ACTO’s CYP team wish to bring awareness to Neurodiversity Celebration Week, which supports changes in attitude and understanding. Sienna Castellon, the founder of Neurodiversity Celebration week www.neurodiversityweek.com and a real innovator, has worked hard since 2018 to change minds and narratives from her own experiences, to ensure that we all move forward in a more enlightened and educated way. ACTO support this.
Here are some links about experiences from different celebrities who challenge stereotypes and help us to create an open forum for support, learning and of course, celebration.
We have noticed that a lot of professional and senior professional members have not uploaded a photo to their directory entry yet.
Feedback shows that a lot of people like to see a photo before they engage with a therapist. So it is a pity to miss out on an opportunity to show your face.
In this workshop we are going to show you how to reduce the size of your photo and then upload it to your profile. You can follow along the steps from behind your own laptop screen. We do encourage you use a laptop and not a mobile phone to follow along with this workshop.
About Mieke
Mieke is on the board of directors and also manages the website. She likes to stay up to date on social media and WordPress websites.
She will guide you through the steps of uploading your photo’s and along the way she will also give some tips on what makes a good profile photo.
When and where?
Tuesday March 29th at 12:00 UK time. This event will take place through zoom. Please reserve your place here.
Join us for a FREE webinar with insurance expert Steve Johnson
March 2022 sees the start of ACTO’s monthly webinars series. The webinars will be free for members – and this first one is free for anyone to join.
For the first webinar, ACTO are delighted that Steve Johnson has agreed to share with us his experience as an insurance broker.
About Steve
Steve has been an insurance broker all his working life. For the last 34 years he has specialised in professional liability insurance for the psychological professions including counsellors and psychotherapists – and has been involved with online therapy from its very beginnings. Steve ran Oxygen Insurance from its launch in 2010 until he left last year to join Partners& Insurance where he has been working on a new insurance facility which will be ready for launch next month. The brand name will be… &Breathe.
About the Webinar
The questions we are asked most often at ACTO revolve around insurance issues. The session will cover the challenges of working across borders including data protection laws, financial sanctions, regulation, insurance and local infrastructure.
Steve is very happy to answer any questions you may have; however it is helpful if you could send them in to us beforehand. You can do so by leaving a comment on this post.
When and where?
March 25th 2:30 PM on Zoom. Please register through eventbrite and you will be sent the Zoom link.
Contract: 1 year fixed term – to be extended subject to funding
Hours: 11 hrs a week – Mondays 09:30-15:30 and Tuesdays 13:30-19:30 Salary: £40,057 FTE – AfC band 7 (actual £11,750 pa)
Pension: Employer contribution 3%
Holiday entitlement: 240 hours per year (actual 71 hours pa)
Line Manager: Clinical Services Manager
Since 2000 Mankind UK (www.mkcharity.org) has offered therapeutic services to support men 18+ in Sussex who have experienced sexual assault or abuse including:
Deliver 1 psycho-educational course session a week with a co-facilitator (courses run with up to 10 participants for 10 weeks)
Deliver 1 face to face therapeutic group session a week with a co-facilitator (groups run with up to 8 participants for 20 weeks)
Deliver sessions via online platforms and/or in person as needed.
Prepare and update course materials as needed and assist in the development of complimentary online resources.
Deliver training to new facilitators on the delivery of the course and groups as needed.
Deliver training to counsellors to aid referral into the course and groups, and effective use of complimentary online resources.
Manage administration of new referrals into courses or therapy groups and hold waiting lists.
Maintain regular contact with clients on the waiting list to retain engagement and motivation.
Undertake clinical assessments of potential participants identifying and acting on any risk or safeguarding matters.
Attend bi-monthly clinical supervision group and weekly team meeting.
Gather and input outcome assessment data into spreadsheets and CORENet.
Use outcome information with clients as part of the working relationship.
Collect and record client donations and client attendance
Maintain digital database of client information and paper files.
Participate in research and contribute to service development as required.
Pursue continuous professional development (some internal training is provided).
Comply with the policies, procedures and service standards of the charity.
Use G Suite, Trello, Miro, COREnet, BrightHR, Zoom and other digital systems as needed.
Undertake other reasonable duties which uphold and maintain standards of service delivery.
Person Specification (E = Essential, D = desirable)
Qualification in Counselling or Psychotherapy at Diploma level or above through a recognised BACP training (E)
Minimum of 5 years’ post-qualifying counselling practice (E)
Experience running therapeutic or process groups (E)
Experience of delivering psycho-educational training to groups (E)
Experience of delivering group work online (D)
Experience of managing clinical risk (E)
Experience of delivering therapy within the sexual violence sector and using the 3 stage trauma model (Herman, 1992) (E)
Training specific to working with sexual abuse trauma (E)
Experience of adhering to GDPR guidelines (E)
Ability to remotely manage own caseload (E)
Experience of using G Suite, databases and client management applications (E)
Experience of learning to use new digital technologies (E)
Experience of monitoring and evaluation. Working with CORE (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) alongside the Impact of Events Scale – Revised (IES-R) or in-house feedback evaluation forms (E)
Understanding of and commitment to equality, diversity and anti-discriminatory practice (E)
Knowledge of issues specific to male survivors, including those who identify as transgender or transsexual (D)
Please address all aspects of the person specification in your application form.
The following links may help CYP, parents and practitioners. We acknowledge that for families who had have to flee other war torn areas, these events may be triggering for them and their children. We also want to acknowledge that this may feel like another disaster after the last two years of isolation and loss with Covid-19.
It is important though that if children and young people are asking questions, we answer them as openly and honestly as we can – with a response appropriate to their age. We also recognise the sense of not knowing may impact the overriding feelings of anxiety for both adults and young people.
