Speaking Up to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. Our Voice

Transcription

1 Speaking Up to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities Our Voice 2017

2 We will be leaving the shop on Ashley Road at the end of August From September 2017 we will be based at Rossmore Leisure Centre. We have lots to do before we move and are working really hard to make the move go smoothly. We want to keep doing all the things that Poole Forum does so well and more. We will keep helping you to speak up about things that matter most to you in your lives and make sure your voices are heard in Poole. It is with sadness that we have said goodbye and good luck to Nikki our manager for the last 3 years. Nikki left us on the 12 July for a new job with Tricuro. She will be working for the Shared Lives Service in Bournemouth and Dorset. Well done Nikki! We will miss you, but we know that you will enjoy your new job. You have helped everyone at Poole Forum so much. A huge thank you from us all. 2

3 ` Neil Poulton Neil has been one of our trustees for 4 years so he knows a lot about the many things that we do at Poole Forum. He also has 20 years of experience in working in Youth Services for the Borough of Poole. Neil is joining us for 6 months from August. Welcome to the team Neil! We have been busy raising money for Poole Forum. We have been given money from:- Awards for All The Valentine Charitable Trust and David Solomons Charitable Trust Yellow Buses and Asda The Borough of Poole and the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group A Grant Making Trust who prefers not to be named A big thank you from everyone at Poole Forum to all of these organisations for their kind donations. 3

4 Speaking Up! Speaking Up! We have completed workshops. We heard voices of people with learning disabilities. We are planning more workshops. Please contact: Or call if you want to attend a workshop or you want us to hold a workshop for you. 4

5 5 We have had another busy year with our Learning Disability Awareness Training. We have worked with lots of organisations including:- Poole Hospital Supported Living Staff Students at Bournemouth University Dorset Police St Ann s Hospital The Borough of Poole The people that have attended our training sessions have told us that they felt inspired and that the training was very helpful and relevant. They said they valued learning about the experiences of people with learning disabilities who delivered the training. If you would like to find out more about our bespoke training packages, please contact us by calling or office@pooleforum.co.uk Lisa is one of our most experienced Learning Disability Awareness trainers. She has trained over 1,000 people in Poole Hospital over the last 2 years. Lisa was nominated for the Health Education England Wessex Shine Awards Lisa was highly commended for her work under the category of Hearing The Patients Voice in Education and Training. Lisa also had tea with the Mayor to celebrate! We are very proud of Lisa and all she does to speak up for people with learning disabilities - well done Lisa.

6 ` Our Total Communications Team have been really busy designing easy read information. We have worked with lots of organisations to help them design and develop their information. The team have also been involved in the design of an award winning complaints leaflet for Healthwatch Dorset. Healthwatch England has commended Healthwatch Dorset in the Information and Advice category for its work to develop better and more understandable information and advice for local health and care services. A A big well done to everyone involved! Other people we have worked with this year include the Borough of Poole, Diverse Abilities, the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and the Dorset Sexual Health Team. Our Quality Checkers use their own experiences to check that services are doing a great job of supporting people with learning disabilities. We visit organisations to find out what they are doing well and what could be improved. We offer a helping hand from a service users point of view to help deliver a really good person centred service. We will write a report the providers can have a say in what has been written. Quality Checks are seen as best practice and a transparent way to make sure that people with learning disabilities have a real say in the services they attend. For more information please contact us by calling or office@pooleforum.co.uk 6

7 Our Friends United group has been very successful since we started it last year. We meet at Sea View Day Centre, Croft Road, Parkstone, each month on a Monday, from 7:00pm - 9:00pm Members have shared their views with a number of interesting speakers. We have had visits from Yellow Buses to talk about the changes to their timetables, South West Ambulance Services and Dorset Police to talk about staying safe on the Internet. We still have the Safer Poole Partnership and LiveWell Dorset coming to visit followed by our bowling night and Christmas Meal. Go For um Go Forum meets on the 1 st and 3 rd Thursday of the month, from 12:00pm - 3:00pm in the Community Link Room, at Poole College. We have had talks on internet safety, fire safety and safety around water from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. We have taken part in consultations about the Big Plan, how to make the Police Station a friendlier place for people with learning disabilities and we are due to take part in remodelling Dementia Services. We have spoken up about safety in the community and hate and mate crime. Have a look at our website for more details! 7

8 Our members were involved in the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group Clinical Services Review. We helped to organise this event and took part in the consultation. Our members spoke up about how they thought health services should look like across Dorset. We met with parents and teachers at Montacute School. We shared information about all the things Poole Forum does and the groups which their children might be interested in. We also attended the Learning Disability Provider Forum where we met all the service providers from across Bournemouth and Poole. We shared information about Poole Forum and told them about our new Speaking Up! project. We are now holding Speaking Up! Workshops with a number of different providers for people who use their service. We have taken part in the Prejudice Free Dorset Conference and regularly attend the Prejudice Free meetings. Lots of different organisations attended this event. We talked about hate crime and how organisations can all work together to support people who have been victims of hate crime. 8

9 Suttles have kindly funded 2 Big Nights Out, over this last year at Cameo s nightclub in Bournemouth. We have worked with them and Bournemouth People First to help run these nights. The night in April was a great success with over 400 people attending. The next Big Night Out will be held on Thursday 19 October from 7pm - 11pm at Cameo. We look forward to seeing you there! 9

10 The Big Plan tells you how Bournemouth and Poole Councils and the Clinical Commissioning Group will work together to provide health and social care services to adults with learning disabilities. The Big Plan is for Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset. There are 2 sections, 1 for Bournemouth and Poole, and 1 for Dorset. There are 2 meetings for you to have your say about the Big Plan. If you T cannot come to the meeting, please fill in a form at If you would like to receive a copy of The Big Plan and the easy read questionnaire by post please ring The feedback from this will be taken to the Learning Disability Partnership Board.. 10

11 Poole Forum BIG meeting You are invited to our Annual General Meeting Cattistock Room Poole Forum presentation Guest speakers Buffet meal and soft drinks Doors open at 5:30pm, meeting starts at 6:00pm we will finish the meeting at 9:00pm Call Poole Forum on to book your place by 12 October Rossmore Leisure Centre, Herbert Avenue, BH12 4HR Company registered in England no

12 ` The shop will be closed for from Monday 28 August to allow us to move. From Monday 4 September we plan be at our new address at Rossmore Leisure Centre. You will still be able to contact us by phone. New Address website Telephone Twitter Facebook YouTube