At the beginning of March, Ffion Poole and Natalie King worked alongside Cardiff People First to train medical students on how to communicate with people with learning disabilities. The training involved going into a breakout room and holding a number of interviews with students, where the conversations included what Caerphilly People First does and people’s lives and hobbies. We really enjoyed this and hope we can be involved again in the future.
Tag Archives: Training
Winter Wellbeing Week 4
For the final week of our Winter Wellbeing project (funded by All Wales People First) the group took part in a mindfulness session, where they sat in a quiet room, and for 30 minutes listened to a recording to help us relax. After the session the group felt less stressed and said they will continue to practice meditation in the future as they found it so helpful.
As it was St. David’s Day, the group took part in a quiz about Wales, and they also celebrated Shrove Tuesday with some pancakes and fresh strawberries and bananas.
Winter Wellbeing Week 3
For week 3 of our Winter Wellbeing course, the Tuesday Focus Group discussed the benefits of Vitamin C and Vitamin D, and compared foods to see which foods contain the most sugar and fat, and which healthier foods you can replace the unhealthy ones with. After this discussion, the group took part in a healthy eating quiz prepared by Carmarthenshire People First, following which the group made healthy carrot and coriander soup.
Winter 2021 Newsletter
Here is the latest version of the Caerphilly People First newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading about our activities.
Winter Wellbeing Project
For week 2 of our Winter Wellbeing project the group mixed flower seeds into compost, then headed to Bargoed Woodland Park to throw them into the woods. We’ll go back and visit where we left them in late Spring to see if they have grown. The group was joined by All Wales People First, Chief Executive Joe Powell and Natasha Hirst from the Through our Eyes Photography Project who took some fantastic photos. It was a great session and the group feedback was excellent. We’d like to thank All Wales People First for funding the project, Carmarthenshire People First for providing training materials, and Fusion Torfaen & Caerphilly for the wild flower seeds.
Student Nurse Training
On the 2nd March, Ffion Poole and Amy Jones—supported by Christy Taylor—attended the University of South Wales to talk to the student nurses about what it’s like living with a learning disability and how difficult it can be.
As part of the training, everyone watched a video about how nurses should interact with people with learning disabilities. We then went into groups with the students and discussed our lives and what things are difficult for us. The students will use this information to design a poster which will be marked by us at the end of May.
Welsh Ambulance Service
On Thursday 20th February, Ffion Poole, Hannah Thomas and Christy Taylor went to Swansea where they gave a presentation to Mandy, Leanne and Matthew from the Welsh Ambulance Service. The presentation was of the training Caerphilly People First provides to medical students, and was filmed in order to publicise the working relationship between the Welsh Ambulance Service and people with learning disabilities.
The possibility of Hannah becoming a Learning Disability Community Champion for the Ambulance Service was also discussed. Ffion is already a Champion, and the role involves talking to groups of people with learning disabilities about the work ambulance staff do.
Gwent Police – Mate Crime
We were recently visited by two officers from Gwent Police who talked to us about Mate Crime. Mate Crime is a form of hate crime that is defined as abuse or theft being carried out by someone who claims to be a friend. This can include financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or emotional abuse. People with learning disabilities are often the target of mate crime.
The Crime and Disorder Reduction Officer and Community Support officer who visited us told us that the police take these crimes very seriously and they want people to REPORT IT! They acknowledged that this can be scary but there is always someone that will look after you and support you. They said that you can call them on 101, or contact them via Crimestoppers or Facebook. If a crime is in the process of being committed you can call 999.
Bargoed Educational Settlement Committee Donation
We would like to Thank Anne Green and Kevin Viney from the Bargoed Educational Settlement Committee for their kind donation to Caerphilly People. The donation will be used to carry out learning disability awareness training in various schools in the Bargoed area.
Student Nurse
At the end of January, Jenny, a student nurse from the University of South Wales had a one week placement with Caerphilly People First. During the week we showed Jenny around various day centres, and provided Safeguarding training to her. We wish Jenny all the best and hope to see her in the future.
