Getting Started

Step 1: Thinking through the possible impact of the training

A key aim of the training is to make front-line health and social care professionals more aware of the local services that can help to improve people's housing conditions. In most areas the services provided by a local Home Improvement Agency (HIA) are the most relevant.

It is likely that successful training will generate some increase in referrals, even though the experience elsewhere is that this is usually a steady increase, rather than an unmanageable flood.

If you are running this course on behalf of a local HIA it is worth thinking about its capacity to cope with any increase in referrals that the training may generate. For example, you might anticipate that new referrals from front-line health professionals may be for more urgent work and be given a higher priority than many general referrals and decide to review your system of prioritisation.

You may decide that the training will be a good way of raising the HIA's profile within the Primary Care Trust (PCT). It may be worth making sure that you have systems in place for tracking the source of referrals in such a way that you are able to identify any increase in referrals from health sector staff following the training.

Approaching the PCT for funding is also likely to be more successful if front line staff have had direct experience of the HIA and have been "singing your praises".

Step 2: Recruiting a champion

Having decided that it is appropriate to deliver the training it will help if you are able to convince someone within the PCT or Social Services of the relevance and value of the training to their staff. Having a champion within the PCT or Social Services will greatly help towards the success of the training. This champion may be able to encourage staff to attend, tell you who the best people are to promote the training, give you access to mailing lists, suggest successful venues and advise you on the best times to hold the training.

If the training is successful this champion could help in providing information about approaching the PCT or Social Services for funding, in order to repeat the training and/ or support the services provided by the HIA so that it can respond to referrals from front-line health professionals as quickly as possible.

It is worth noting that there is a growing emphasis in the health and social care sector on collaborative working between people in different sectors. Joint training is often seen by managers as an important way to promote this joint working. This training course is ideally suited to meeting that aim.

Step 3: Scheduling and publicising the training session(s)

How many people?
Decide how many people you want to attend the training session. In order to maximise participation it is recommended that the limit on participants for the session should be no more than 20 and with a minimum of 10.

Where?
Getting the right venue is very important. Somewhere that is easy to find, accessible, with parking, quiet, has chairs that are comfortable and enough space to allow for a semi-circular seating arrangement are all recommended. A venue with a decent amount of light and ventilation will also help you to run a successful course.

How Long?
The training session lasts three hours. It is good to be able to offer participants a hot drink on arrival and programme in another break halfway through the session. If it is possible to end the session with lunch this does provide a good opportunity to continue discussion and for people to network. It is recommended that you run the session from 9.30a.m. - 12.30p.m. with the option of continuing to 1.00p.m. in order to allow time to undertake a case study exercise.

Promotion
Once the venue has been booked you will need to publicise the training. Experience has shown that this is best achieved through a simple flyer advertising the event and inviting people to book a place. This should be sent out to staff in the local PCT and Social Services about four to six weeks before the event. It is a good idea to find out if there is a regular mailing or newsletter that you could link in with. Any promotional material you use should be simple and to the point.

Click on Flyer for an example that you can amend for your own use.

If it is not possible to bring your potential audience together for a specific training session then it may be possible to link in with a regular in-house event. This is not ideal as one of the benefits of the training is to have people from different disciplines learning together and sharing experiences. However, it is better than not running the training at all and does reduce the administration of organising a separate event.

Step 4: Who delivers the training session?

It is recommended that one person is responsible for delivering the training session in order to ensure continuity and uniformity of style. The person delivering the session should have some experience of making presentations to an audience.

They should also have good knowledge of the local area, its housing stock and a basic understanding of building defects. The HIA Manager or an experienced caseworker would probably be best placed to deliver the training.

If staffing levels allow, it may be useful for a colleague to attend at the start of the session; they can help register people, deal with the catering arrangements and sort out unexpected problems.

Step 5: Training styles used in the session

The training session is designed to promote interaction and participation by delegates. This will help to make it more memorable and enjoyable for the participants.

You will see from the trainer's notes that there are a number of exercises where participants have to make a contribution; these are intended to break up the information giving by the trainer and encourage interaction. Don't forget that the participants are likely to have a wealth of experience of visiting people in poor housing conditions and this should be used to inform others.

