“Shark Attack!”

Never let your ego get in the way of a good training session…

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the waters of independent training, I visited the National Dementia and Care Home Show at the NEC this week….man….what an eye-opener!

Now I don’t consider myself an ‘expert’ in my field by any stretch (I always thought that particular label was applied to us by OTHER people), but I thought, you know, I’m an ex-nurse, an ex residential social worker with families and young children, been a trainer for a number of years, I’m ‘trauma-informed’ and otherwise pretty switched-on. Was I wrong!

Now, every day’s a schoolday, I know this, and its a statement I repeat at least twice a week during my training sessions, and there I was, bobbing along on the waves of enthusiasm at the show (an hour AFTER I realised I’d entered the wrong show and had been quite happily networking and handing out my card until it was pointed out to me I was at the wrong gig and I sheepishly went and found the right one!)

So into the correct ocean I go, bobbing along now quite happily on the waves of enthusiasm and professional pride, until I start talking and more importantly, LISTENING to some of the people I meet. And there, swimming a few feet below me, in the waters of my new uncertainty, is the great white shark of holy crap…circling…preparing to strike.

I continue treading the water, meeting and conversing with a wide range of highly knowledgable and competent fellow professionals, looking for suitable opportunities to network and incorporate their products, knowledge and services into my own training sessions, and to jemmy mine into theirs, and, maw now wide open, the shark ascends toward me.

STRIKE!

I realise, talking to some of these amazing people and listening to their lectures and presentations, and somewhat crestfallen, that maybe I’m not as good or as knowledgable as I think I am, and I’m on the road to Damascus. There are some AMAZING professionals in the care sector, across a wide range of disciplines; nutrition and hydration, dementia, recruitment, clinical skills, training, the whole shooting match. the very professionals who have largely kept the care industry on its feet over the last two years. My lack of belief in e-Learning was severely tested, and found wanting. Not quite a convert yet, but a recognition of a place for it, especially now, as the training landscape shifts with ebb and flow, and I see that I must adapt to overcome.

So Thankyou, Dementia & Care Home expo 2021, for opening my eyes and alerting me to some wonderful new opportunities, organisations and individuals: The Clinical Skills Academy, Ash Training, Vein Train, Limbs and Things, Busy Bees, Health Care Services UK, NAPA, and Wren Healthcare to name but a few. Oh….and BA Box! Who’d have thought that hip-hop could be so effective in the management of dementia!

Yes, indeedy! Every day really IS a schoolday! NEVER think you have all the bases covered. ALWAYS be prepared to see and adopt ne innovations. Learn how to teach by all means; but don’t forget how to learn. Duly noted….