Knowing me, knowing you: developing a network

I was going to use an image of ABBA to complement the title of todays blog but who doesn’t love the cheesy awkwardness of Alan Partridge? The shameless self-promotion and capitalising on opportunities that come his way, despite his lack of skill, integrity and capability.

A-ha! 

When I first started teaching a colleague told me it would take a couple of years before I really felt like I knew what I was doing.              

A couple of years!                  They were not wrong!

At that time the University had two intakes of learning disability student nurses which meant running the curriculum twice a year.  There was a lot to learn as a new academic, interviewing and recruiting to the programme, inducting and supporting new students and continuing the links with practice as well as designing and delivering teaching, assessment, marking and preparing feedback (which I’m not convinced is always valued as much by the student as it should be) attending board, mitigating circumstances panel and learning and development committee amongst other things.  At the same time, I was studying for the PGC, learning how to facilitate learning and finding ways of engaging in research. 

I linked into and learned about a couple of things that helped me feel I was connecting with others, contributing to the wider profession and maintaining clinical currency.  I was working in a small team with colleagues who had been known to me all of my professional life, Marie, Karen and Dave had taught me when I trained at Teesside and Rob and Pam had been colleagues, managers and senior leaders in the children’s learning disability service I’d had placements and then worked in.   

As a team we maintained strong links with practice, with regular tripartite meetings. At the beginning and end of every placement period (and sometimes in the middle) the student, practice mentor and academic mentor would meet, where the terms of the placement were set, the learning contract was agreed and at the end reviewed, learning assessed against outcomes and competencies signed off, or not.

I have experienced these meetings in all three roles. I think as an academic it helped in maintain a clinical presence, understanding developments in practice and the challenges faced by colleagues who worked hard to support a meaningful placement experience and deliver quality learning opportunities to the students while also delivering care and managing the responsibilities of their daily role.  It also felt supportive as I was learning to be an academic I still felt the support and presence of clinical practice, linking regualarly back to the areas I had worked in.

Becoming part of LIDNAN (The Learning Disability Nursing Academic Network) was really helpful in understanding what was happening across all universities with nursing programmes and how other learning disability academics were addressing the issues relating to recruitment, opportunities for other fields of practice to know about meeting the needs of people with learning disabilities and to keep up to date with national programmes such as Strengthening The Commitment (2012) and events like Positive Choices.     If you don’t know about these things they are a good place to feel the power and nurturing of learning disability nursing as a profession.

At this time I started to blog for learning disability elf writing reviews of research in under 1,000 words to help disseminate new ideas and make research more accessible to a wider audience, providing a ‘coffee break read’.   I really enjoyed doing this, the research was allocated based on the reviewers interests, mine being: death and dying, challenging behaviour, nurse education among other things.  Online supervision was provided to sense check and ensure that the key themes were easily translated and understood.  I used the experience of blogging in teaching to support students to see the value in being succinct and the skills needed to be critically analytical.  The way the website is set up it allows you to look at the critique and then the original article and this is a helpful resource for students to learn the value of these skills.  Also the messgae that these are skills for life and that there are different routes into publishing and delivering research or scholarly activity.

I also began to use social media in a more professional way and develop an online profile, networking with colleagues from a wide range of areas and linking with some of the key leaders in our profession, other nurses, nurse academics, student nurses and self-advocacy groups, parents, carers and people with learning disabilities.  It took me a while to get confident with social media, I wasn’t always comfortable with posting on face book which I saw as a more personal space and I didn’t really understand how to use twitter!   When I discovered we learning disability nurses (@weldnurses) I saw the power of coming together in a network and sharing ideas, celebrating success and disseminating research in an interactive way.  I learned how to use twitter as a resource, how to develop and nurture relationships, connect others and network with others.   I hosted my first twitter chat on 4^th October 2016, working with the whole person: behaviours that challenge.  It was a fantastic experience (good for CPD & revalidation) and I enjoyed pulling together the summary afterwards which helped me draw out themes and areas for further learning. 

I’ve gone on to host other chats and co-hosted with a former student nurse @lauldn4 after we went to Cambodia together and talked about the value of international placements for learning disability nursing students and with a speech and language colleague Helen Cunliffe @helenglais sharing ideas on the importance of accessible communication.  It was great to support Liz Fair, Community lead nurse host a chat recently on palliative care a great way for her to disseminate findings from her M.Sc. and encourage a conversation about the role of a learning disability nurse working to ensure best practice for people with learning disabilities.

These are all examples of activities that have contributed to my personal and professional development. I’ve developed a network of online and off line colleagues, champions and ‘check-ins’ that keep me connected with various elements of practice and research, helping me bounce thoughts around, share ideas about the things that are important in our profession and to the people who use our services.  I’ve learned lots, connected with my learning disability nursing heroes and many opportunities have come my way because I have been active in these forums.

Everyone’s journey to achieving their ambition will be different, my aspirations for the future will need a different level of engagement, in wider platforms and with evidence of leadership, research and practice developments. There will need to be a focus on impact and measurable outcomes.  This will take time and investment in my own professional development, the mentoring, coaching and leadership I receive will hopefully support me in working towards those goals.  Equally, I see my role as very important in furthering the opportunities, potential and aspirations of others. 

Thanks for the Feedback on the blog so far

It’s been really good to hear feedback about how this blog is being received, lots of people have shared thoughts about the concept of imposter syndrome and the impact this has on them in practice.  I was really happy to have contact from former students and a colleague who told me that student nurses are talking about the blog and it’s having influence in practice.  I hope that giving an outline of some of the activities I have undertaken in steps to becoming a nurse consultant is going to encourage other learning disability nurses to engage in a way that suits their role and meets their needs to be visible, vocal and valued as a professional who is leading the way in their way, with the work they do.