Meet our North West Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Tier 1 trainers

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is standardised training for all health and social care staff. Oliver’s training equips health and social care staff with the knowledge and skills to better understand, communicate with and treat people with a learning disability and autistic people. .

We met with one of our regional Tier 1 training ‘trios’ Joanne Kennedy, Rachel Turner and Anna Fedeczko to find out about their work and experience during the training development.

A training ‘trio’ is a team of three staff including one expert with lived experience of learning disability and one autistic expert with lived experience and a facilitating trainer with subject expertise in learning disability and autism.

Oliver's training is the first of its kind and the first time a national training has been co-produced and co-delivered with autistic people and people with a learning disability.

The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a requirement that regulated service providers ensure their staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training was developed to meet key competencies, was co-designed, trialled and is delivered by people with a learning disability and autistic people.

"The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is unique and is not the same as what has been delivered in the past. It is collaborative, it is co-produced. It is some of the best work I have ever been involved with in my professional career," says Anna Fedeczko

The involvement of people with a learning disability and autism is key to changing attitudes and to develop understanding about learning disability and autism. Joanne emphasises the importance of sharing her own story, saying "this will help people understand we have lived experience and we can change attitudes".

The team are aware of potential challenges of the training, understanding it is new to everyone. Rachel encouraged staff to undertake the training, saying that “the more you know as a professional, the better you become. I want people to understand my experience within healthcare and help people to find out what we [people with a learning disability and autistic people] do and do not understand."

Meet the team:

Rachel Turner has previously worked with National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) and joined Pathways in 2013. They are an independent volunteer and advocate for people in shared supported accommodation with choices and benefits. Rachel has Autism and wants to help people live better lives.

Joanne Kennedy works for Seeability, is an ambassador for Meet&Match and has been involved with Pathways since 2012. She is a disability advocate and recently received an outstanding leader award for her work in the field of disability advocacy. Joanne has a learning disability and is passionate about supporting people in her community.

Anna Fedeczko is the trio lead facilitator and has worked her whole professional career in Learning Disability. She has worked as a social worker with Manchester City Council, was a senior quality development officer for the Community Learning Disability Team(NHS) and has a focus of collaborating with families and people with a disability.

Find out more about the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training here or contact the North West Mental Health Team to find out about the training roll out in your area.