We offer a number of trainings for health and VCSE organisations to support best practice in peer support and develop their skills and practise.
Designing Peer Support Services Workshops
How to Design a Peer Support Service
Peer support can be a hugely effective intervention for people going through complicated life circumstances. Being able to receive empathetic support from people who have been through similar situations can reduce feelings of isolation and not being understood. This workshop outlines how to consider, plan, and troubleshoot the introduction of peer support programmes.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: How to Design a Peer Support Service Workshop
How to Recruit, Supervise, and Retain Peer Volunteers
The most vital component of any peer support programme is the peers themselves. These peers will have lived experience of the condition they support, and therefore have additional support needs to other volunteers. This workshop will support organisations to consider the recruitment, training, supervising, and retaining of peer volunteers, helping to ensure the sustainability of your peer support programme.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: How to Recruit, Supervise, and Retain Peer Volunteers Workshop
How to Engage and Maintain Lived-Experience Voices
To provide the best services to its intended users, it is recognised as essential to ensure their voices, opinions, and feedback are heard at every stage of service design, development, and implementation. It increases client understanding, support, and engagement with services, and also certifies that decisions are made with the knowledge, appreciation, and understanding of those who will be using them. This workshop is designed to support, promote, and encourage the engagement of people with lived experience within your services.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: How to Engage and Maintain Lived-Experience Voices Workshop
How to Write a Proposal for a Peer Support Service
A well-written proposal will make all the difference between a programme being accepted by stakeholders and decision-makers and a programme that never gets off the ground. A proposal should appeal to a number of potential readers, including funders, staff and, most importantly, the people the programme is designed to support. It should make the case for the need for a programme, the outline, and details of how it will be delivered, and how it will be judged to have been successful. This workshop will help you to understand how to write an effective proposal and service specification for a peer support service that will support the case for funding and implementation of the programme.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: How to Write a Proposal for a Peer Support Service Workshop
Skills and Best Practice Workshops
Boundaries in the VCSE Workplace
Professional and personal boundaries are key to keeping service users, staff, and organisations, safe, effective, and professional. They help us to utilise our skills in the most appropriate way within our professional roles, and to ensure consistency of service and management of the expectation of service users. This workshop is designed to support staff and organisations in voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) to consider, plan, and implement personal and professional boundaries in the workplace.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: Boundaries in the VCSE Workplace Workshop
Recognising and Responding to Challenging Behaviour
Working with people with complex lives can be difficult, especially when service users might display defensive, aggressive, or disengaging behaviours that can interrupt constructive and meaningful engagement. This workshop explores challenging behaviour, how to recognise it, and techniques to work out when and how to intervene to try and de-escalate these situations.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: Recognising and Responding to Challenging Behaviour Workshop
Group Dynamics and Facilitation
Group support can be a valuable and effective intervention for people living with complex or difficult circumstances. The ability to share your knowledge and experiences with others while also learning from the knowledge and experience of others can lead to new ways of thinking and approaching situations, as well as supporting a reduction in feelings of isolation. Groups can be organic and unpredictable, with each instance bringing new personalities and new complications. This workshop is designed to support staff and organisations in voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) to understand group dynamics within a support setting, and to manage and coordinate groups or supervise volunteers to do so.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: Group Dynamics and Facilitation Workshop
How to Run a Focus Group
When preparing and designing a new service holding a focus group is an essential way to gain important insight into the needs of who the service is aimed at. Gathering a group of potential service providers and users together for the planning stages of a project will provide important knowledge and information about the needs and expectations of those you are hoping to support. This workshop is designed to support staff and organisations in the voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) to understand group dynamics within a support setting, and to manage and coordinate groups, or supervise volunteers to do so.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: How to Run a Focus Group Workshop
Goal Setting and Action Planning
Supporting others to set goals and plan actions can have many benefits. Setting goals helps trigger new behaviours, guide focus, and helps people sustain momentum when addressing future challenges. Goals also help align your focus and promote self-reliance. This workshop teaches goal setting and action planning skills to support workers to help service users explore options for overcoming barriers, identifying goals, and working out a plan for how to achieve them.
For more information on this workshop, please visit our page here: Goal Setting and Action Planning Workshop