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Working Together to Stay Well

On 17th October 2024, co-chairs Viki Baker and Dr. Ashok Roy opened the Learning Disability Professional Senate Learning and Listening event “Working Together to Stay Well”. The event focused on sharing research and best practice to improve health outcomes for children and adults with a learning disability with a focus on people working together. Attendees heard from a range of speakers on topics such as co-production, meeting health needs and reducing health inequalities, intensive support teams, creative support in the community and much more. 

The focus of the event was on practitioners, individuals and families working together to enable children and adults with learning disabilities to stay well and have a good quality of life. The key themes included the need to co-produce service developments, primary, secondary and specialist services together, workforce, building shared values and team working to support individuals with learning disabilities.  

“We are the people who are therapeutic agents, we must be confident and positive to do the work. There’s a lot of talk about team working, but more importantly, working as networks that surround people with learning disabilities and their families, having shared values and beliefs, which chime with the hopes and aspirations of the people that we serve. And above all, achieving this through nonstop partnership working, with people and their families, so that we are doing the right thing, and not just doing things right. So that we get better outcomes in a very very disadvantaged section of our population, who have really very poor health outcomes at the moment. There’s a lot to do.”

 – Dr. Ashok Roy, Co-Chair, Learning Disability Professional Senate

Vivien Cooper, family carer and CEO of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, shared principles of co-production to improve working together to stay well.  

“Don’t underestimate the immense challenges and frustrations people experience trying to navigate a complex system to get the support they need.”

“Families have a wealth of knowledge and experience and should be valued as key partners. We all need to work together to deliver person centred support. We need to be adopting a lifelong, holistic, person centred approach. ” 

“Together we can make it happen.”

– Vivien Cooper, family carer & CEO, the CBF

The event showcased a range of best practice across the UK but highlighted the difference in support and services depending on where you live.  It underscored ongoing efforts to join up the many systems individuals and families have to navigate to get support for children and adults with a learning disability, which are reflected in the Co-Produced Lifelong Action Plan. This plan brings together people from different backgrounds and experiences and a range of activities and initiatives to connect and join up different systems to focus on improving outcomes for children and adults with a learning disability.  

Watch the full recording here: