Graduates presentations from Waltham Forest and Redbridge
The latest group of students from The Rix Centre’s Multimedia Advocacy training course have graduated. A ceremony was held at the Peterhouse Centre in Walthamstow to present each person and supporter with a certificate and a DVD of their final work.
Sharing people’s lives
Everyone who attended the course presented their Multimedia person-centred-plan to an audience of parents, friends and support staff from Waltham Forest and Redbridge Learning Disability services. Gosia Nowicka, Rix Centre Course Leader explains, “ The work was created in a very short period of time and everyone on the course has worked very to finish their plans before the presentation day. I think they have all done a great job! The work shown told us a lot about each person, their past, their present life and what they want for themselves in the future, we all learned a great deal from the experience.” Andy Minnion, director of the The Rix Centre, said, “It has been a real privilege to be able to share people’s stories and plans for the future”
Supporters learning alongside those they support
There were a total of ten students with learning disabilities and each had a supporter who also graduated at the event. The students have come from across East London to The Rix Centre to take part in the course, which have been a great success. Cathay Boyle, who supports John, said, “The courses have been great for me as a supporter, because it give me the opportunity to meet other care workers and build relationships with other local groups” Other people said how much they had got from the course by learning new skills but also making new friends and sharing during the process of make their work.
The start of something bigger…
The multimedia advocacy training course and the final work presentations really helps people with learning disabilities to communicate to a larger group of people about their needs and wishes. It also helps everyone to understand the different ways in which people with learning disabilities do communicate. Most people agreed that this course was ‘just a beginning’ for them and want to continue to update their person-centred-plan and use multimedia advocacy tools to do this. “We are hoping to see more people on the courses getting the best from the Multimedia Advocacy approach to supporting people in the future” said Andy Minnion, “this is an important tool for effective support and self advocacy for people with learning disabilities and our graduates are proving this again and again”
