Welcome to this edition of Four!

It has been a very busy few months here at Studio III and this edition has been a long time coming we know!

We've had a few comings and goings in the Studio III family - exciting arrivals and sad farewells.

It is after these moments of departure that we truly appreciate how we rely on individuals in our "team," whether it's in our personal and professional lives "team". They keep us rational (?!) healthy, keep our spirits up and generally guide us through each day.

We can easily take these people for granted and when they go, our Team can take a knock - shudder or even fracture.

So we usually repair, replace or even make do to get our team up and working again.

And then from time to time, there are those reminders of that someone, that team member who is not available anymore.

It usually happens when you're not thinking about that person, when suddenly some stimuli - a conversation, a name drop, a smell or a song, phrase, in fact anything pops them into your mind and it is at this moment when we have to rely on our coping mechanisms and support to get us through, and maybe only then we realise how great our loss.

We were thinking of this only the other day when having a discussion about how people within care services cope with traumas. Not just the events of bereavement but also the day to day losses that we as individuals have to endure. It reminded us of a quote David Pitonyak makes in his "Importance of Belonging" seminar - "Loneliness is the only big disability"

How often do people feel lonely and lost? And can we, or do we always explain why we are? Sometimes it's difficult for us to be able to express our own emotions in relation to loss, and we often wonder how much more difficult it can be those who experience difficulties with communication.

Of course over time most of these voids are filled with new people, new team members to bring support, new experiences and once again your team is complete.

But there is always that residue of missing those that were there before and are no longer.

So back to this Edition of Fore! It has international news, awards, articles and books to keep you going through your tea break!

Hope you enjoy it and this edition is dedicated to our dear departed friend Graeme, as well as to all our respected and valued colleagues who are no longer with us.

please feel free to pop us an email here

Beth & Steve

It is with great sadness that our colleague Graeme Brady passed away on 17th February 2010. Graeme had been in poor health for a considerable period of time but many of us believed that he was beginning to win this uphill struggle.

Many people were saddened to hear this news as in his role at Studio3 Graeme was quite literally the voice of our organisation.

There are so many people with whom he has communicated with over the years who feel a personal bond and connection. We will remember him for his integrity, honesty and caring approach to our work. Most of all we will all remember his devotion to our approach.

Studio III would like to thank all of you who took the time to contact us and share your condolences.

Here are just a few of the many tributes that we have received

"From the time we met two years ago, I have had the privilege of being in contact with Graeme. With the slight hitches that arose during this time, never was he flustered. There was always a solution and proffered with such grace that really one could only agree with what he offered. In our country we have a belief that if a person is taken from the world suddenly and without pain to that person, it is because that person was a righteous person who deserved not to suffer at the end of his life and who will be remembered as he was when he passed on"

"We only knew him by phone and we were so endeared to him by such limited contact. We hope that wherever he is he's happily smoking his pipe and being the true English gent he always was"

"Graeme was a pleasure to work with in every way"

"The first time I encountered Graeme was 6 years ago, he was so enthusiastic and supportive and such a gentleman, that is how I will remember him - a true gentleman and a truly gentle man"

We will be holding our 3rd international conference this coming September (23rd - 25th) in the wonderful city of Berlin in Germany.

The theme of this conference is "Developing Low Arousal Cultures in Human Services"

There will be a number of speakers and workshops running over the 3 days. Please come and join us - it will be great. For more information go to studio3.org/berlin

Challenging behaviours that are encountered daily in various care settings exact tremendous social costs - most significantly to individual service providers. The focus of the book Managing Aggressive Behaviour in Care Settings is to provide care givers with helpful guidance and practical skills necessary to manage these aggressive behaviours.

Studio3's very own Andy McDonnell, traces the development and evaluation of the Low Arousal Approach, a non-aversive training system that has been successfully utilised in the treatment of aggressive behaviour and reveals how practical application of low arousal methods may be implemented in care environments that include interactions with individuals with intellectual disabilities, autism and various mental health issues, from children to the elderly.

This book offers invaluable insights into a non-confrontational approach that can provide great benefits to individuals, carers and staff alike.

Challenging behaviour, violent outbursts and meltdowns can put a strain on the entire family of a child on the autism spectrum. This book offers practical, long-term and effective strategies to help resolve common challenging behaviours using a low arousal approach a non-aversive approach based on avoiding confrontation and reducing stress and anxiety.

Managing Family Meltdown provides explanations for challenging behaviours, and offers a wealth of guidance on how families can manage different types of challenging behaviour, such as physical aggression and self-injury.

The authors explore the difference between managing and changing behaviour; how our own behaviour can influence the situation; and show how by reducing stress and anxiety children are better able to process information becoming less likely to react in challenging ways. This hands-on, practical book is appropriate for children who are non-verbal, as well as those with higher functioning autism and will be indispensable for families, carers and anyone involved with children on the autism spectrum.

Over the last year, we have had to say a number of sad 'goodbyes' to various team members. Graeme's sad passing had a deep impact upon all those that worked with him and he is already greatly missed. In addition to this, some of our other team members have gone on to exciting new ventures! Congratulations to Jodie Sallis who has started her Educational Psychology course, and congratulations to Regine Anker who will be beginning her clinical training this year - well done both!

We have also lost Janet Hardman, one of our clinical psychologists and clinical co - ordinator, as well as Sam Chromy and Trine Firmin. All have gone on to new challenges and whilst we wish them the best of luck for the future, we really miss them!!

And focusing on more positive changes, we have recently welcomed Katherine Deans and Lisa Thomas into the fold! Both Lisa and Kat are our new psychology assistants, and as you can see from Lisa's diary, they really have hit the ground running!

So whilst there are some sad moments, where we say goodbye to valued friends and colleagues, there is also positive change in the air, and we look forward to working more closely with Kat and Lisa over the coming months...

Beth & Steve

The developmental of Studio III approaches in autism services continues to develop in a very positive manner, both at home and abroad. Originally, an organisation called Studio III Norden was developed in Denmark, but the administration of this entity became a little unclear. It was decided to dissolve this entity in January 2010.

In October 2010 a new Danish organisation has been created called Studio III Danmark. This new organisation will help to develop our training programmes in both child and adult services for people with Autism. In addition, its future direction will also include a broader agenda developing the training beyond autism services with a much broader remit.

I attended a trainer's workshop in June 2010 and I was impressed with the commitment and values of the trainers. I am in no doubt that the organisation has a very positive future, and I continue to look forward to working with them.

Andrew McDonnell,
Director.

In October 2009 I was invited to teach a Studio3 three day Training Course in the State of Israel. Unusually, for us my main host was an Israeli training organisation run by a lady called Liz Meirwell. Her organisation has a similar philosophy to our own and in many ways the struggles they face are no different to our own.

The sponsoring organisation for the trip was called Ashalim. This is a government sponsored organisation (http://eng.ashalim.org.il/). Israel has a total population of approximately 7 million people. Age proportion of this figure consists of children and young people. 350,000, or 15% of Israeli children and youth live at risk of abuse, neglect or alienation from society. Ashalim designs services to help them, their families and communities

I arrived on a Monday and left on Saturday. The teaching schedule was very full, although I did manage to get a little bit of tourism. This included a trip to the Dead Sea, a late night visit to the Wailing Wall and a shopping trip to Old Jerusalem and I also had the opportunity to view Jerusalem relatively late at night. I found the experience to be quite mesmerising. I think I can say very honestly that there is definitely something magnetic about the country. Of course there are all of the tell tale sounds of security issues, this is evidenced by very strong security presences especially in Jerusalem. The training course consisted of a number of frontline staff and individuals who would be responsible for the development of policy. I presented the low arousal approach and gave them samples of our approaches to physical interventions. There was considerable debate on the training courses and I found myself constantly comparing experiences in other countries with those in Israel. My conclusion from this is relatively straightforward. Whilst, there will always be cultural differences between nations the problems of 'reflective practice and the need for low arousal approaches would appear to an almost universal need. There were extensive discussions about control and power and I felt very at home with these issues. Having discussion translated for me from Hebrew into English was also not that problematic.

I did manage to visit three services. The first was a state run institution for people with intellectual disabilities. It is always difficult to judge such services especially as it is only a recent development that such places were primarily closed in the UK. The place was overcrowded (2 and 3 people sharing a room) and it had the hallmarks of a classic institution. For me the learning curve is that many countries face the difficulties. The second place I visited near Jerusalem was a group home for people with autism. The environment was more homely and less crowded. This was a real contrast for me. Finally, I visited a school for people with autism in Tel Aviv. This appeared very well resourced and had an extremely positive ethos.

Finally, I did have the opportunity for some tourism, culminating with a trip to the Dead Sea; among its many claims to fame has the lowest bar in the world. I would really thank Liz Meirwell and her team for there practical support and hospitality.

Andrew McDonnell,
Director.

Steve Gorman

Our very own Steve Gorman received an award from Birmingham City University back in Summer 2009. At the University's annual Health Care Awards held in July, Steve received an award for "Outstanding personal dedication and contribution" in the Nursing- Learning Disabilities category.

Steve has had links working with the University for a number of years, supporting the University's Learning Disability Branch to train student nurses in behaviour management and physical intervention before they commenced their secondments.

This work then lead to Steve working with Marie O'Boyle-Duggan, Senior Lecturer BCU to develop simulation scenarios to enable the students to experience working with individuals who present with challenging behaviours.

