Last week we were delighted to have facilitated two Tell it Right training events for the health professionals working for the States of Jersey health service.
The event was organized by the Jersey Down’s Syndrome Support Group and involved Julian Hallett, our Development Manager as a main speaker, who outlined all of the work the DSA has been involved with in improving the experiences of new and prospective parents under our Tell it Right campaign and training.
The event was very well supported by health professionals working on the island, with more than 100 delegates attending across the two sessions. Delegates included midwives, sonographers, obstetricians, GPs, health visitors and therapists.
The Jersey Support Group had commissioned a wonderful 15 minute film, capturing the experiences of 6 families who have a child who has Down’s syndrome.
In addition to giving a glimpse of their family-life, each parent recounted their experiences of finding out that their child had Down’s syndrome, whether this had been a postnatal diagnosis or a prenatal one. Parents outlined what had worked well, what had been a challenge and how professional practice in this important area could be improved to ensure every new and prospective parent could get the best possible level of support.
Alice Bennion, from the Jersey Down’s Syndrome Support Group said:
Our group enables families to connect, support and learn from one another and it is through this learning and sharing of stories that we continue to realise the lasting impact that early experiences have on our families.
Not all of these early experiences have been as positive as they could have been and so our priority over the past couple of years has been to work in partnership with our local health care provision to change this. In 2021 we published ‘This is me’ – a booklet giving insight into the lives of people living with Down’s Syndrome in Jersey. This publication was intended to raise awareness, inspire and show the reality of life with Down’s Syndrome in an attempt to shift perspectives away from outdated and inaccurate stereotypes and to provide new and expectant parents with a balanced and positive view of what life is like for our children and their families.
We know that training is key in shifting perspectives and to supporting all those working with families in the early days of a diagnosis, arming them with the information that we know parents so desperately want and need. We were therefore delighted that Julian Hallet and the Down’s Syndrome Association were able to support us in the delivering of ‘Tell it Right, Start it Right’ training to over 130 professionals. The day was a huge success with 94% of attendees feeling the session will help them more effectively support parents accessing their services.
As one midwife said: ‘I feel inspired by the whole session. What I have heard today will definitely inform my approach to communicating with parents and will help me sign post families to two very important support groups for support and advice.’
The sessions also featured a number of adults who had Down’s syndrome talking about their lives and who had demonstrated their culinary skills by catering for the event, through their involvement with a local community enterprise employing people who have Down’s syndrome called Beresford Street Kitchen.
We have produced a pre-recorded Tell it Right webinar, which relevant practitioners working in the field of antenatal and maternity care can access free of charge.
You can access the webinar here.
We are also able to facilitate live Q and A sessions for staff team working in maternity settings and for universities who are training student midwives.
For more information please email training@downs-syndrome.org.uk
