Reducing self injury through education in KSS *content warning*

The community is pleased to be able to share some published work by regular contributors and Surrey-based Learning Disability Nurse Carla Withers. 

The paper tells the story of a man with a history of self-injury during masturbation, and how the Community team for people with learning disabilities undertook assessments and education sessions to support him to masturbate safely. 

If you want to read more the paper is published in the Nursing Times and can be found by clicking on the link below.

 Safe masturbation: educating a man with learning disabilities | Nursing Times 

Seeking Learning Disability Nurses for Medicines optimisation research

Danielle Adams – Pharmacist and PhD Student at the University of Warwick is undertaking a Delphi study in deprescribing psychotropic medications in people with learning disabilities and is keen to recruit some learning disabilities nurses with an interest in the subject to participate. 

This will involve completing a questionnaire – taking approximately 20 minutes and helping to prioritise the themes until a consensus is found. It is envisaged that this activity will be complete by the end of November 2024. 

For more details please contact Danielle via danielle.adams@warwick.ac.uk 

Delphi Deprescribing Psychotropics Flyer October 2024

Community Conference 2024 – booking details

The Community of Practice conference will take place on 4th December at Chatham Maritime hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University. 

This conference maintains it’s commitment to inclusion and working together with the focus being people with learning disabilities and their allies living Healthy, Safe and Fulfilled lives.

Keynotes have been confirmed from Bemix and their Be a Leader programme, and Ciara Lawrence – Podcaster and influencer – and her Pink Sparkle Podcast and will reflect the two areas of work from last years conference, relating to co-production and Learning Disability Nursing in the South East. 

Details for booking your free place can be found by clicking here.

If you would like to share your work demonstrating people with learning disabilities living healthy safe and fulfilled lives, please complete the short form available by clicking here. 

KSS LD COP Conference 2024 2

Kent and Medway Learning Disability and Autism workforce events

Canterbury Christ Church University will be hosting a series of learning disability and autism workforce events in 2024, aimed at:-

  • Care staff and professionals working directly with people with learning disabilities and/autistic people, from education, health and care services.
  • Education, Care and Health managers.
  • Police and community support workers
  • Anyone in Kent and Medway working with this diverse population

The first event will feature a presentation from CCCU MSc student and Makaton Trainer Katie Potts and her practice based research investigating how can Makaton be embedded into schools and their wider community.

To book a free place on this first event, please click here

Community of Practice presents Doctors Workshops on People with Learning Disabilities

The Community of Practice are pleased to share this flyer for workshops for Doctors and other healthcare professionals enabling reasonable adjustments to be made for people with learning disabilities in healthcare settings.

This is a collaborative venture with East Kent Hospitals Trust and other partners including Kent Community Healthcare Trust, East Kent Mencap and Canterbury Christchurch University.

Drs LD Workshops flyer

The first workshop on 27th March is already full, however 4 more workshops and a final conference are planned.

Please email catherine.kidd@nhs.net to get more details.