Category: Blogs

Looking after your Well Being | 1. Stay Connected

Katie Buckingham is a young woman who an amazing entrepreneur , and runs an organisation focussed on Mental Health and Well Being,  Altruist . She also has a diagnosis of Autism , and serves with me on the National Girls and Autism Forum . She has been a powerful advocate for our work, has written a chapter in the “Girls and Autism”  book , and has undertaken many public speaking engagements , openly discussing her own journey toward diagnosis , and the struggles with her mental health.

 

Katie writes : –
“As part of our commitment to supporting positive mental health, I will be releasing weekly social media videos with practical tips on how individuals can implement the 5 Ways to Well-being at Home”.

 

The 5 Ways to Well-being are as follows:

 

1. Stay Connected
2. Be Active
3. Take Notice
4. Learn
5. Give

Housing for people with Learning Disabilities; thoughts and opportunities.

Click thumbnail image below to open & view .pdf

Guardian Article -

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content is also accessbile via the link below:

http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2016/jan/19/learning-disability-care-institutions-atu

Dads; what are your schools male engagement strategies?

It will not come as a surprise to most women to know that men are different! In fact women probably have a strong evidence base in support of this statement. But when it comes to thinking through how we engage Dads in our schools there is often a one size fits all approach for both parents regardless of sex. Men don’t do Coffee Mornings!

So as you think ahead to the next academic year, before you start complaining that Dads don’t turn up to anything, please think about the channels through which you are asking then to become involved. There may be issues around time of day, or content of a session / meeting , or just that coming into a school holds memories of their own unsuccessful and unhappy times at school.

Below is a research summary of current thinking in this area , and also an article I have written on this topic which contains helpful suggestions for appraising your school’s male engagement strategies.

 

RiP: Are we including fathers? What we say, what we assume and what we’re not asking
This blog post discusses how practitioners can assess whether they are engaging with fathers effectively, and how they can improve the way they work with them.