User:Survivor Services/sandbox
Survivor Services
OLDHAM, Lancashire
survivor training and consultancy at its best My name is Andrew Hughes. Since March 2000 I have spent my working life providing education, consultancy and research services in the mental health and wider disability field. My customers are typically health trusts, local authorities, universities, service user or disabled people’s organisations, charities and other voluntary and community agencies.
I am happy to consider any brief and will design solutions to fit my customers’ needs. My typical target audiences are: service-managers, team leaders, other health service workers and ancillary staff members, service-users, carers, and students. My fees reflect my experience and commitment, but I am confident you will find them good value for money. I have access to a wide range of other contacts and collaborators.
Education My intention is to bring together personal experience of receiving mental health services since 1970 with experience of training mental health workers, students, service-users and others since 1984. In 1988, I was a founder member of Distress Awareness Training Agency (DATA), the U.K.'s longest established survivor/service-user training group. I remain DATA's treasurer and coordinator. Any organisations providing or commissioning services, or representing the users of mental health services can approach me with their needs. I will design and deliver programmes to fit them.
Research Research is becoming increasingly crucial to all health initiatives. Service-user led research can provide rich data to enable appropriate change and innovation, and to evaluate services sensitively and accurately. I can participate in this directly or support your local service-users to do so.
Consultancy I can provide services to all organisations working in mental health. I specialise in the following areas:
- service-user involvement
- service-user feedback and evaluation
- user focussed monitoring
- the social model of disability
- mental health awareness
- recovery approaches
- advocacy
- employment and education
- secure mental health services
and many others delivering solutions incorporating the authentic voices of service users.
I also provide training and mentoring based on community development principles. My main areas of expertise in the realm of community group training include:
- involving new people, engaging existing members
- user focussed monitoring
- action research
- how groups work
- skills for representing your community
- feedback and listening skills
- getting active in your community
- confidence building and assertiveness
- report writing skills
- presentation skills
- introduction to community development
- removing barriers to participation
- making meetings effective
- contributing effectively to meetings
- problems within groups
- understanding and getting involved in partnerships
- common issues in partnerships