Marie explains further... "Simulation gives the student opportunity to explore and experience in a safe environment how they respond to someone who is challenging. Students experience a "real life" scenario in a simulation room that reflects the home environment. Via this simulation activity students have an opportunity to relate the theory covered on the challenging behaviour module to actual clinical practice. This "Live Simulation" involves Steve and Janet role playing specific clients with "challenging behaviour"; the students work with them for a set period of time -in real time- interacting and responding to the clients as necessary" Virtual Learning Environment

At the same time as the above simulation work was being undertaken the University was also creating a 'Virtual Village' as a learning environment to build on lectures and practical experiences that student's are exposed to.

Elmwood House was created as part of this virtual village and is a virtual home for people with learning disabilities. Work is in progress and Elmwood House started to be piloted back in September for use with students from the Learning Disability Branch of the Dip HE Nursing course.

This pilot exposes learning disability students to a variety of scenarios where they will have to make appropriate choices in dealing with specific problems. The choices they make will have either positive or negative consequences and students will be required to explore these virtual experiences through discussion within the classroom setting. The benefits of these virtual experiences are that students will simulate problem-solving in an environment which is safe both for themselves and for the service-users

Fiona Rich, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health, at the University and Steve built on the individual with learning disabilities that Steve had created with Marie, and role-played a number of scenarios for Students to interact with virtually.

Also, in line with the recommendations from the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Access to Healthcare for people with learning disabilities, 'Healthcare for All' (Michael 2008), all clinical training must include information relating to the needs of people with learning disabilities. It is anticipated therefore that students from all branches of nursing will eventually access this virtual home. This will provide a safe environment in which to expose students from all branches of nursing to the needs of people with learning disabilities

Fiona commented

"Currently, students from other branches of nursing have little exposure to the needs of people with learning disabilities. This is because with the large number of nurses that the University trains, it would be impractical to find sufficient, appropriate placements for all students without severely disrupting the lives of service users who have learning disabilities."

Steve commented

"These two projects have so far been fun to work on and the scope for future development and what that may achieve is extremely exciting"

Fiona further added "I am delighted to say that we have had tremendous support from our clinical colleagues and students in the filming of the scenarios. This is an exciting project and will benefit both students and service-users alike."

On receiving the award Steve added "I felt very honoured to receive an award, although I was only one part of the team. I was working away in Ireland when the Awards Ceremony took place so I had to do the "Hollywood" thing and send a stand-in to do the "Unfortunately Steve cannot be with us today to receive his award speech!"

In the next edition of Fore! Steve will recount his experiences of acting in front of green screens…

Clattering over the Severn Bridge in my 1985 Vauxhall Cavalier, wracked with a mixture of excited intrepidation and nerves, I was full of smiles on arrival as Beth welcomed me into her kitchen whilst stirring a huge pot of delicious smelling soup. Yum. Kat, the other newbie, also put my mind at ease as we poured over assessment templates, administration bits, useful books and filled our USB sticks with gold. Beth got the balance right and pulled pin before meltdown commenced which was just as well considering some of the results our practicing with the cognitive assessments threw up! Early to bed as we were early to rise and headed to Pembrokeshire and a young people's residential unit was the plan for day 2.

Best laid plans? Scratch that - I am rapidly learning that flexibility is essential for this job (especially during the Big Freeze). Mercedes SLK's do not like snow. Beth does not like snow. I now do not like snow. We got stuck and despite the kindness of hot Hollywood looking strangers and truckers, we went nowhere fast today. However, we were given lots of opportunity to practice our low arousal skills given the chilly situation!

These merge into one as I was snow bound. A good opportunity to read up on current policy though as my past few years living in New Zealand left me lacking slightly in this area. I can run Social Skills sessions, however, and so began to put together some worksheets and ideas amongst further research into Borderline Personality Disorder, prep for Friday's functional analysis mission.

Today we visited a supported living service and set to work on the functional analysis of one of their individuals. Although initially rather a daunting task it proved to be a very interesting one, both with looking through the vast paperwork and talking to the staff. A good day; a good week.

Steve Allison

Position:
Lead Trainer - click here to see his staff page

How long has he worked for Studio III?

Since the early days of the company, late 80's, I can't quite remember, it was so long ago!

What's your general background?

I worked in mainstream education and specific education settings

What's the best part of your job?

Meeting new people and trying to make a difference to people's lives

How do you switch off?

I like to blow things up! (Steve is a pyro-technician - for those of us not in the know, he does fireworks displays click here for that site)!!!

What issues do you think are prevalent in your work?

Some services are still adopting the unsuccessful traditional philosophy of not seeing clients as valued individuals but as objects to experiment with

What's the least favourite aspect of your job?

The endless travelling woes - long traffic jams, airport check-ins and flight delays!