We therefore feel that finding ways to ground children, young people and ourselves will help to process the emerging information about the invasion of Ukraine.
We hope that you find these resources useful.
Anxiety reduction and calming/grounding strategies
Talking to Teenagers about the invasion in the Ukraine
Anna Freud also complied some useful suggestions with BBC Bitesize for parents and carers.
The UK Trauma Council, founded by the Anna Freud Centre has a range of information for families and professionals. A resource page on how to support refugee and asylum-seeking children from all parts of the world who have experienced trauma. Reports are emerging on lone children crossing borders from Ukraine, this information may be of particularly beneficial for professionals. Here is a list of their support resources to help professionals get started. They also have training available.
Doing What Matters in Times of Stress (who.int) – A free stress management guide for coping with adversity. The guide aims to equip people with practical skills to help cope with stress. It has been translated into 19 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Farsi, and French.
Refugee Council | Children and young people – The Refugee Council offers support to all unaccompanied refugee children who arrive alone in England. They provide asylum and welfare support, help trafficked children and those whose age has been disputed, as well as provide mental health therapy. They offer a range of free resources for practitioners and refugees on their website.
ACTO Inclusion & Diversity director Olivia Djouadi gives her views on the NHS’ equality objectives
NHS England and NHS Improvement has six objectives (see in the table below) which seek to improve equality and specifically to ensure that there is a better overall experience for patients and staff alike within the NHS.
In this article, I will explain what each of the goals are – and why they are relevant.
The equality objectives for NHS England and NHS Improvement for 2020/21 addressed our role as an NHS system leader, commissioner and our own role as an employer. The seven overall objectives are:
1. To improve the capability of NHS England’s commissioners, policy staff and others to understand and address the legal obligations under the PSED and duties to reduce health inequalities set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
2. To improve disabled staff representation, treatment and experience in the NHS and their employment opportunities within the NHS.
3. To improve the experience of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People (LGBT+) patients and improve LGBT+ staff representation.
4. To reduce language barriers experienced by individuals and specific groups of people who engage with the NHS, with specific reference to identifying how to address issues in relation to health inequalities and patient safety.
5. To improve the mapping, quality and extent of equality information in order to better facilitate compliance with the PSED in relation to patients, service-users and service delivery.
6. To improve the recruitment, retention, progression, development and experience of the people employed by NHS England to enable the organisation to become an inclusive employer of choice.
7. To ensure that the equality and health inequality impacts of COVID-19 are fully considered and that clear strategies are developed and implemented for the NHS workforce and patients. To ensure that the proposed NHS People Plan and patient focused strategies reflect this and make an effective contribution to advancing equality for all protected characteristics and to reducing associated health inequalities.
The PSED requires all public authorities including the NHS to consider whether they should take action to meet these needs or reduce the inequalities.
In its assessment, the PSED observed that there were inequalities evident – especially during the pandemic. During this time, most staff in the NHS were overwhelmed by the impact of the health crisis and therefore were focused on trying to provide the best care that they could in the circumstances. Patient care had also shifted in unexpected ways with waiting lists growing exponentially. So, objectives and goals were agreed to attempt to ease some of the discrimination that had been identified.
Review of the Objectives
Objective 1: This aims to help the NHS to gain a better view of the current situation and areas that need improvement. This would enable staff to reduce inequalities and understand their legal duties.
Objective 2: The second goal concerns staff with disabilities and how advancements were possible. This would mean better treatment and not being passed over when those with disabilities get an equal opportunity to other staff.
Objective 3: This aims to help staff feel more supported at work and improve the LGBTQI+ patient experience. This can also assist to lower the additional barriers that may cause some to shy away from healthcare in the UK and go abroad.
Objective 4: The fourth objective relates to the language barriers that impact on patient safety and health inequality. Interpreters are not always immediately available and family members may not always be able to translate medical or psychological information.
Objective 5: This goal explains the importance of making information about the legal duty for inequality available for everyone. It also needs to be understandable to staff and patients alike, with copies available for those that do not have internet access.
Objective 6: This final objective seeks to improve staff morale and reduce the numbers of people leaving the NHS. Many staff members have left due to exhaustion. Despite the pandemic, the NHS continues through to provide a full schedule of appointments, arguably helped by the high numbers of people vaccinated against COVID-19.
To help to understand what it has been like for staff during the pandemic I recommend reading Life, Death and Biscuits by Anthea Allen published 17 February 2022. Please feel free to get in touch with me with your views on this crucial area.
I began working online in March 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The enforced lockdown gave me an opportunity to reappraise the way I work and enabled me to learn a new skill. Counsellors are expected to regularly undertake training, assess abilities, and develop new ways of working but I see this as integral to my practice. Therefore, lockdown gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate the way I work. Consequently, I am now qualified to work online in addition to working face-to-face and am looking to offer a blended approach, where I incorporate both ways of working. This serves as a means where I can reach out to a greater number of people in need which, in turn, is even more enriching for me.
As well as being a counsellor, I care for a disabled family member. This person benefitted from counselling, but accessibility was always an issue. Appointments would have to be cancelled because someone had parked in front of the wheelchair entrance, for example. When I began my counselling training in 2017, my longterm goal was to become an online counsellor. The pandemic accelerated this process. I completed the last part of my training online, and have never looked back. Many able-bodied clients have enjoyed the creative possibilities of working from their own space. My eyes have been opened to the therapeutic benefits of working online, for everyone.
OLT4c have several options. We are fully online, delivering training in online counselling and supervision including diploma level to therapists PLUS we offer bespoke training courses to skilled helpers, helpline advisors and support staff assisting them to use their skills and work therapeutically and safely remotely.
Enrolling now for our in-depth qualifications beginning in September and October 2021.
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