Shared Power training - your chance to make a difference!

Sarah Dale, John Lilley & Rhydian Parry - Mental Health Individual Reps

Do you use health wellbeing services in Powys? Do you ever think about using your lived experience to make a positive difference to the way these services are designed and delivered?

If the answer is yes, but you’re not sure about how to get involved, you could well be interested in a full day of free training around this important area. Our Shared Power training will run on Wednesday 8 February at our Llandrindod Wells office.

We spoke to PAVO’s Participation Officer Owen Griffkin about why Shared Power training is important and the opportunities it may bring to people who attend.

Who is the Shared Power training for?

It’s for anyone who uses health and well being services in Powys and feels like they could use their lived experience to help plan and deliver these services.

What will people who attend get out of the training?

We will be looking at how health and wellbeing services are planned in the county, and the importance of the voice of the people who use these services in helping to make sure the services are run in the best possible way.

People might not know that their experience can be massively important in helping to make health provision better and there have been some big changes over the last few years that have been made because of what issues people have raised.

It can be quite daunting for people to share their stories, which can sometimes be traumatic, so we will look at how to share their experiences. There will be lots of practical exercises, and also we will talk to some of the current service user and carer representatives who sit on the partnership boards responsible for making decisions around health and wellbeing.

What can people do with the knowledge they learn?

A lot of the subjects covered will help with people’s everyday lives. We will have some assertiveness training, and look at how to prepare for meetings and confidence building. We will also look at discussing difficult subjects that can be quite personal to someone.

There will also be a chance to see what current opportunities there are in Powys for people to get involved and make a difference straight away. We try to have as much fun as we can whilst learning, and we will make sure there are lots of practical activities to try out what we are teaching.

Why is this training important?

The Well-being of Future Generations Act in 2015 made it a requirement for Welsh public bodies to involve the people who use, or who care for those who use, health and well-being services. The more people who feel confident in getting involved in this decision making, the better the services will be for anyone who has to use them.

People who have attended previous training sessions have gone on to help make really positive changes in Powys and Nationally as members of health and well-being partnership boards , volunteers for Powys Patients’ Council and leading awareness sessions for social care staff on issues important to them.

There are many more opportunities now to get involved than there were before COVID, and health services are always looking for people with lived experience in lots of different roles.

The people we work with in participation at the moment all say how much it has improved their own well-being because of their increased confidence and self-worth so I can really recommend getting involved and this training will be a great place to start!

If you want to find out more about the Shared Power training you can email owen.griffkin@pavo.org.uk

Or, you can book your place online HERE.

You can read more, and watch a video, about the concept of Shared Power, 

on our recent blog post Shared Power - an Introduction.