Canterbury Christ Church will host two more Learning Disability and Autism knowledge mobilisation events in September, continuing the university’s commitment to develop it’s offer to this specialised workforce in Kent and Medway and beyond.
These in person events are free and are aimed particularly at those that are working with people with learning disabilities and autistic people. For more details and booking please see below.
LDA Workforce events Sept 24
Canterbury Christ Church University will be hosting a series of learning disability and autism workforce events in 2024, aimed at:-
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 
Kent Surrey Sussex Learning Disability Community of Practice event will be hosting the new Beyond Words book launch at the event at Kingston University on 1st December.
Beyond Words is delighted to be launching the second word-free picture book in their series on maternity and parenting. Loving Babies is the much-anticipated follow-up book to last year’s Having a Baby. Expertly co-created and trialled by professionals and experts by experience, Loving Babies is a picture story showing the realities and triumphs of early years’ parenting.
The book is designed to be used by people with learning disabilities or who find pictures easier to understand than words. It depicts two different households caring for and loving their new children. Loving Babies and Having a Baby can be used together to open conversations about pregnancy, parenting, and having children.
At the event, Baroness Hollins will be presenting this new publication and in their will be a lunch time book club to explore this new publication.
STOMP (Stopping Over Medication of People with a learning disability, autism or both) and STAMP (Supporting Treatment and Appropriate Medication in Paediatrics) are national projects, launched by NHS England and involving many different organisations, aiming to stop the overuse of psychotropic medicines.
It is estimated that on an average day in England between 30,000 and 35,000 people with a learning disability, autism or both are taking prescribed psychotropic medication without appropriate clinical justification.
This is a medication which results in alterations to perception, mood or consciousness. Long-term use of these medicines puts people at unnecessary risk of a wide range of side effects including weight gain, organ failure and even premature death.
We have launched a questionnaire to hear from colleagues across the health and care sector, including family carers, about your experiences of using STOMP and STAMP within your job roles and how awareness and understanding of STOMP and STAMP could be improved.
Understanding the views of health and care professionals with experience in supporting people is essential to identifying opportunities and building solutions to prevent the overuse and inappropriate use of psychotropic medications.
The questionnaire is open now until Friday 16 December 2022.
This project is a collaboration between VODG, the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), Learning Disability England (LDE) and Skills for Care and is funded by Health Education England.
Find out more on our project page here: www.vodg.org.uk/resource/stomp-and-stamp-the-essential-role-of-the-health-and-care-workforce-in-reducing-the-reliance-on-psychotropic-medication.html If you have questions about the survey or would prefer to talk through your views with a researcher, please email research.policy@vodg.org.uk
