Dec 10 - Social Workers Receive Learning Disabilities Training
A training event was recently organised by the Care Agency for those who workclosely with individuals with learning disabilities. The day aimed to raise awareness and understanding of learning disabilities in Gibraltar.
The one day training course was held over 5 consecutive days so that as many staff as possible were able to attend while still operating the service. It was hosted by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities and was attended by approximately 140 people working within different departments of the Care Agency.
The training looked to help staff members, including social workers and staff members of the GHA and Department of Education, to Demonstrate an understanding of the term “learning disability”, describe the core difficulties experienced by people with learning disabilities and identify effective support strategies and consider societal attitudes towards people with learning disabilities and the effect of these on the people they support.
Commenting on the event, Minister for Social Services Samantha Sacramento noted, ‘I was concerned about the apparent lack of professional training for frontline staff who work within the disability service and we have set about establishing a focused and structured training programme in order to provide staff with the understanding and skills to be able to enhance the service that we deliver. Given the gap in training, this has provided a generic baseline for staff across the board and a more targeted training course is being planned once all staff have completed this training. This is part of a new training programme we have established and follows on from a successful conference on autism earlier this year delivered to staff by Autism UK as well as other focused training sessions delivered during this past year.’
