Inclusion North Bulletin

Issue Number 44
25th June 2013 In this bulletin you will hear about some of the work Inclusion North is doing and information about what is happening across the country.

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You can find out more about the all the work we are doing by following us on Facebook and twitter at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/InclusionNorth Twitter: @InclusionNorth

People with learning disabilities who are in the Criminal Justice System
Most people think that between 5% and 10% of people who commit crimes has a learning disability. This compares to around 2% of the general population. A number of reports have identified that people with a learning disability within the criminal justice system do not have the same opportunities as others. There are a range of resources available to advocates working with vulnerable witnesses: For people working with witnesses and defendants with learning disabilities

The Advocates Gateway gives free access to

practical, evidence-based guidance on venerable witnesses and defendants. http://www.theadvocatesgateway.org/

Training Film
http://www.theadvocatesgateway.org/a-question-ofpractice There are guides and tools on questioning or working with different people who may be vulnerable or need support to tell their story.

Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for people with learning disabilities The Joint Commissioning panel for mental health has written guides for commissioners
Guidance for commissioners of rehabilitation services for people with complex mental health needs http://www.jcpmh.info/wp-content/uploads/jcpmh-rehabguide.pdf Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for people with learning disabilities. http://www.jcpmh.info/resource/guidance-forcommissioners-of-mental-health-services-for-people-withlearning-disabilities/

Guidance for commissioners: Forensic mental health services http://www.jcpmh.info/good-services/forensic-mentalhealth-services/ Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for young people making the transition from child and adolescent to adult services http://www.jcpmh.info/wp-content/uploads/jcpmhcamhstransitions-guide.pdf

Raising our Sights guides

Mencap and the PMLD Network have produced a series of how-to guides and films to help local areas meet the needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). The guides are aimed at families, commissioners and others who are responsible for supporting or developing services for people with PMLD. There are ten guides on a range of topics and each guide has a section which will help families and others to challenge and campaign where people with PMLD are not getting the right support. You can access them with this link. http://www.mencap.org.uk/all-about-learningdisability/information-professionals/pmld/raising-oursights-guides

Department of Health Adult Autism Review 2013

In 2010, the Adult Autism Strategy for England, Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives was launched. It had 5 action areas aimed at improving the lives of adults with autism. Increase awareness and understanding of autism Develop clear pathways for the diagnosis of autism Help adults with autism into work Improve access to services and support Enable local partners to develop appropriate services

The Department of Health is now leading a review to see what progress has been made and to think about the next steps about making change. They want to know what people and their families think There is an on-line survey, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AutismStrategyReview between 20 June and 9 August 2013. Winterbourne View campaign by Mencap Mencap are working with some families of people who lived in Winterbourne View to start this campaign. The campaign asks that people write to their local health and well being boards and Councils asking what is being done on the targets after Winterbourne View. To read more or get involved click here: http://e-activist.com/eaaction/action?ea.client.id=78&ea.campaign.id=21024

What does good look like for specialist services?

One of the actions of the Winterbourne View Review is to develop a core specification to support Local Authorities to commission specialist care using a model of care that will be part of the Department of Healths final report. The LGA & NHS are looking for practical examples of specialist services for children and young people with learning disabilities in education, health and social care. You can help by sharing your experiences. For more information visit the following:htpp://www.better-lives.org.uk or contact Chris Bean at cbean@nhs.net or 07914 302738

Rooots Training
Rooots are African Caribbean people with learning disabilities who run training up and down the country. On Tuesday 16th July Rooots will be running a training session Your Heart Matters.....a healthy heart will make you feel happier and stronger. The session will take place in Leeds, starting at 10am and finishing at 12.30pm. The session will cover Eating well Be active Get checked out Stay Well To book call 0754 946 5269 Email info@rooots.org.uk

The Peoples Parliament (County Durham) is

hosting an event on September 3rd. It is about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) The PIP event will take place at County Hall, Durham, starting at 9.30am and finishing at 12.30pm. There will be a talk from Welfare Rights in the Council Chambers about the new PIP benefit (Personal Independence Payment) that is taking over from the DLA benefit (Disability Living Allowance). There will also be stalls in the foyer of groups that offer services to people with disabilities. Everyone is welcome to come along to the event. Please call us on 03000 265519 if you plan to come along.

