Sue Sharples, member of the Lancashire Friends and Relationships Group, talks about how the group has been working to raise awareness of the importance of love and affection in the lives of people with a learning disability and using Good Lives to guide their work…

In Lancashire we have a group that thinks about how relationships opportunities can be improved for people with a learning disability.

It is called the Friends and Relationships Group and is a sub-group of the Learning Disability Partnership Board.

The members include self-advocates and paid and voluntary staff from health, adult social care and provider organisations.

Alongside our agreed long-term plan for change we have used the Good Lives Framework, especially Chapter 4: To love and be loved to guide our thoughts and actions.

This has been very helpful, and we are pleased to see the refreshed version, with an added focus on human rights. Our plan is here.

We try to make sure that all of our relevant partner organisations are working towards the same aim of people being better informed about sexual rights and responsibilities, including providing scope for the development of safe and enriching relationships.

We believe that it is important to make things happen, not just talk about them.

In this blog, we are going to tell you about some of the things that we have been doing to raise awareness of the importance of love and affection in the lives of people with a learning disability.

Training

• With partners from Supported Loving, our members have worked with Skills for Care, on the development of freely available materials to assist in direct staff training, advice and knowledge.
  We have used the resources to provide Train the Trainer opportunities for provider organisations in Lancashire.

• Social Workers from the local authority adult social care department have been on courses about sex and relationships. This has helped them to include the topic in assessment discussions.

• We have held two ‘Thinking Space’ events, bringing together staff from different agencies to share the challenges they face in supporting relationships and agree some positive solutions.

• Local organisations Meet-n-Match and the U-Night Group have jointly developed and delivered a series of training courses for people with a learning disability ranging from ‘Staying safe in relationships’ to ‘How to date’. The courses have increased people’s confidence and understanding about relationships.

• The U-Night Group developed a training resource for family members.

Influence

• We have worked hard to encourage organisations that work with everyone to be more inclusive. We have helped them to see that the information they provide should be accessible. We invite them to our meetings and explain about reasonable adjustments.

• Recently, the local sexual health service has worked with us. We have helped them to write easy read leaflets and make a video. They are now doing a cervical screening project for women with a learning disability.

• We have also helped the local Safeguarding Adults Board to think about the information that they provide, including training staff about easy read information and giving advice about their leaflets.

Advocacy and opportunity

• We are very lucky to have the fantastic Meet-n-Match organisation in our area. They provide regular events for people to connect and a dating and friendship agency. The Friends and Relationships Group has supported it’s development and provided a chance for self -advocates to steer the direction of activities.

• We have recently focussed on the idea of sexual self-advocacy, working with several local groups to produce a training pack based on bringing together self-advocacy skills with sexual rights and  information.

We want everyone to remember how important relationships are to health and wellbeing. We still think that lots of people, particularly in services, ignore this.

So, we will carry on shouting about it, alongside Learning Disability England. We believe, with them, that training for staff about sexuality and relationships should be compulsory.

In the meantime, we are very proud of all that we have achieved, with very little money, but with lots of passion and determination.

Read the updated Good Lives Framework by clicking below, this includes Chapter 4: To Love and Be Loved.