Workshops and training programmes

An engaging workshop to improve knowledge and understanding of disabilities and the prevalence of both visible and invisible differences in the workplace. This training will highlight small changes that help to create an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
This workshop will explore simple steps that can help teams embed a culture of inclusion, creating an anticipatory welcome for all.

The workshop aims to:

• Increase awareness, understanding and confidence around disability
• Explain the different models of disability
• Highlight different types of learning differences, neurodiversity (ie. dyslexia) and disabilities and their various impacts
• Share good disability etiquette
• Explore the reasonable adjustments that can be made to accommodate different working styles and how to better support people with specific needs
• Change mindsets

Disability can and most likely will affect us all at least temporarily, so understanding that this isn’t a deficit and that strategies and support is available to help individuals is key to creating an inclusive space.

A workshop exploring neurodiversity, and what it means to be neurodiverse. We will talk about inclusive practice, and what can be done to enhance wellbeing and productivity in the workplace. Invisible disabilities can easily go unidentified and subsequently unsupported, so this workshop aims to raise awareness surrounding all types of disabilities, and what can be done to harness each individual’s strengths and reduce their challenges.

Although this has been a trying time for us all, COVID has undoubtedly made us reconsider accessible tools such as remote working, flexible hours and diverse communication methods. In this session we will explore:

• Changing perceptions of disability
• Lessons learnt from COVID – a game changer for accessibility
• Why we must not return to ‘normal’ after lockdown
• The benefits of anticipatory inclusion

Through embedding anticipatory inclusive practice and placing value in a diversity workforce, we can experience the advantages of diversity of thought and enable teams to not only survive but thrive.

Chronic pain is a widely experienced but not always widely discussed challenge and has many real impacts on individuals seeking or in employment. This session will introduce chronic pain and emphasise the value of creating an inclusive culture that values diversity. We will explore:

• What is chronic pain
• Impacts of chronic pain
• Medical vs social model approach
• The benefits of reasonable adjustments and open-dialogue

Through understanding all the facets of chronic pain, we can ensure our workplaces and teams are inclusive and truly accessible to all and in turn, ensure that we experience the advantages of diversity of thought and enabling individuals to not only survive but thrive.

An engaging session for communications, marketing and customer experience teams to enhance communications and marketing material, and ensure content is accessible to all.

The training will work to improve understanding of disability, neurodiversity and assistive technology and highlight the small changes that can have a huge difference in accessibility and engagement.

From marketing materials to report writing, this workshop provides an overview of creating inclusive materials.

Assistive Technology (AT) is all around us – from spellcheckers to screen readers and much more. But many people are unaware of the features available at our fingertips or how best to use them to accomplish your goals.

This session will introduce your teams  to tools that will make life easier. This can include getting to grips with the plethora of helpful features built into your office suites (Microsoft Office or Google Suite, for example). We can focus on specific challenge areas, exploring the most helpful apps and strategies for organisation and time management, writing and communication, and so on.

This workshop explores the benefits of celebrating diversity and promoting inclusive practice in your workplace. Understanding how to harness and embrace the varied skills and strengths of a diverse workforce is key to creating a supportive working culture, promoting positive well-being and enabling success in the workplace. Embracing an approach of cultural humility is essential to ensuring that workplaces can foster organisation-wide practice that supports intersectional diversity. The workshop will explore:

• Celebrating diversity
• Intersectional difference, person-centred approach to individualised support
• Identifying bias, non-inclusive and discriminatory practices
• Workplace bullying and harassment
• Facilitating a space that encourages conversation through creating an anticipatory welcome

Emotional intelligence is a key skill that enables teams to better understand themselves and their colleagues and obtain optimal outcomes. Through exploring self-awareness and regulation we will look at the skills needed to level-up decision making and support. The workshop will also encourage participants to foster a sense of allyship through the lens of empathy and social justice.

Training outcomes include:

• Using emotional cues to guide thought-processes and decision making
• Managing with excellence through continued self-awareness and emotional intelligence practices
• Allyship and ally-actions
• Fostering a desire to continue learning through highlighting the benefits embracing diversity

By leveraging emotional intelligence, anti-discrimination and allyship techniques, D&A believe that teams will benefit from a myriad of benefits including improved sense of belonging, enhanced productivity, higher levels of retention and a sense of supported well-being in all staff.

D&A believes that organisations can miss the mark when rolling out unconscious bias training in the workplace. As a tick box exercise alone, it does nothing to alleviate embedded inequities that may exist in the workplace nor change deep-rooted behaviours to overcome the effects of implicit bias.

This session will explore diversity and how we can dismantle bias through raising awareness, unlearning and relearning!

By increasing our awareness of our privileges and biases, we can ensure that the workplace becomes an inclusive, safe space where all feel welcomed.

Accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists

This training is available either as a course tailored for managers or for the wider workforce. Participants will be equipped with the tools to promote workplace wellbeing and to support employees who may experience a mental health or wellbeing issue.

The course comes with an evidence-based course manual, toolkit and resource pack for each participant, as well as online access to i-act resources. Participants will develop a greater understanding of mental health and wellbeing issues and will be equipped with practical tools and resources for promoting positive wellbeing in the workplace for themselves and for colleagues.

D&A are certified Mental Health First Aid England instructors.

This two day course qualifies you as a Mental Health First Aider, giving you:

• An in-depth understanding of mental health and the factors that can affect wellbeing
• Practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues
• Confidence to step in, reassure and support a person in distress
• Enhanced interpersonal skills such as non-judgemental listening
• Knowledge to help someone recover their health by guiding them to further support – whether that’s self-help resources, through their employer, the NHS, or a mix
• A resource pack for future reference

The training will build your knowledge, awareness and confidence around the myriad of assistive technology (AT) that is available to support you and your teams with your mental health and wellbeing. We believe that assistive technology should be accessible to all, and this workshop will give you the knowledge and tools to make that a reality.

We can look at a selection of both free and paid-for apps to support individuals in multiple scenarios to overcome a variety of barriers. Many of the apps are recommended by or are being trialled with the NHS.