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Oliver McGowan Training

mrs.snooks

I had my Tier 1, Part 2 Training yesterday - online on Teams. And just wanted to say how good (overall) it was. 

The discussion from the two people with lived experience was one of the most useful bits of training I have had in a very long time. For me, the thoughts from the Autistic person were not new knowledge. But the thoughts from the person with a Learning Disability and Autism were a fresh, insightful reminder of how to better speak and treat people with learning disabilities.

There were a few painful parts from me:

1. That the training was provided by a private (non-NHS) Company hence making profit from providing the talk.

2. The facilitator was awful - patronising and seeming totally not thinking that she needed to take on board the advice that the speakers were teaching us.

3. It was a complete trigger for me and I felt quite awful afterwards.

4. That I felt I should have come out on the talk. It's funny. There I was and I wondered. Did the lived experience people know that there would be neurodivergent listeners right there with them 'in the room' as it were?

5. That it should be Part 1 of the Training. Much much better than the current part 1 - apologies to those who have tried to help with Part 1 to engage the reader, but the endless elearning just sucks the life out of it.

Anyone else done this training?

  • in reply to Phased

    just realised what I wrote can be read two ways - i appreciate why you couldn't explain it - I offered an explanation for why it happened...  Sorry for my mistake best wishes

  • in reply to mrs.snooks

    I completely agree  

    I might know how to explain it - prejudice and discrimination spring to mind...

    tricky for me not to get really cross thinking about such things.

    Thanks

    Best Wishes

  • in reply to Phased

    Thank you for your help. It's such an upsetting thing to me what happened to Oliver, that I didn't know quite how to explain it. Your help is appreciated x

  • in reply to mrs.snooks

    Ok thanks  

    I delegated to and asked an a reliable AI:

    "please provide a brief overview of "Oliver McGowan training" including why it came about and who it is presented to in answer to a question about it in an autism chat room. Specific audience for this an autistic person late diagnosed who has come to terms with their diagnosis reasonable well and is a retired mental health professional
    The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is a landmark programme in the UK designed to ensure health and social care staff have the skills and knowledge to provide appropriate care for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
     
    Why it exists
    The training is named after Oliver McGowan, a 18-year-old autistic teenager with a mild learning disability who died in 2016. His death was the result of being given antipsychotic medication against his and his parents' express will, highlighting a critical lack of understanding among medical staff regarding: 
    • Neurodivergent communication and sensory needs.
    • The "diagnostic overshadowing" where physical symptoms are ignored and attributed to a person’s autism/disability.
    • The legal and ethical requirements of Reasonable Adjustments. 
    Following a long campaign by his mother, Paula McGowan OBE, the government made this training a legal requirement under the Health and Care Act 2022. 
    Who it is for
    The training is presented to all health and social care staff regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England. This includes: 
    • Tier 1: For those who require general awareness (e.g., receptionists, administrative staff, maintenance).
    • Tier 2: For those with direct clinical or care responsibilities (e.g., doctors, nurses, social workers, paramedics). 
    Key Features
    • Co-delivery: A unique aspect of this training is that it is co-produced and co-delivered by autistic people and people with a learning disability.
    • Two-Part Structure: It consists of an e-learning module followed by either an interactive online session (Tier 1) or a full-day face-to-face workshop (Tier 2). 
    Given your background in the profession, you might find it interesting that the training specifically aims to bridge the gap between "clinical expertise" and the "lived experience" that was so tragically missed in Oliver's case. 
    Would you like to know more about the specific core capabilities the training covers, or perhaps how you might get involved as an expert by experience?"
    Hope the answer is OK
    Best wishes
  • in reply to Phased
    Phased said:
    as told that I should take myself away from the public workplace as I was upsetting other staff

    This sums up a lot of things for me. About understanding, and why people do things or take the time or care to be there. 

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    The agencies that are accredited to provide this training get a lot of money from NHS England, there are a lot of recruiters jumping onto it. There are going to be future issues with quality of care.

  • I know where you are coming from with this. I see that a lot of these companies ar unregulated as a huge ethical issue. I spoke with one a month ago and their view was quite dumbed down. It made me feel like my views were one of a token autistic person, and all these things are only as good asn the information transferred.  As most of these people doing the courses may be half interested, or only temporary workers interested in short term gains. Effectively if you share your experience, you are also having it standardised within someone elses measurables - not on your own terms. I was a bit low for a few days after this. Just the lack of sensitivity and knowing that large numbers of autistic people were being pooled with false expectations that they might actually be given a job. Its kind of exploitative.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    Hi. I'm not the best person to answer this question, so maybe one for  

    The second part of your question is a particularly difficult one to answer.

    It is training, for those who work in health and social care, in autism and learning disabilities. It was spearheaded by Oliver McGowan's mum following Oliver's death which is why it is called the Oliver McGowan training. 

  • What is this training ans whats it supposed to achieve?

  • in reply to Phased
    Phased said:
    was told that I should take myself away from the public workplace as I was upsetting other staff by pointing out how dreadful it was what had happened and continues to happen etc. etc. 

    Oh boy!  Missing the point then, aren't they!?  Yes, I am sure that was uncomfortable for them, but errrrr bring about change involves confronting uncomfortable truths and then doing something about that.  Your point was legitimate and had they any mind for your discomfort?

  • yep, done this a couple of times "online"-

    I can empathise with how you felt and I completely validate your experience  

    the traumatising part is all part of it being directed at neurotypical people by neurotypical people, in my opinion, in order for them to take it seriously enough.  I took it really personally when I first did it and was told that I should take myself away from the public workplace as I was upsetting other staff by pointing out how dreadful it was what had happened and continues to happen etc. etc. 

    2nd time I undertook the on-line presentation following thoughts - Notwithstanding that the core element of asking autistic people what it is that they need to overcome bias towards ignoring these needs, the demand remains upon the autistic person to be in a position to express them and self advocate.  Eg the autistic person is doing all the hard work to overcome the double empathy problem.  Many of us are not sufficiently far enough upon that journey to reliably do so - especially at times of high stress.

    I strongly doubt that it actually increases any depth of insight into autistic experience for neurotypical people as a whole tho'  I think that there is a need for more acceptance of "unmasked" autistic behaviour without "thin slice judgements" preventing them before autisitic people can behave more "authentically".  This isn't going to came from training sessions like this as in my experience of co-workers who I know have undertaken the same training this does not truly trigger depth of insight into the lived experience - pessimistically maybe that's never going to be possible for neurotypical society as a whole?

    I can say is that it's a start, it's using the naturally parental desire to prevent similar harm, if it saves lives great.

  • I have observed the Tier 2 pm session on Autism with one company.  I found it powerful and I was impressed with the delivery I saw.  As an Autistic person who is also a qualified trainer it is something I want to get involved with, so your thoughts here are valuable to me.

    And yes indeed, the probability that at least one of the delegates on these courses is Autistic or otherwise neurodivergent themselves is high.  Good!  We need Autistic people to be working in health and social care as they are our best hope of receiving the support that we actually need. 

    You raise an interesting point about the "coming out" though.  I once heard a pod cast by an Autistic lady working in mental health services trying to support other neurodivergent colleagues.  It speaks volumes and is exasperating that she seemed to be saying that many of them dare not 'come out' in case others assumed they lacked all empathy and could not do their job!  Irony, when they are exactly the people Autistic patients need to be there.  I guess there is no easy answer to that one and people must do what they judge best for them.

    I'm sorry that your main facilitator seemed to be patronising.  IT's probably worth you feeding that back to the providers with some examples.