Kevin found interacting with others difficult, and this was our challenge as a team. How to make this work better for him? The Great Interactions training I had recently gone on, with Gwenne and Jenny, really improved my outlook on what skills the staff had and what we could improve on, as a whole staff team.
I dedicated around 30 minutes in our staff meetings to Great Interactions and each time went through some of the training exercises with all staff e.g, making a piece of toast...staff could not believe how complex this was to a person we support. It really opened their eyes as to how long this could take to complete and how important it is to break things down.
Another training exercise we now do on a weekly basis is signing, because one of the people we support uses this method of communication, as staff were beginning to get the hang of it, we found that Kevin already knew most of the signs which he found really funny.
I feel that training staff in Great Interactions has built up our relationship with Kevin and he is now thriving. Staff feel more confident when supporting him and have voiced how the training has really helped them understand Kevin. Kevin seems to be interacting with staff more and more on a daily basis and enjoying these interactions. He is even confident enough to initiate interactions now. Staff now recognise and understand what Kevin is telling us with his body language and we now know when he wishes to spend time alone.
Kevin had his 50th Birthday party at the house and by chance we found out that he had a love of balloons... throwing balloons at staff then running away laughing, this has now become a way we interact with Kevin and he really enjoys it.
Our skills as a staff team are still developing and Kevin’s skills are progressing rapidly. I feel that since delivering the Great Interactions training all the support workers are facilitating better and we are seeing many positive outcomes for the people we support.
Diane Lawton
Senior Support Worker, Warrington