What would you do if CQC or Ofsted walked into your service?

If CQC or Ofsted were to walk into your service today how would you feel? 

How confident would you be as they walked around?

Would you know that they would only see good or outstanding practice? 

Would they see a service with a plan for ensuring the emotional well-being of every service user? 

Could they identify your service as being trauma-informed

Would they see psychological principles underpinning all of the care that you provide?

One of the things that has been highlighted recently is that actually getting a “good” rating from Ofsted or CQC does not always mean that everything is ok behind the scenes

I’m going to be honest with you now….

When my relatives come over at Christmas or for major birthdays in the year they will be greeted with a beautiful, organised home. 

However, there is always one door that’s closed and beyond limits...

We’re almost two weeks into 2023 and how are those New Year’s Resolutions going? 

Perhaps you don’t make them because in the past you’ve not managed to keep them.  Perhaps you’ve made them and you’re starting to lose the momentum again. 

I know I have a handful of journals that end part way through January. 

I was struck at the swimming pool yesterday that the pool and changing rooms seemed quieter than the previous week.  The “New Year New Me” fitness regimes are starting to dwindle.

• Did you make some decisions regarding the way forward for your care service this year? 
• Or did you make resolutions regarding how you would act as a parent or carer for people with learning disabilities? 
• Maybe you’ve decided that this year will be a time for greater empowerment for the individuals with learning disabilities that you support. 

However, already you can feel yourself slipping back into your...

As 2022 draws to a close, I suspect like many other organisations I have been reviewing what has occurred in 2022 and planning what 2023 will bring for HRD Consultancy.

Having left my post in the NHS in December 2020, this year marks my full second year as HRD Consultancy and it has been a busy year of growth. I have found it so inspiring to meet so many people who are also working in this field and have been blown away by the innovation that I have seen.  

I want to say a Massive Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me through this last year. 

Every post shared or liked, every comment made, every contact, helps to build the message of HRD Consultancy. So thank you all for taking the time to join me on this journey. 



Earlier in the year I gained the support of two wonderful assistants, Celina from CMDG Virtuals, who has been supporting me with my social media and Sumeera Zafar from Sumodi Ltd, who has been supporting me with all...

It has been so exciting to see the support for the Christmas Kindness initiative over the past few weeks.  We’re several days into it now, but even if you’ve missed a few days, it’s not too late to get involved. 

Just do a day or two, or whatever you can manage.

Individuals with learning disabilities and other additional needs are often given so few opportunities to get involved with their local community, so few opportunities to engage with their neighbours and this can lead to feelings of isolation.  

Christmas can be isolating

Our time of lockdown during the pandemic highlighted the concerns of loneliness and how this impacts on our mental wellbeing. 

With statistics showing that over 50% of people with a learning disability also having a mental health difficulty - as leaders of learning disability services or parents of those with a learning disability, we need to be doing everything we can to support those in our care.  

...

What we say and how we say it, shapes how we think.

I don’t know that I’ve shared this before in my newsletter but I have two children who identify as having #autism. 

My son is in mainstream school and with a little extra support is #thriving.  My daughter attends an Independent Special School, where she is also flourishing, although with more support needs than her brother.  

As a Mum to children with additional needs, I rub shoulders with other parents frequently whose children also have additional needs. 

In these conversations recently I have been struck by the theme of fighting. 

These wonderful group of people are exhausted from the constant struggle fighting for extra resources, fighting for their child’s needs to be met, fighting for the right educational environment. 

They talk of battles and conflict over and over again, because this is their experience.

However, I truly believe that the language that we...

We have got to that time of year again… the time when Mariah Carey is declaring all she wants for Christmas, everything has become sparkly and covered in glitter, lights twinkle from every direction.  

When my children were younger I worried that they would only think of Christmas as a time when they got things and wanted to teach them that there is much joy in giving to others too. 

In addition to the usual advent calendar I designed a calendar where each day they had a different act of #kindness they could do. 

They used to find these fun and enjoyed helping others, whether it was giving a gift to the school crossing patrol, or taking cakes to a neighbour or going through the teachers’ car park at school, leaving candy canes on their windscreens!

The children found it fun, learning that they could give back to their school community and to neighbours and friends who did so much for them during the year.  After all, as...

From Surviving to Thriving

I think I need to start by saying that in my opinion, individuals with learning disabilities are some of the most resilient people out there! 

Their lives are so often characterized by trauma, rejection, bullying, missed opportunities, and repeated endings that the very fact that they keep getting out of bed every day is a resilient act in and of itself.  

However, I’m not just about people existing. 

Our aim as services is to ensure that all individuals with learning disabilities can thrive and not just survive. So that said, how as service providers can you promote resilience amongst your service users?

Resilience is a complex interaction between internal sources of strength and character and external sources. 

As a service provider your first priority should be ensuring that you are providing those external sources that promote resilience.  

One of the external sources of support for...

Last newsletter we looked at how you can ensure that you are looking after your own resilience and modeling caring for your own mental well-being to your staff.  (If you haven’t read that one you can subscribe to it here ….). 

This week we are going to be considering some areas in which you can build resilience in your staff team.

When considering any issue at work… the first thing is to assess the situation. 

• Do you have an organisation that promotes wellbeing at all levels? 
• Are you modelling self-care? 
• Are questions truly asked regarding how individual staff are feeling? 

I don’t just mean asking “are you ok?” and expecting a trite quick answer - but are opportunities given in supervision for staff to be open about any struggles that they may have? 

If you are a service which frequently experiences challenges from some of your service users, it is really...

There is an Old African Saying “You only know how well the roof is built when the rains come”.

The same can be said about us as humans when thinking about resilience. 

We only know how resilient we actually are when trauma and difficulties come.

As leaders and managers working in services for people with learning disabilities, resilience will be a key topic for you. 

• How do you promote the resilience of your staff? 
• How do you promote resilience in your service users? 
• And how can you increase your own resilience to withstand any difficulties you face?

Resilience refers to the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. 

The more resilient your workforce - the quicker they can adapt to difficulties, the quicker they can adapt to changes in your service users and the quicker they can return to empowering your service users.

During the COVID 19 pandemic there was a huge emphasis on mental well-being and considering the well-being of the...

Anything is possible

I've been reflecting recently on why I do what I do.  

I'd like to tell you a story about Jack (not his real name). When I was a young child my parents used to take me swimming with several family friends of theirs every Saturday afternoon.

I loved those times. We played, we swam, we did dances in the water, we raced, we dived.

The parents mainly sat in the shallow end and chatted! 

One family with whom we swam had adopted a young boy called Jack (name changed).

Jack had Down syndrome and when they adopted him his parents were told that he would never walk or talk and would require extremely high levels of care throughout his life.

However, my memory of Jack - the boy who would never walk or talk, was of a child toddling in from the changing rooms and crying out with joy as he launched himself into the water to join in the swimming games with the rest of us.  

From an early age I learned that with nurturing and love, empowerment and...