Training
As an accredited Investors in People organisation, Creative Support provides and resources a wide range of training programmes which are made available to staff. Working towards this nationally recognised standard of excellence has created a positive learning culture within our organisation and as a result we have an excellent track record in developing our staff team.
Our staff training programme meets all National Occupational Standards and has been specifically developed to cover the knowledge requirements for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) in Health and Social Care and the BTEC level 2 Induction to Supporting People who have a Learning Disability Qualification (LDQ). Our staff induction meets and exceeds the Common Induction Standards and we are proud to say that we are an accredited Edexcel NVQ and BTEC Centre delivering over 300 of these awards annually to our staff.
Our agency training calendars offer more than 600 days of training each year. We believe that enabling our staff to complete professional training boosts their skills, morale, motivation and career development and this feeds into the quality of our services. Each year our training calendar is developed as a result of staff and service user feedback and consultation, evaluation of previous training, local quality audits, changes to national awards and as a response to government set objectives and targets (for example CQC regulations, Supporting People Standards (QAF) & Domiciliary Care National Minimum Standards).
Creative Support provides induction and core training, mental health training, learning disability training, ongoing corporate training, practice teaching and management training. We ensure that the correct training is provided to all staff, based on their needs and the needs of the services they work in. All staff have access to specialist external training, where necessary, to further develop their skills and confidence in supporting people with physical/mental health needs and learning disabilities.
Creative Support has a well regarded Practice Teaching Programme for student social workers. In 2007 to 2008 we provided over 4000 placement days to 54 undergraduate and postgraduate students. We worked alongside 18 Universities to deliver 79 successful student social work and nursing placements. Our commitment and performance in practice teaching has been acknowledged by our many partner universities. We are grateful for grants recently awarded to us by Skills for Care to further develop this programme.
As well as providing training for our staff, Creative Support also offers training to our service users. In response to service user consultation, we offer a number of our core training courses, including First Aid, Food Hygiene, Health and Safety, Service User Involvement and Recruitment and Selection. These are provided to build the skills and confidence of our service users and to encourage them to get involved in all aspects of service provision, recruitment, scheme development, management and quality assurance.
