Personalising the Training Agenda in Sheltered Housing
This month, Housing Monthly Diary invited Jill Hasler of Hasler Training Associates to outline the training needs of those tasked with providing quality services in sheltered housing.
The New Year brings challenges for everyone involved in housing but especially for those of us who work or live in housing for older people which provides support and care, as well as bricks and mortar.
Last year saw the dawn of the realisation that we too are subject to the personalisation agenda. We heard well worn phrases like the days of one size fits all being over applied to sheltered housing and began to realise the potential impact of residents and other service users becoming true customers with the option of them taking their business elsewhere.
As a substantial national provider of housing and support for older people, sheltered housing is at the sharp end of responding to these changes. We have seen how Support Planning can be an empowering process for sheltered housing residents and staff if everyone involved is properly informed, trained and supported throughout the process.
The challenge now is to ensure that there is information, involvement, training and support to make the personalisation agenda work. How can this be achieved when the needs of organisations, groups and individuals vary so much? Personalising the learning and development agenda is the answer!
The first step is to be clear about your objectives - what should participants know or be able to do at the end of the process? I am often asked if Hasler Training Associates (HTA) can provide a course on involving residents/Supporting People/becoming a manager. The answer is yes but it is not as simple as that! We tailor our courses to meet the needs of the organisation and their people to work closely with clients, often helping them define their objectives in the first place.
A variety of approaches to learning and development are needed. Mentoring, coaching and tailored training courses all have a part to play. Confidence building is often the hidden agenda for much of our work with sheltered housing staff and residents.
Individual coaching and working in small peer groups really helps some people with this. Others find the experience of sharing problems and learning in a larger group more useful. So, as far as practical we try and offer different ways of working together. Group sessions for teams or committees give participants a chance to get to know each other better and are good value as team working improves.
Roles, expectations and boundaries are an important backdrop to much sheltered housing training. For residents, especially those taking up roles in the governance of the organisation, they are a vital aspect to cover in their own learning and development. Staff frequently struggle with outdated expectations of their role, joint training with residents or other professionals helps overcome this.
For staff qualification, training is likely to become more significant as the professional nature and importance of their role is recognised. This will always need supplementing and updating - and personalising! Some staff will need a lot of support to achieve a professional qualification while others will sail through the course and assessed work.
Recent work with sheltered housing providers has shown us that sheltered housing is far from being a one size fits all service now. Given the approach HTA offers, together we can build on the strengths of all the people involved in sheltered housing to meet the challenges we face.
Jill Hasler
