Oxfordshire Intensive Interaction Regional Support Group Meeting
Penhurst School – Thursday 22nd March 2012
Present:
Liz Pond (Project Leader and Intensive Interaction Co-ordinator, Social Services)
Catherine Marshall (Psychologist, Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust)
Jules McKim (Intensive Interaction Co-ordinator, Oxfordshire LD NHS Trust –
Ridgeway Parntership)
Apologies: Rachel Connell (MacIntyre)
After introductions we decided to talk about the following things:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Getting started with Intensive Interaction
Thoughts and ideas following the National conference in Leeds on 12th March
Updates from people
Any other issues
Videos
1. Getting started with Intensive Interaction
Catherine asked for ideas and suggestions around getting Intensive Interaction started
in an adult residential service. She felt that now was a good time as there were some
new managers in place and a specific process of change management had begun. We
had a wide-ranging discussion and the following points were raised as
recommendations:















Visit Penhurst School – somewhere where Intensive Interaction is established
Contact Dave Hewett and/or Cath Irvine directly
Access awareness training
Get a copy of Access to Communication
Implementing Intensive Interaction in Schools has some excellent ideas in
chapter 4 – Firm Foundations – around getting started
Choose which service to start with carefully – one where there are supportive,
enthusiastic staff; one where positive outcomes will be visible.
Get sessions of Intensive Interaction onto an activity planner
Find allies – being a “hero-innovator” can be exhausting!
Get managers on board
Ensure good quality training for support staff
Mentor/support those staff carefully and sensitively
Develop touch guidelines
Aim to video interactions – obtain consent, get a video camera, show quality
interactions to people
Access the Assessed Practitioner course when available on-line. Need a local
co-ordinator to support and mentor
Buckinghamshire Regional Support group on 10th May – is closer!
2. Conference thoughts
Everyone felt excited and motivated by attending the conference and particularly with
Graham Firth’s keynote address. Liz liked the idea of the “institutionalisation of
Intensive Interaction practices.” She has made a commitment to do more herself and
ensure more is being done, in a supportive, non-threatening way. Graham’s
documents – assessment of need and the practice assessment framework – are
extremely useful to give a structure to improvement. Liz is aiming to move the service
she works at up to Level A.
She told a story of working with S who had previously had some Intensive Interaction
sessions. Due to a lack of positive feedback over the course of many sessions, staff
had concluded “she doesn’t like Intensive Interaction.” After the conference Liz tried
again and perhaps chose the right time. Within 10 minutes there was vocal echoing,
turn-taking and smiles!
Jules said he was looking forward to seeing the workshop summaries on the web-site
as there was a lot of really interesting stuff. He is also planning to use Graham’s
documents and has ideas to develop more posters to promote the approach.
3. Updates from organisations
Catherine has recently started work as an on-site psychologist and is planning to
develop the use of Intensive Interaction in adult residential services.
Liz plans to develop the use of Intensive Interaction in Moorlands Day Centre in
Witney. Herself and Aija have presented to the Quality Monitoring team in Social
Services. The Oxfordshire days services are up for tender so it is an important time for
existing managers to outline what is needed for the individuals they support and to
ensure Intensive Interaction is given the attention it deserves.
Jules’ role continues, now with increasing involvement in Dorset where a campus
closure programme has resulted in eight adult residential services where Intensive
Interaction is relevant. The merger and acquisition process has moved forward and
our preferred partner was recently announced as Southern Health NHS Trust. They
have a much bigger workforce than Ridgeway and have services mostly in
Hampshire. The use of Intensive Interaction currently is not clear, but informal
feedback from the Big Engagement Day was that there was a lot of interest in II but
not much experience.
A person who uses the service Liz works in is moving into a Ridgeway residential
service so some joint working is planned.
4. Other issues
Downs Syndrome Awareness week – a great exhibition of photographs by Shifting
Perspectives at the Cornerstones Art Centre in Didcot. Can’t recommend this highly
enough! If you miss the exhibition go online. They are aiming to shift people’s often
negative perceptions of people with Downs through the use of photographs.
We talked at some length on constructive criticism and how to get the best out of
staff. Some of us felt that we “got” the idea and practice of Intensive Interaction quite
quickly and that it is a mistake to assume other staff will also. The approach is both
easy and complex. Being made aware of all the things we do naturally when we
communicate is a big part of this and that can increase self-consciousness.
Liz supports her Assessed Practitioners to fill in their own “Have I got the style”
checklist when she is reviewing videos. Using oneself as an example through selfdisclosure can be very effective – “I got it wrong at first and then…”
Liz felt it was best to observe a full session before giving feedback rather than
breaking it into shorter chunks as this would increase anxiety. She then asks the
questions:
“How did you feel?”
“What felt good? What was special?”
Give lots of positive feedback, good to point out other things that they didn’t mention.
“Anything you were not comfortable with?”
If no comments then: “I noticed…” keep it specific and brief with suggestions around
how to do better next time.
When staff are obviously uncomfortable watching themselves back on video Liz will
point out that the only person who is anxious is them.
Liz and Jules talked about the possibility of making a film for youtube on the use of II
in Oxfordshire – will obviously need to talk to senior managers on this one.
Catherine asked how II training had become mandatory. Over time! Having senior
management support is absolutely crucial here and Liz and Jules have this and have
gained more through promoting the approach persistently.
Finally we talked about risk assessments and how organisations can be risk-averse.
Perhaps we should start assessing the risks of not doing positive social interactions
with people? Jules mentioned Melanie Nind’s keynote speech at the 2011 conference
on positive risk taking.
5. Videos
We watched Liz’s excellent video of a member of staff working with J. This showed
great progression in his understanding of the technique. Initially he seemed to be
trying to become J and was focussed on the camera, not on his communication
partner. Then Aija was sat with J and they had developed turn-taking using a
combined gesture (a sort of salute) and vocalisation. Then the member of staff was
shown doing Intensive Interaction as opposed to the copying earlier on.
We also watched James’ story on the Raising Our Sights DVD which is lovely and
shows James’ mum and support staff using Intensive Interaction naturally as part of
their day-to-day interactions with James.
Next meeting:
Thursday 28th June 1 to 4pm
Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust (Ridgeway Partnership)
Kent Room, The Lodge, Slade House, Horspath Driftway, Headington, Oxford,
OX3 7JH