Changing Our Lives Newsletter May 2013

Inside… Sandwell People’s Parliament Employment Select Committee Sandwell MPs were joined by a selection of professionals on 30th March for an Employment Select Committee to begin a new action plan and follow up on pledges that were made to the Parliament. The meeting chaired by MP Sarah Bentley, was extremely well attended with an opening presentation from Roger Painter, Employment Consultant who gave an overview of what’s happening across the West Midlands. Organisations present included Sandwell Council, Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust (BCPFT), Sandwell Volunteer Centre and Enable. Enable is the organisation recruited by Sandwell Council to run the new Supported Employment Service for people with learning disabilities. Sandwell MPs worked in co-production with the Council and other key agencies throughout the writing of the Employment Strategy, employment consultation, tender process and final recruitment. Enable is a well established organisation and has a good regional and national reputation, so a lot is expected of them by the Peoples Parliament.

Health Networker

Short Breaks Consultation

Lost and Found

Values and Vision for BCPFT

Dudley People’s Parliament

Wolverhampton Employment Committee

Dudley Quality of Life Audits

Mental Health Parliament

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

2

With the disbanding of Primary Care Trusts and the increasing responsibilities of Clinical Commissioning Groups, the demand for good quality information sharing is at its peak. In most other regions of England, this hasn’t been an issue because information sharing networks have long since been founded, developed and have quietly been disseminating content to all of their subscribers, from good practice guides, legislation outlines to peer support request. Unfortunately until recently this hasn’t been the case in the Midlands. Changing Our Lives has developed ‘Health Networker’, a weekly newsletter that’s delivered directly to the inbox of its subscribers. Health Networker aims to fill the gap in information sharing across the Midlands, bringing good quality, unbiased content to all of its subscribers. If you have an issue that you want to get some expert help on, if you have a report or guide you want to circulate to your peers then the Health Networker could be what you’re looking for. To join the subscriber list or to keep yourself up to date with what’s going on in the midlands go to www.healthnetworker.org

Health Networker – a weekly newsletter and website to share

good quality information

Changing Our Lives May 2013

3

Wolverhampton City Council commissioned Changing Our Lives to consult with children and young people with disabilities on short breaks services. The aim of the consultation was to gain a better understanding of what short breaks services children and young people are currently using, what they think of short breaks and what they would like future short breaks services to look like. We talked to young people who both use short breaks and young people who are not currently using shorts breaks provision about what activities they enjoyed accessing in their spare time. We went to three schools in Wolverhampton; The Orchard Centre, Penn Fields and Penn Hall and spoke to 35 children and young people. We planned fun and accessible workshops which young people enjoyed taking part in and were able to contribute to in many ways – for example through drawing, speaking or writing. Young people with disabilities were very clear when they told us they want to take part in the same activities as those without disabilities Exciting news!! During this consultation, we also were able to identify young people who are interested in becoming young leaders in Wolverhampton. Changing Our Lives is developing a Young Voices Network which will enable young people with disabilities in Wolverhampton to help shape services locally. This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to have their voice heard and make a difference. For more information, please contact ellie@changingourlives.org

Changing Young Lives – short breaks consultation

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

4

Lost and Found

In 2012 Changing Our Lives was successful in obtaining funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop an oral history project. The primary aim of the project is to provide a real opportunity for individuals to share their very personal experiences and perspectives of secure care. It is hoped that the value of people telling their own stories will provide them with a sense of empowerment and control.

Co-production has been integrated into Lost and Found where possible, and people with learning disabilities have been involved in developing an accessible mental health history timeline, peer-reviewing the stories and planning the priorities for the work. We have found people whose stories suggest that people were detained for many more reasons than just a change in mental health, perhaps just being seen as the “local nuisance”. This resulted in a “label’ being applied by society which continues to “stick’ with the person to this day.

Dr. Jan Walmsley (Visiting Professor to the Open University) is providing professional consultation to the Lost and Found project. She said, "I am delighted to be associated with your project. I think it will make a great contribution".

Changing Our Lives May 2013

5

Spotlight Open Mic on tour 2013!

