What we offer
The CBF gives workshops in: ‘Understanding Challenging Behaviour’, ‘Supporting Behaviour Change’, ‘Positive Behaviour Support Awareness’, ‘Pica Awareness’ and ‘Communication and Challenging Behaviour’.
All our workshops have been co-designed, co-developed and are co-delivered by family carers with lived experience, and qualified practitioners. Read more about the CBF trainers, and their role, and why CBF workshops are unique.
Positive feedback about our workshops tells us that they really benefit families and professionals, and formal evaluations have confirmed improvements in behaviour as well as in workshop attendees’ confidence and ability to respond to challenging behaviour.
Brilliant workshop – I have learnt so much. Family carer
Excellent – particularly listening to parents’ points of view – it is so easy to forget about a child’s home life. Teaching Assistant
A holistic partnership approach: CBF workshops are delivered by a Positive Behaviour Support trainer and a family carer trainer working together in partnership. The family carer trainer is the relative of a child or adult with severe learning disabilities and behaviour described as challenging. They provide real life examples from their personal experience. This approach ensures that all ‘theory’ translates into practice and facilitates partnership working.
Developed and reviewed with family carers: The CBF workshops were devised and developed in partnership with family carers, and the content and format were extensively tested, evaluated and reviewed periodically by family carers and professionals. The terminology and illustrations used have all been selected to ensure the workshops are practical, accessible and rooted in daily life experience.
Follow up support: Free follow-up support is available to workshop participants through the CBF email networks (for families and professionals) and the Family Support Service.
Being with other parents who share the same experiences is fantastic to reduce feelings of isolation. Family Carer
The CBF has a team of co-trainers around the country, made up of Positive Behaviour Support professionals and family carers of people with severe learning disabilities.
Balwinder, a Family Carer Trainer said:
I became a trainer because I wanted to make a difference to other vulnerable people and their carers. I’ve had hands on experience and have gone through the transition of child to adult health and social care services, which I know is a nightmare to weave through.
Delivering workshops gives me an opportunity to talk about my daughter to other people who are genuinely interested and understand what I have been through. Mindy had a tough journey, and who knows where she could have ended up, but by doing these workshops and then delivering them myself as a trainer, I have made so much progress with Mindy over the last 8 years that she is having a great time now. I want to be able to inspire other carers.
All the people who have attended these workshops have always given positive feedback and are very pleased that a family carer is also delivering the workshop, as it makes it so real for the family carers. The trainees always catch up with me during their breaks and want to talk about their sons/daughters who have similar behaviours to Mindy.
Martin, a PBS Trainer said:
I have worked as a professional with children young people and their families since 1979. I think I became a better professional when I became a parent. I began to understand why parents found some of the apparent little things difficult.
Over the years I have worked with families who have done their best to give their children a fighting chance in life. Often the support had not been there, or it was not the right support, or was right but not at the right time.
CBF workshops give parents support, information and knowledge to help improve lives of their children. My only regret is that this was not around until recently.
I always leave the workshops knowing that something has got and will get better. Although I know that the participants love the parent input into the training more than mine!
I still do it because we model partnership working not only between the parent trainer and me but also between the parents at the workshops. I do it because it makes a difference, and it works!
Further information about workshops
Please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page here for further details about our workshops, or email us using workshops@thecbf.org.uk or call us on 01634 838739.
Hosting CBF workshops
Organisations wishing to host CBF workshops should download, complete and email back the Expression of interest to: workshops@thecbf.org.uk
The CBF gives workshops in: ‘Understanding Challenging Behaviour’, ‘Supporting Behaviour Change’, ‘Positive Behaviour Support Awareness’, ‘Pica Awareness’ and ‘Communication and Challenging Behaviour’.
Read our list of Frequently Asked Questions about who the workshops are for, on-line opportunities, duration and scheduling, how to book, and more. See also our list of useful resources.