Oxford – Intensive Interaction Institute Regional Group Meeting
27th November 2008
St. Clement’s Family Centre, Cowley, Oxford OX4 1DA
Present: Rosie Bailey, Kerry Ashmore, Heather Salter (all from Penhurst School,
Action for Children Chipping Norton), Aija Hastings (Headington Day Services,
Oxford), Judith Samuel & Jules McKim (Ridgeway Partnership:Oxfordshire Learning
Disability NHS Trust)
1. Purpose of the group meetings
We had a long discussion around what we felt we wanted from the regional group
meetings. It was decided that we would arrange quarterly meetings, trying some
different days to see if it suited some people better. We would aim to have a number
of case study presentations at each meeting and also a discussion around a current
“hot topic” – e.g. touch or consent issues. There would also be time for people to
bring issues that they needed help or support with.
It was also felt that the groups could provide a forum for accrediting Advanced
Practitioners from different organisations. Making links with other organisations and
providers will also be valuable in itself to share ideas and experiences. For example,
when Cath Irvine was last in Oxfordshire, the facilitators developed an organisational
audit tool that could be shared with other providers. Judith to check with Cath to
reference this document.
Lastly, it was decided that the local newsletter could be led by this group. Jules to
check with Ridgeway Publications Department if it would still be appropriate for
them to publish the newsletter.
2. Experiences from Penhurst
As it was the first time that the adult service facilitators had met with those from
Penhurst School it was useful to share practices across the organisations. Penhurst
currently provide three levels of training to their staff: a basic, half day introduction
course for all staff, an intermediate practitioner one day course and an advanced
practitioner course involving case studies over a period of months.
This is similar to that being delivered by Oxfordshire County Council and Ridgeway
Partnership. Ridgeway are aiming for a one-day communication training for all staff
that will include Intensive Interaction. Currently they are training the staff who
particularly require Intensive Interaction skills for the people they support and
supporting a number of Advanced Practitioners within each team. OCC are doing
one-day training for all day service staff.
Penhurst staff are written on the rota as being the lead for Intensive Interaction on
each shift. When having the conversations they are using tabards printed with the
Institute logo. In this way, other staff can see they are doing something different. The
tabards can also be used as objects of reference.
3. Consent
Judith is in the process of re-drafting the consent statement for the Oxfordshire
Facilitators as a result of the Mental Capacity Act. Penhurst facilitators experience
more issues from staff not wanting to be videoed than from families and carers.
However, it is being written into people’s job descriptions that it is a necessary part of
their role in supporting people.
4. Further training
Aija Hastings and Liz Pond are to provide training for the Quality Monitoring
Officers within the OCC. Jules McKim is planning training for the Commission for
Social Care Inspectorate (CSCI).
We talked about providing training for parents and how to tailor the day as a result.
Judith mentioned that in her experience the principles of Intensive Interaction were
often naturally present at home and in children’s services but then absent in adult
services.
5. Case study
Rosie talked about her experience having conversations with a student at Penhurst.
She felt that although these sessions were beneficial, they were not fun for either
person. He seemed to be experiencing some negative emotions and Rosie felt it was a
form of counselling without words. The student’s anger would grow and peak, but
there was often a smile at the end of the session. Rosie made the point that in some of
our training material we emphasise that the Intensive Interaction experience should be
fun. In this case, despite having obvious therapeutic benefits, the sessions were often
not fun. Rosie also talked about the need to have an awareness that staff may need to
debrief and offload after a difficult session.
6. Next meeting
Thursday 5th March 1pm to 4pm at St. Clement’s Family Centre OX4 1DA
Draft agenda:
Update on actions from last meeting
Matters arising from minutes
New ideas
Presentations – one each from Penhurst, County Council and Ridgeway
New resources available
Discussion topic – to be decided
Jules to email Graham Firth to access a comprehensive contacts list.