On 19th April Newhampton Arts Centre opened its doors to host the first open mic night in Wolverhampton. Cllr Steve Evans opened the event and spoke of his experience at last year's Spotlight final, where he was amazed by the talent on show. Host and young leader Alex Johnson kept the acts flowing and the crowds entertained with his humour and charisma and spoilt them by closing the night with a confident and emotional accopella version of Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World. It was wonderful to see so many new and varied acts, from musicians to stand up comedians gracing the stage and being so well supported by the audience. "Bringing open mic nights on tour will give people right across the Black Country a platform to showcase their artistic talents and meet new people who share the same passion", said Lucy Dunstan who organises the events. Anyone who would like the opportunity to perform and be in with a chance of being selected by judges to perform at the Spotlight Final can contact Lucy on 0121 533 7174.

We are looking to develop an archive that can safely and securely house resources that represent the practices and policies of life within secure settings or long-stay hospitals. We are looking for any items that could be scanned or photographed in order to preserve them for the future. A website will eventually be created which will ensure the items are easily accessible for everyone who has an interest in preserving the history of people with learning disabilities. If you feel you could help us in any way or wish to discuss this project further please contact us on ask@changingourlives.org

Can you help us develop a national learning disability history archive?

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

6

The Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust asked Changing Our Lives to help them review their value and vision statement. We wanted to make sure that people with learning disabilities were involved, so we invited people with learning disabilities from across the Black Country to an event on the 19th of April. Gemma Caffery hosted the event, which we made interactive and accessible by using ipads and talking mats that gave people the chance to say what was important to them in their life, what they wanted for the future, how should NHS staff support people and what would make the service great. Lesley Writtle, Divisional Director for Learning Disabilities gave a short presentation about what her role is and then asked people what would they improve if they had her job for the day. Some of the key messages were: • People wanted to be seen as a person first and their disability second • Health professionals should 'talk to me first and not my supporter’ • Services should fit around me, not me fit around you

Reviewing Values and Vision for the Black Country

Partnership Trust

Changing Our Lives May 2013

7

Dudley People's Parliament on employment took place on Friday 26th April and several MPs including Kevin Tomkins, Alan Slym and Judy Alcock challenged local decision makers about their pledges made at the last Parliament in July 2012.

Izzy Brant, MP and Chair Person spoke confidently questioning delegates from Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, staff from the Black Country Partnership Trust and the Employment Plus team.

The Employment Plus team shared the lives and experiences of two paid employees; Susan Baker and Roger Jones. We were able to hear about their positive experiences of being in employment, and the valuable work they do in their roles.

The People’s Parliament has put employment high on the agenda within Dudley Council gaining support from John Polychronakis the Chief Executive for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, who supported the MPs to hold delegates to account.

Dudley People’s Employment Parliament

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

8

The pledges that were made were the creation of paid job opportunities and to write a job carving policy and an accessible recruitment process within Dudley Council and the Black Country Partnership Trust. The MPs held professionals to account, to make sure the needs and voices of people with learning disabilities and autism are herd and acted upon.

There were many delegates present, including Ian Austin, Labour MP. The MPs for Dudley People’s Parliament were pleased to hear from Mr Austin, and will continue to work with him as he has offered them the opportunity to shadow him either locally or in Parliament to see what his job involves. All delegates were asked to give feedback on what they had achieved to meet their pledge. The MPs then commented on the outcomes and scored them against a new traffic light system.

Some of the positive outcomes achieved included Dudley Council have created 3 jobs. They were given an amber light, as they hadn’t achieved the 5 agreed jobs. Lunch on the Run run by the Langstone Society had created 4 new jobs for people with learning disabilities.

Changing Our Lives May 2013

9

On April 19th Wolverhampton Peoples Parliament held an Employment Select Committee to bring together professionals that had signed up to deliver on outcomes in the Parliament’s White Paper.

MPs, Kamal Jassal and Jessica Bromley, who took charge of a busy agenda and held professionals to account, chaired the meeting. They used a newly developed traffic light system to record the progress made by professionals in achieving their pledges.

The meeting was extremely well attended by public and third sector organisations, who came to present on the outcomes that they had successfully completed. New stakeholders included Wendy Walker from Wolverhampton Volunteer Centre, who came to introduce the service, how it supports people and the value of volunteering as a potential way into paid work.

Roger Painter, Employment Consultant, presented employment figures from across the West Midland for people with learning disabilities and told the Select Committee that the best performing areas are those with a meaningful written strategy, strong leadership and where there is an assumption of employment from an early age.

Chris Parsons from Adult Education in Wolverhampton shared the success of her pledge in employing a person with a learning disability to work over 16 hours. We heard about the journey that this pledge this took and the barriers that Chris had to overcome to achieve this.

The People’s Parliament was thrilled to hear that the Wolverhampton City Council now have a Job Carving Policy, which has been signed up to corporately and will be rolled out cross departmentally. Their Supported Employment Team have got 5 people into work since December 2012, 6 people on their way to jobs with a commitment to another 15 jobs for people with learning disabilities over the next 6 months.

Wolverhampton

People’s Employment Select

Committee

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

10

The Quality of Life Standards are coming to Dudley!

Changing Our Lives has continued to work in close partnership with Dudley Council to share this important set of standards with people who use services and the various providers working in the borough of Dudley. The Quality of Life Standards are very relevant in planning and providing support as only people who have disabilities and experience of using services developed them. The standards are becoming recognised nationally as a measure for what makes a good life for someone and reflecting the many ways that people can be empowered to take control of their own support. Building on the positive outcomes achieved during our Quality of Life audit of learning disability services during the summer of 2012, Changing Our Lives was once again commissioned to explore the adult social care pathway in Dudley. For this project, we have specifically concentrated on the individual experiences of older people, people with physical disabilities and people who have sensory impairments.

Changing Our Lives May 2013

11

In order to find out how services are supporting people to develop and maintain fulfilling lives we have spent several months speaking with people who use disability services in Dudley to find out what quality of life really means to them. People told us that a number of things were important to them, one woman said quality of life was being seen as “her own person” and other people told us how they felt support could be adapted to maximise their independence. We have heard some great stories where people have utilised their personal budget to become employers or developed ways of pooling their budgets to share transport costs. People who use the Thomas Pocklington Trust, a resource centre for people who experience sight loss were keen participants in this work. They told us a little about the key issues that affect quality of life in Dudley, “getting information is a real problem and we think more effort could be made to improve this”. People wanted awareness of sight loss and other disabilities to be discussed in primary schools and thought that members of the public would benefit from training. We also met with members of the Disability in Action user group who explained how they felt about being involved in this work, “It is great to be asked, but we hope that we will see real changes. It means nothing if things do not get better”. Changing Our Lives will report the findings of this work back to Brendan Clifford (Interim Assistant Director for Adult Services) in early June 2013. This will be followed by a public launch of the Quality of Life Standards in Dudley in the autumn.

Quality of Life Standards launch autumn 2013

Changing Our Lives

May 2013

12

Changing Our Lives is currently writing funding bids so we can develop a new People's Parliament to focus on the rights of people with mental health issues. Daniel McNamee, a Self Advocacy Officer with Changing Our Lives, has written an update on the work he has been doing recently: "As part of the work developing the Mental Health Parliament I have been doing some community consultation work with people who have mental health issues and have used both community and in-patient mental health services across the Black Country. To gather evidence to show there is a need for Parliament I have met with people who attend a local Making A Difference group run by the Black Country Foundation Trust. During the consultation I asked people what issues they are facing and what the Parliament should be working on. Key themes are emerging such as people are finding that professionals who have little or no experience of working with people with mental health issues are completing the assessment processes for benefits and people said there is a real stigma about employing people with mental health issues. To ensure the Parliament is fully supported I have met with various Westminster MPs. Travelling to London I met both Kevan Jones and Charles Walker who are both MPs. I presented the idea of a Mental Health Parliament; both were fully supportive. Following on from a meeting with James Morris MP, James has agreed that the issues from the Mental Health parliament can be fed into the All Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster. Other meetings have included a meeting with Dominic Fisher who is a Criminal Justice Liaison Officer based at Church Vale. The purpose of the meeting was to share the idea of the parliament and gather his views."

Mental Health Parliament by Dan

Lorem Ipsum

Dolor

The Public, New Street, West Bromwich B70 7PG

Tel: 0121 533 7174

Newhampton Arts Centre Dunkley Street,

Wolverhampton WV1 4AN

ask@changingourlives.org www.changingourlives.org

www.twitter.com/Positive_Lives

Changing Our Lives May 2013

Our next OPEN MIC night will be on

Friday 24th May 6.00 – 8.00 pm

at Dudley College,

Theatre Evolve Building. If you’d like to join us, and to be in with a chance to perform at the SPOTLIGHT grand final at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, please get in touch!

What’s happening next?