Skills For Care: Positive Behaviour Support and Physical Intervention 2013-14
This is a piece of work Skills for Care is working on with the Department of Health and it is inviting people to take part in Focus Groups as well as getting involved in a more general way. The ideas that come from the Focus Groups and from other people who choose to get involved will be put into some guidance about how workers in social care services can be trained and supported to carry out physical interventions (sometimes called restraint or control and restraint) as part of a positive way or supporting people who display challenging behaviour.

The focus groups are in the South West and North West. You can share your ideas without going to a focus group by getting in touch with Gill Sayers on 0113 241 1209 . You can find out more by e mailing marie.lovell@skillsforcare.org.uk

Postural Care stopping body shape distortion

Postural care is a gentle way of protecting a persons body shape. People who find it hard to move often end up spending long periods of time in a limited number of positions and this has a negative impact on their body shape. Using gentle positioning techniques it is possible to both protect and sometimes restore a persons body shape. In order to do this the people within an individuals first circle of support have to have access to information, equipment and support. This is a picture of a gentleman called Tommy, he lives in a residential home and lots of people support him. You can read more about Tommy and other people who use Postural Care at www.mencap.org.uk/posturalcare. Providing Tommy with good postural care was a challenge both in terms of understanding his needs and building the confidence and competence of his personal assistants. Over two years everyone worked really hard, including Tommy, to help him change his sleeping position and to introduce forces when he was lying down that would correct his rotated chest shape.

Tommy in his wheelchair aged 40

Tommy in his bed aged 40

Tommy in his wheelchair aged 42 Tommy in his supported position aged 42 Postural Care CIC are a social enterprise who provide training and support for anyone looking to find out more about protection of body shape. They recently completed a piece of work with Midlands and East SHA looking at Postural Care as a safeguarding issue. You can read the report here. http://tinyurl.com/n86acmf Postural Care CIC know that changes in body shape are predictable and often avoidable. It is vital that families, personal assistants and self advocates have access to quality assured information so that they can be supported to provide great postural care.

Inspiring stories on being or working with PAs

Lives Unlimited and ibk initiatives are writing a book for PAs and PA employers to help them be the best they can be and to inspire new employers and PAs! They would welcome your stories about what its like being either an employer or a PA. We know there are lots of positive stories in York and beyond More information is available at : http://www.livesunlimited.org.uk/stories Please e mail your examples to pabookstories@gmail.com and if you have a story but would prefer to speak to us instead of emailing please contact us at info@livesunlimited.org.uk

SeeAbility event - postponed

The event that was due to take place on Friday 5th July has been postponed. We know we have contacted all of you who applied for a place but we are talking about it here in case anyone else was planning to book a place. Don't forget, SeeAbility can come and work with you locally to help more people with a learning disability get good eye care. Please contact Laura at l.christie@seebility.org to find out more.

All work and no play!

Preparing for Adulthood Employment and Transition event Whats it all about? This is the last planned session for the North East Transition Network. Members of the network requested that the session should concentrate on employment. The session will include: Examples of good practice from a national perspective Examples of good practice from the North East region . A chance to think about how we keep this work going

The day will be run by members of the Preparing for Adulthood Team and Inclusion North. The session will be held in Darlington on Thursday 11th July and will start at 10.15 and finish at 3pm. Please contact Louise at Inclusion North to book a place louise@inclusionnorth.org

If you would like any information on any of our meetings, training or projects you can contact the office on:

Tel: 0113 262 6409

E-mail: info@inclusionnorth.org

Or you can write to us at: Inclusion North 191 Belle Vue Road Leeds LS3 1HG

You can visit our website at: www.inclusionnorth.org

Or you can contact any member of the Inclusion North team: Samantha Clark Tel: 07823 536 603 Email: Samantha@inclusionnorth.org

Scott Cunningham Tel: 07767 776 125 Email: Scott@inclusionnorth.org

Angela Ellis Tel: 07944 185 771 Email: Angela@inclusionnorth.org

Kellie Woodley Tel: 07876 145 390 Email: Kellie@inclusionnorth.org