attend. One such course is the AIDS Awareness course.

· Training of professional colleagues
We continue to hold courses for nurses, general practitioners, clinical managers, physiotherapists and many other professionals. Short courses for Health Service Interpreters and other local voluntary agencies have also been held.

 

Placement of student social workers - Student Unit
The 50 day placement of two CCETSW student social workers from Middlesex University Diploma in Social Work course which forms a regular part of our annual programme was completed in March. Paid and unpaid staff of BBS were involved under my supervision to give insight and experience of our work. As a CCETSW accredited agency, BBS has to be aware of and maintain quality standards. The next placement is planned for November 2000

NVQ accreditation of Bereavement awareness courses.
I have held several discussions with the NVQ adviser to Parkside Health Authority to discuss the methodology for the BBS course in counselling to be accredited at NVQ level 3 which, in academic terms, is equivalent to an 'A' level. This will be the first course in counselling if it succeeds. Once we have gained this status BBS will be able to hold income-generating courses and successfully increase our training capacity. In the meantime our library of training materials which includes books, videos, audiotapes and relevant articles is continually reviewed and updated.

 

To summarise, my millennium hopes are:

· to welcome a new staff member and a new partnership (Mencap and Mind) in setting up the Service for bereaved people with Learning Disabilities

· to gain NVQ accreditation (which will take several more months' planning) - hopes for income generating training rest on this,

· to get 'death and bereavement' onto local schools curriculum and give young people the tools to talk about this well before they need to,

· to start researching/developing groupwork skills for a family service eventually and

· most importantly to go on enjoying my work!

 

 

VALERIE WISE C.Q.S.W.
CCETSW Accredited Trainer