Licenced trainers: how to support your newly trained team.

In 2024 our Licenced Trainers delivered Foundation Training to 935 practitioners world wide. This week 9 new Talking Mats practitioners are studying to become Licenced, allowing them to be part of our amazing community of Trainers enabling them to run Foundation Training within their Organisations and Partnerships.  New trainers most frequently ask 2 questions as they come to the end of this course;

1.       How can they provide ongoing support to the people they train?

2.       How can information and ideas about Talking Mats be shared between teams that use the tool?

This 2 part blog post discusses different approaches to these issues.

Firstly, Brid Corrigan, Principal Speech and Language Therapist with CAMHS, Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS, writes about the Virtual Community of Practice set up to support practitioners who have completed Talking Mats Foundation Training.

Talking Mats Virtual Community of Practice- CAMHS

Our Talking Mats TM Virtual Community of Practice is a Microsoft Teams channel where GG&C CAMHS clinicians who are trained to use Talking Mats can share information, collaborate, ask questions and stay up to date with relevant news, information and share resources. The virtual community was launched late last year, following our Talking Mats training initiative.  There are 48 clinicians trained in Talking Mats. 

It is an open channel for clinicians to come together and learn from each other about how best to use Talking Mats to support children and young people in a CAMHS setting. All Talking Mats trained clinicians are welcome, from those who have recently completed their foundation training to the very experienced. 

Our meetings are focused on a particular topic.  We recently spoke about using Talking Mats to explore a young person’s capacity to consent with a case example presented. Clinicians reflected on how Talking Mats made an abstract concept tangible and accessible so it was evident that the young person was making a meaningful decision.  There was also a wide ranging discussion about how we might use Talking Mats to ensure that the young person understood fully the implications of their decision making.

Our second Talking Mats Virtual Community of Practice event took place at the end of May and was well attended. Libby Mills, Specialist SLT, presented an absorbing case study exploring how Talking Mats supported a young person’s care journey. This was followed by a thought-provoking discussion where clinicians reflected on how the approach supported the young person to share their views and opinions about treatment, identify care goals in a collaborative way and review progress.

We are delighted how quickly our community of learners has grown and are very excited about our shared learning journey.     

If you are trained in Talking Mats and would like to find out more about becoming a Licenced trainer please contact licenced@talkingmats.com