Fully funded training places available via SHEP and Relationships in Practice
SHEP (Social and Health Education Project) has been awarded a grant under the Government’s ‘What Works – Sharing Knowledge’ fund to provide fully funded training programmes to frontline practitioners and parents.
The ‘What Works – Sharing Knowledge’’ fund promotes evidence-informed approaches to prevention and early intervention services for children, young people and their families.
Liam McCarthy, SHEP senior training and development officer (Community Education & Development), said: “The impetus for applying for this funding came from our awareness of the need to provide further support to frontline practitioners and children and families who are still responding to the fallout from the pandemic in their lives and in their work.
“In March 2020 the world shifted. Covid-19 has caused unprecedented changes to societal structures and individual lives. Lockdowns, school closures, employment fragility and inaccessible health and social care services have had an immense impact on child and family wellbeing and on the frontline workers who are supporting them in very challenging environments.”
Two of the training programmes are open to frontline practitioners working in early intervention and prevention settings in Ireland.
A 3-Day ABLE brief intervention programme will be delivered on-line via Zoom by two Relationships in Practice licensed trainers on 15th, 29th and 30th November 2022. This evidence-based programme supports participants in taking a relationship-centred approach in their work and to manage their time and boundaries for their own health and wellbeing.
Fern Higgins Atkinson, programme manager for Relationships in Practice, said: “We are offering 16 fully funded places, so this is an opportunity for any practitioner working in early intervention and prevention to take part in a small group, experiential and supportive on-line space.
“ Our ABLE (Adopt a relational approach, Build & Boundary, Listen and Empower & End) training provides the skills, knowledge and a framework to build and maintain positive relationships in practice and to develop understanding of the transformative impact of supportive relationships on health and wellbeing outcomes. The content includes emerging scientific insights from the fields of relationship theory, parent-infant mental health, childhood development and interpersonal neurobiology, to help practitioners understand what may be going on for the children and adults they support.”
The second fully funded course, ‘Critical Reflection for Practitioners’ will be run by SHEP, with spaces limited to a maximum of 14 participants. This innovative and practical reflective practice course will run on-line as well and will use the Critical Reflection model for practitioners involved in prevention or early intervention work with children, youth or family support.
This course will run over 10 x 3-hour sessions spaced every two or three weeks during this autumn and winter, with dates to be confirmed.
Another fully funded programme is ‘Empowering parents of children with Autism’.
Starting on 23rd September at 10.00am and running over 20 weekly sessions via Zoom, this course is open to any parent or guardian of a child or adolescent with a diagnosis of Autism or presenting with the signs of Autism awaiting assessment or navigating the pathway to assessment.
Two experienced SHEP facilitators will offer parents the opportunity to support each other as they explore and learn together, sharing the joys and challenges of parenting a child with Autism.
The course fee for all the above training programmes is fully supported by the grant.
Expressions of interest are now being taken so please email liam.mccarthy@socialandhealth.com
and for the Relationships in Practice ABLE training places: fern.higginsatkinson@relationshipsinpractice.ie
