Inspire, in partnership with Elevate Psychology Group, has designed a clinician-developed and clinician-led, modular training programme designed to provide insight, understanding and practical skills for colleagues across a range of sectors who are regularly encountering, working with, or providing support to, adults with mental health difficulties and challenges.

The ‘Understanding Series’ currently consists of 7 full day sessions as outlined below.

• Understanding Mental Health (full day)
• Understanding Trauma Informed Practice (full day)
• Understanding Autism in Adults (full day)
• Understanding Personality Disorder (full day)
• Understanding Psychosis (full day)
• Understanding Low Intensity Psychological Interventions (full day)
• Understanding Therapeutic Skills and Risk Management (full day)

Whilst the training is modular in design, meaning that you can avail of one, some, or all the sessions as appropriate, for those new to mental health, newly qualified, or in need of a refresh, we suggest beginning with Understanding Mental Health as this lays the foundation for the topics covered in more detail in the other modules.

The ‘Leadership Series’ currently consists of 2 half day sessions (with more in development) aimed at Management level, namely:

• Compassionate Leadership (half day)

• Building Resilience (half day)

The purpose of these sessions is to equip service and operational managers with the necessary knowledge and skills to form, develop and support healthy, happy, and high-functioning teams able to provide the highest standards of care.

This training is ideal for:

• Mental Health Professionals
• Healthcare Providers
• Health and Social Care Managers/Workers
• Social Workers and Case Managers/Workers
• Teachers, Lecturers, Welfare and Student Support Personnel
• Emergency Service Personnel and Frontline Responders

Ultimately, any Professional who interacts with, or is likely to interact with (given their job role/duties) individuals presenting with mental health needs/a mental health condition.

• Each session will be delivered by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist currently working within the field they are presenting on. Each session will draw on the substantive experience of the Clinician alongside the experiences and professional backgrounds of the delegates attending the training.
• Each session will follow a broadly similar format, looking at the theoretical and clinical context in the morning, and then focusing on skills development, improving professional practice and self-care in the afternoon.
• Each full day session runs from 9.30am to 4.30pm with lunch and refreshments provided.
• Each half day session runs from 9.30am to 1.00pm with refreshments provided.
• Each session can accommodate a maximum of 20 delegates.
• Organisations with 20 or more delegates can book their own preferred module(s) for delivery solely to their organisation and the session can either be delivered in Inspire’s state of the art training facilities in Lombard House in Belfast, on-site in customer premises, or at a suitable venue identified by the customer or Inspire.  NB In these instances, there is more scope for the training to be tailored to suit your organisation/staff team’s role, function, operating environment.
• Sessions can also be delivered virtually, dependent on Customer preference and Clinician availability and preference.
• We will also regularly offer ‘open’ sessions, which by their nature, will comprise a cross-sectoral mix of delegates and will advertise these on the Hub, via our social media channels, and in communications with our existing clients and customers.
• Inspire’s Wellbeing Team will coordinate and support successful planning, delivery, and evaluation of the training. 

The Clinical Training Programme is charged on per person basis.  To find out more, please contact our Wellbeing Team by emailing: wellbeingservices@inspirewellbeing.org

Introduction:

By explaining the difference between common mental health problems and severe and enduring mental illness, the scene will be set for further modules in the “Understanding” programme. There will be a particular focus on common mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.  The key psychological schools relating to mental health (cognitive behavioural, psychoanalytic, systemic, humanistic, and critical) will be discussed to provide participants with a broad understanding of psychological formulation, as well as debates and controversies in this area. Effective evidence-based interventions will be explored, in addition to practical transdiagnostic skills that can be applied to care plans.

Aim:

This training package will help participants build an understanding of the different ways of defining general concepts relating to adult mental health. Participants will gain a broad understanding of how mental health disorders are identified, assessed, and treated.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course participants will:

• Understand what the main prevalent mental health conditions are.
• Be able to conceptualise mental health difficulties using several different models, e.g. the medical diagnostic model, biopsychosocial models, and psychological formulations.
• Have a general understanding of definitions, assessment, and interventions for specific disorders such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Be aware of different types of effective treatment and care pathways.
• Understand how to support the needs of service users within their care plan.
• Understand a range of best practice interventions and referral pathways that are applicable to their service users.
• Understand the importance of attending to one’s own wellbeing and review available resources.

Introduction:

This course will introduce the concept of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) and use practical exercises to help participants to reflect on their current practice, as well as exploring techniques that could be adopted to assist with the development and provision of a consistent trauma-informed approach. Staff wellbeing will be attended to throughout the session, with opportunities to reflect on skills to manage the impact of trauma within our work.

Aim:

This training aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to adopt Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP) within their roles. It will enhance their understanding of trauma, its impact on the individual, and will encourage participants to consider the effect trauma may have on how various stakeholders interact with services.

Learning Outcomes:

Understanding Trauma:

• What is Trauma?
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth: models and theory
• Trauma and its impact in our work: opportunities and challenges
• Trauma specific treatments

Trauma Informed Care:

• What is trauma-informed care?
• The benefits of becoming trauma-informed
• Reflecting on current trauma-informed practice
• Offering consistency in our approach
• Evaluation and review of trauma-informed care
• Staff wellbeing and self-care

Introduction:

This one-day training session focusing on increasing understanding and awareness of Autism in adults, the spectrum, and its key features.

Aim:

The aim of the training is to increase knowledge, awareness and understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), to help participants better support and work with adults with Autism.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course participants will:

• Understand what is meant by autism; its core features, and why it is considered a spectrum.
• Understand how autism can affect different individuals and families.
• Understand key aspects of diagnosis and intervention.
• Understand topical issues including autism prevalence, autism in women, common comorbidities and impact on mental health.
• Understand how better to support the needs of service users with Autism.

Introduction:

The training is designed to provide an introduction and overview of personality disorders. It will consider the diagnosis itself, controversies around the diagnostic process, formulation-based approaches, evidence-based therapies, and the importance of attending to personal wellbeing. No prior knowledge of personality disorders is required; however, participants may have experience in working with people with personality disorders.

Aim:

This course aims to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to support people with a diagnosis of personality disorder, in a range of settings. The training is broad-based and is intended as a general introduction to this complex area.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course participants will:

• Understand more about the categorisation and diagnosis of personality disorder, and controversies around this.
• Develop skills in understanding factors that cause and maintain these difficulties.
• Understand more about evidence-based interventions for personality disorders and how to apply elements of these in diverse settings.
• Acknowledge the often emotionally challenging nature of the work and develop strategies for managing personal wellbeing.

Introduction:

This course is designed as an introductory level training package into the field of psychosis with an emphasis on psychological and social models of understanding severe mental health presentations. It will have a focus on the recovery model and on developing a holistic and compassionate understanding of an individual with psychosis to be able to best/better support them. No prior knowledge of psychosis is required; however, participants may have experience in working with people with psychosis.

Aim:

This course seeks to help participants build an understanding of psychosis presentations and current models of aetiology for the disorder. It aims to help participants understand the individual suffering with psychosis and place the disorder in the context of the person’s wider life. In doing so they will be able to see psychosis as one part of a person’s overall presentation and therefore amenable to change.

The training will also focus on a number of practical skills including therapeutic skills when working with psychosis, a focus on the recovery model, care planning, low intensity CBT interventions, noting signs of deterioration, and managing distress and challenges likely to be encountered.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course participants will:

• Understand what psychosis is and the medical terminology surrounding it.
• Be aware of the causes of psychosis and the mechanisms that occur which lead to its onset.
• Learn how to view Psychosis as one aspect of an individual’s life and to see beyond diagnostic criteria.
• Understand what the recovery model is and how to apply it to practice.
• Develop therapeutic skills in working with Psychosis.
• Be aware of the challenges in working with this population.

Introduction:

This training is designed to introduce participants to low intensity psychological interventions, which are brief and accessible therapeutic interventions that can be provided by individuals without specialist therapist training.  It will provide an overview of how these interventions can be utilised to support people experiencing high prevalence disorders such as depression, stress, difficulties with sleep, anxiety, and anxiety related disorders (e.g. panic, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, specific phobia). No prior knowledge of psychological interventions is required.

Aim:

This course aims to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills to help and support clients to engage in low intensity interventions.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course participants will:

• Gain a deeper knowledge of the existing evidence base for low intensity interventions including the challenges and disadvantages.
• Develop an understanding of the main psychological models and theory which guide the use of low intensity interventions.
• Develop awareness of the protocols for a wide range of low intensity interventions.
• Develop a greater understanding of the technical skills and resources required to support individuals to utilise these interventions within diverse care settings.

Introduction:

This programme focuses on understanding and enhancing the therapeutic skills which underpin every therapeutic relationship, and the principles of risk assessment which sit alongside this. This training programme is delivered as a combination of didactic presentations alongside experiential group discussions and exercises to actively develop these skills in an engaging way, which can then be integrated into participants’ practice within their job role.

Aim:

This programme has been designed to develop knowledge, understanding and practical skills for those working in supportive, caring, or therapeutic roles (either directly or in-directly). The training will equip participants with knowledge and understanding of both the theoretical underpinnings, and practical application, of Therapeutic Skills and basic Risk Assessment Skills. It is relevant for anyone who wishes to enhance their interpersonal and clinical skills within their work role.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course participants will:

• Know and understand a variety of core, evidence-based Therapeutic Skills.
• Know and understand relevant evidence-based models of Risk Assessment.
• Have experience of implementing essential Therapeutic Skills (in vivo exercises).
• Have enhance skills of identifying and assessing risk issues within their practice.
• Understand how to support the needs of service users more effectively.

This is just a selection of what we can deliver. Contact our team if you’d like us to deliver training on a particular theme or topic.