The more sessions you run the more you will recognise what you feel comfortable with in the way of training styles. The training can be altered to take account of what works best for you, but it is recommended that a 'lecture' style of training is not used and a mixture of information provision and activities is maintained. If you can use local case studies and examples to illustrate the points you are making it will absorb people's attention and make the issues more applicable their own experience.

It is advisable to encourage participants to ask questions as you go along. If people seem reluctant to participate, then try using 'open' questions. Remember that there is a lot of information in the training and you will need to keep a careful eye on the clock, balancing participation with delivering information. The more you deliver the training the better you will get at pacing it. Having a set timetable and a colleague to keep an eye on the clock might be useful for your first session.

Remember, if the people you are training do not have a housing background you must avoid housing jargon, technical terms or abbreviations.

Step 6: Training resources and equipment

It is important to familiarise yourself with the presentation and adapt it to your local circumstances. The trainer's notes prompt you to delete or amend certain slides. You can also adapt the course to make it shorter by deleting other slides.

The presentation has been designed to be used with a powerpoint presentation. However, if you do not have access to a laptop and projector, the slides can be printed off as acetates to use on an overhead projector. If you are using this sort of equipment you will need to reduce the number of slides.

You will need to read through the exercises and make sure you have sufficient handouts and equipment for them. If you have access to a good quality colour printer and a laminator it would be a good idea to make a number of sets of the photos so that you can split into groups of 4 or 5 people. The photographs have been included in a separate file on the CD for this purpose.

Remember to have sufficient copies of all the training resources ready in advance of the session. Master copies of all the handouts are included on the CD, you may wish to give these a local dimension by adding your logo and contact details.

It is good to have some resources on a table at the side of the room so that people can look at them during the breaks. Local leaflets and information can be included along with relevant equipment e.g. key-safe, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, lever-taps etc.

Click on Checklist for a list of resources you need.

Step 7: Local information

The training has been devised to be adaptable to the local situation. It is important that you include as much relevant local information as possible.

We recommend that you copy over the files from the enclosed CD onto your main computer and then amend them, keeping the CD as a master copy.

Remember that once you have deleted/ added slides the numbering will not correspond with the slide numbers in the trainer's notes. You will need to either amend the trainer's notes or make sure you refer back to the 'master copy' of the presentation.

The presentation ends with information about your HIA. This is probably the most important section as it will be the information that people are likely to remember most. Involve colleagues in the HIA to ensure that the information in this section is correct, up to date and presents a good image of the agency. You want people to leave the training confident that if they make a referral to the HIA it will be dealt with efficiently and professionally.

Step 8: Questions from participants

The importance of creating a participative session and encouraging questions has already been stressed. The trainer's notes give an advised time for each slide. Sufficient time has been allocated for short questions. Taking questions and points as you go along gives you the opportunity to change the tone of the session slightly and it gives you a moment to assess how things are going.

Having said all this it is equally important that you do not let these parts of the session get out of control, lose direction and eat into what is a tight schedule. You may have to deflect some questions and say that you will discuss this individually during the break. If people have lots of questions and points you could suggest that they arrange to visit the HIA where more information can be provided.

There may be some questions that you cannot answer. Do not panic - you cannot be expected to know the answer to everything. If you do not know the answer, say so and either invite other participants to answer it or say you will find out and get back to the person after the session. But remember to do it!

Step 9: After the training has finished

At the end of the session you may want to remind people to take away information. Do not overload people with paper but make sure they have the most essential information e.g. leaflet about the local HIA, leaflet about any local grants for repairs, Warm Front leaflets.

We suggest that you ask people to complete an evaluation before they leave. Do encourage them to fill it in there and then because very few will post it back. To make it anonymous, thereby making people feel able to be totally honest about what they thought, put a box or envelope by the door that people can slip their form into. Don't start reading them while participants are still around!

This form will give you practical feedback about how you could change or improve the sessions and hopefully encouragement to run more events. It can also provide useful evidence for the PCT/ Social Services about how valuable their staff found the session.

Click on Evaluation Form to download a copy that you can amend to suit your own requirements.

Supported by:
	The Rayne Foundation	The Change Agent Team Housing LIN.